I moved to NYC with 2 gay friends from high school in August of 1984 from Florida. I still live here. We stayed in the Jane West Hotel for about 2 weeks in September and lived in one of the corner tower rooms just below the top floor. I remember the advertisement in the Village Voice saying it was "cheap and clean" It was cheap but not so clean. LOL I remember having to go 2 levels down to take a shower the floor that had bathrooms. Not every floor had baths. The guy behind the desk had to leave his post at the desk to operate the elevator. This wasn't a full staff hotel. Most guests there were transgender prostitutes working the west side piers at night. I must say I LOVED the experience there and cherish that memory just falling off the hay wagon from Florida and moving to the Big Apple. Ate breakfast most every day at La Bonboniere diner.
wow, The tower room is now a bar and rooftop bar! and it looks so beautiful from photos online… I can see how different it looks now compared to when Rhonda and Nelson were standing on the roof. Glad it is well taken care of now.
I love these videos. It bring back so many memories for this 80's kid. Just hanging with friends looking for something to do. Before all the electronics we have today. I'm not saying it was a better time, but just a different time. I miss being a teenager back the. Peace in you valley to everyone.
In the future, nobody will ever say ... "Hey, remember all that fun we had with our heads facing down whilst pressing buttons on a gadget just to watch our boring, digitized lives, play out through a small screen?
I’m so glad you guys had the smarts as well ability to document those years, and to save it till now! Thank you so very much. It’s so cool to see the world when I think it was its most real and genuine......great, twisted, scary, but inspirational years.
Flash forward a decade - me and 2 friends (not the same 2 i moved here with) installed a gay sex club in the basement level of this same hotel - called the "Comeback" We designed it for cruising and sex within the club. The owners were total Italian mobsters who owned straight tittie bars downtown. We got the furnishings and props from the newly closed "Mars" nightclub - which the building was eventually raised. I took a tour with one of the mobsters to an indoor swimming pool in the basement - no water n the pool but clearly a sign of a prominent hotel in it's day. The survivors of the Titanic were brought there to stay after being rescued by the Carpathia. The building has a rich history. I remember the cigarette machine in the lobby and bought cigs from it! The good ole days when you could smoke anywhere and it was encouraged.
Ahhh Mars 1989-90 when Moby spun while you checked your coat! Shit he might have been handing out lil red tickets for the coats along with the needle drops. Good times and thanks for sharing What an amazing rabbit hole 5ninth is!!!
