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Remembering Bill’s Gay Nineties
Restored and updated from an original 2012 posting.
I first heard about Bill’s Gay Nineties from the man-who-knows-all-things Todd Robbins, who spoke of it in the most glowing terms. An actual former speakeasy from the 1920s, the three story resort in the heart of midtown is now a sort of show biz museum in addition to being an eatery/ drinkery. Unfortunately, I read recently that Bill’s is closing its doors this month, and so I wasted no time in creating an excuse to visit and set up a lunch date there yesterday.I expected it to be impossible to get in, given the legendary status of the place and its limited time on this earth. Not only was I easily able to make a reservation, but the place was quite dead at yesterday’s lunch hour. Something I don’t know? I couldn’t speak to the food. I had an upset stomach so ordered a Caesar’s salad, a dish which a chimp could make, so I don’t know how the actual cooked menu is. The decor is what I went for, and it was indeed my cuppa Darjeeling. The saloon on the ground floor (complete with swinging doors) is devoted to sport and there was an extensive gallery of long-forgotten boxers and race horses. In the entry and in the 2nd floor restaurant it’s more geared to the stage, and you can see countless posters, photos, sheet music and cartes de visite of the likes of Tony Pastor, Lillie Langtry, Joseph Jefferson, Fritzi Scheff,Blossom Seeley, etc etc. Rumor has it they’ll be moving to a new home, but I don’t know if they’ll be taking their collections with them. It’s worth going over for a peek (and a meal) while you still can.
2024 addendum:
Bill’s did indeed close as threatened, but did not re-open. In 2016 a new owner took over the space and opened a new joint that attempted to echo the original called Bill’s New York. It is now Bill’s Supper Club, and again has retained something of that 19th century nostalgia, though with less of obsessive excess of the original Bill’s, which opened a century ago, in 1924, as it happens.
Thankfully, the original Bill’s Gay Nineties was wonderfully documented, and so now I can link you to posts with much more historical background and photo spread that I didn’t provide you with back in ’12:
People loved to talk about, write about, photograph, and sketch this place! If you google it, you will find a lot more than I shared here. Weird to have nostalgia for a lost nostalgia joint! Wheels within wheels, eh?
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