Check out the dress code from the Mineshaft:
Does anybody remember the Mineshaft? That was before my own time, but I did know its manager, Wally Wallace — who was a fixture of NYC’s gay leather scene for decades. According to legend, Wally once denied entry to the Mineshaft to Elton John, because the pop star showed up in violation of the above-mentioned dress code.
As for me, the closest I ever got to the Mineshaft was seeing the 2012 Off Off Broadway play “A Night at the Mineshaft.”
You can read articles about the Mineshaft here and here.
Article about leather traditions and protocols here.
And, for a feel of that era, also check out the 1980 movie “Cruising.”
a good friend to me, Wally Wallace, may be rest in peace. The Mineshaft was two blocks away from another bar that Wally started was the LURE, which was spoken about in in Queer as Folks, which had the same rules as the Mineshaft.