Eagle NYC
Dark-lit, multilevel gay leather-&-Levis bar with a roof deck.
The Eagle bar originally was a longshoreman’s pub called the Eagle Open Kitchen at 142 11th Avenue at 21st Street from 1931 to 1970. In 1969 the stonewall riots in Greenwich Village produced a new found pride in being gay and the closet doors were slowly opening. In 1970, the Eagle Open Kitchen was acquired by Jack Modica who turned the pub into a leather/ levi bar. With a few coats of black paint and an old beat up motorcycle for decoration, an institution was born.
Back in those days it was known as The Eagle’s Nest. Its patrons loved the isolation and the raw masculinity of this dark playground on the West Side Highway. Gay Bashing by marauding thugs was not uncommon in this remote area of New York. Nevertheless, the men loved their “home away from home” and were undeterred. The Eagle quickly became engaged in many community-based activities such as holding tea dance benefits for national gay organizations. The Eagle was open 7 days a week including holidays so there was always The Eagle if you had no where else to go. Gay biker clubs held their club nights here and pool teams and softball teams were formed and served as a kind of community outreach in the spirit of friendly competition.
