

Cynthia Russo, then-manager of the club, claimed “residents dislike the club because many of the patrons are lesbians and because most are Black or Hispanic.” Pandora’s Box apparently closed shortly after, ending the over twenty-year long lesbian legacy of 70 Grove Street.Įntry adapted by Amanda Davis, project manager (June 2019), from text in Gwendolyn Stegall, "A Spatial History of Lesbian Bars in New York City" (used with permission). The Grove Club was described in a guidebook as, “One of the most famous women’s bars in the entire world, known as one hang-out where you can still have a good feminist conversation.”īy 1992, the bar was again running into legal trouble, but this time from neighborhood residents complaining about bar fights and noise. With the opening of Good Grades in Queens, we’re continuing to build on our. Kathy Hochul, who said the shop would be the first woman-owned conditional adult-use retail dispensary in New York state. By 1989, the name changed to Duchess II, and then again in 1990 to Grove Club, and finally in 1992 to Pandora’s Box. The borough’s first legal cannabis dispensary, Good Grades, has opened one block from York College CUNY. The Grove Café / Duchess II / Grove Club / Pandora’s BoxĪfter an unsuccessful attempt to continue the space as a lesbian “juice bar” without liquor, and a brief hiatus (based on guidebooks), soon after 1983, the Grove Café opened with a similar atmosphere to the Duchess. On the other side there are the people denied privilege and power who rely on their own clubs as a haven in an otherwise hostile world.” Fran Greenfield of Womannews explained the justification for the Duchess’s discrimination as opposed to misogynistic discrimination, against which the law was meant to protect: “On one side there are privileged and powerful groups who use their clubs to keep ‘social undesirables’ clearly on the outside. Mistresses Nox, Naomi, Nicholette, Sarah Moon and Iris are accepting your cries for mercy today. To book an appointment with the sadistic Mistress of your dreams, call to book an appointment.

#NYC PANDORAS BOX LICENSE#
However, it continued to serve liquor and, on September 8, 1982, the bartender and bouncer were arrested for doing so by two undercover police officers from the “NYC Morals Division.” Ironically, the “anti-discrimination” law for which the Duchess’s license was revoked was one many movement women who patronized the bar had actively supported in an earlier era. The commercial space of this building held several lesbian bars from the 1970s to the 1990s, beginning with the Duchess in 1972. Pandoras Box Dungeon NY -Explore Your Kink PandorasBoxNYC. By 1980, however, the Duchess ran into legal trouble for not serving alcohol to men, an act of “discrimination” that led to the bar losing its liquor license.
