Collection of Material Documenting Rod Roderick's Involvement in the Gay Nightclub Scene in San Francisco and New York, 1980-1996

San Francisco; New York: 1980-1996. Collection of 48 items. Various sizes and types of material, ranging from a 2 x 1-1/2 inch matchbook to 27-1/2 x 20 inch posters. Light general wear; minor soiling to a few items; pinholes to some poster corners; old folds to posters; loss to lower margin of one leaf, not affecting text. Very Good overall.

A rich collection of material tracing the influence of William "Rod" Roderick on San Francisco's gay nightclub scene before and during the beginning of the AIDS crisis, as well as his involvement as a member of New York's premier gay nightclub, The Saint, and other New York gay clubs.

Called "the gay Hugh Hefner" by DJ Steve Fabus, Rod Roderick was an impresario who held legendary gay dance parties at his mansion on McCallister Street, in San Francisco, as well as promoting others at locations around the city, from the 1970s-1990s. Roderick brought in DJs from all around the country for these parties, with the result that San Francisco's disco music, in particular, became a unique blend of styles from New York, Chicago and the West Coast. Several of these DJs, including Fabus, got their starts in the industry from Roderick. Just a few of the parties that Roderick's firm, William Roderick Associates, hosted include the Shed's opening party (1972), the Leather Forever party at the Red Star Saloon (1974), High Times I & II (1980), private parties at the Trocadero Transfer (1989), and more. Fabus notes, "[Roderick] kind of guided the city along with how to do a party" ("F**k me I'm Fabus", https://djhistory.com/read/fk-me-im-fabus/).

In many ways, these parties allowed gay nightclubs, and the gay men who frequented them, to thrive. As Marke B. writes in an article on the EndUp nightclub in San Francisco, the music played by DJs at these clubs "was the sound of gay liberation, whose political launch had taken place at the Stonewall riots of 1969 (and, in San Francisco, the Compton's Cafeteria Riot of 1966), but whose sexual implications were playing out in gay discotheques and steamy bathhouses. As gay men took to the streets in annual Gay Freedom Day parades and protest marches, dance floors were heaving with a new influx of out-and-proud men, expressing their newfound freedom and exploring the intimate ins-and-outs of gay life." ("Nightclubbing: The EndUp, San Francisco's Gay Epicenter", https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/05/nightclubbing-the-endup)

Included in this collection are 14 sheets of William Roderick Associates letterhead, each with a different promotional item affixed to it, presumably by Roderick or a member of his staff. These include a magazine clipping about Roderick, a typescript list of parties the firm hosted with holograph annotations in ink, flyers for the parties High Times and Night Flight, and even a leaf from the 1978 membership directory of of the Golden Gate Business Association, of which Roderick was the secretary.

The remaining material is New York-based, with much of it relating to The Saint, a gay, members-only nightclub in the East Village that has been called the "Vatican of Disco". Roderick was a member of the club, as evidenced by a two-page membership letter from May 17, 1982, and a membership survey in an envelope addressed to Roderick. Additional material here for events at The Saint date from at least 1981 until the club's official closure in 1988, as well as from its reincarnation in later years under the name The Saint At Large. These include programs and flyers for various themed dance parties, such as "Muscle," (which featured men from the Chelsea gym and other athletes), a guest appearance by a dominatrix, a 1986 flyer for a Halloween party starring Divine, and a 1987 drag show "Putting on the Tits", as well as six posters for The Saint at Large New Year's Eve parties in the 1990s.

Lastly, the collection includes an invitation to "The Tattooed Cowboy" on January 24, 1982, at Studio 54, with a silver "deputy sheriff" star taped to it; an invitation to a New Year's Eve party featuring Grace Jones; a ticket to the Copacabana 50th Anniversary Celebration put on by Le Clique, a flyer for Steve Revlon's "Manhole", at W-Bar; and more.

All in all, a remarkable, visually interesting collection of scarce material that reveals much about the early history of gay nightclubs in San Francisco and New York.