![]() Before long, cops and inspectors were swarming the Cock as often as twice a week, ticketing for anything they could find. After all, this was the anti-nightlife Giuliani era. The sordid acts and general carefree air were soon attracting not only horny young men but also plenty of spectacle-seeking celebrities, like Christina Aguilera (brought in by photographer David LaChapelle), not to mention those whom the owner deems the “super gays” (Boy George, George Michael, etc.).īut its popularity also attracted the authorities. It opened in 1998 and quickly became known as the venue for promoter Mario Diaz’s popular Foxy party/ talent show, where “amateur exhibitionism,” as Diaz says, was the only talent. “We’re kind of perceived as a place for misfits more than anything else,” says the Cock’s owner, who asked that his name not be used. But even after being caught up in the late-nineties quality-of-life dragnet, it managed to survive. The grimy, black-walled, low-ceilinged, graffiti’d dive on Avenue A, identified from the street only by a red neon rooster, was almost always packed with sweaty men smoking (long after the ban), dancing, ogling the go-go boys, and, until not too long ago, partaking in a rollicking backroom sex scene. Even-maybe especially-its most loyal patrons have been wondering how it lasted quite that long. Not that this should be much of a surprise. ![]() After seven notorious years, the East Village gay bar the Cock crows its last on July 10.
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