A vntage hat from the Spike gay night club of New York City.

The Spike was a very popular gay leather bar at 120 Eleventh Avenue in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood. It opened in May of 1980 and closed in August 31, 2000 when the building it was in was sold to a new landlord, who tore it down an make room for a multimillion dollar condo project.

Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, where people of many different cultures live. Chelsea is famous for having a large LGBTQ population, with one of Chelsea’s census tracts reporting that 22% of its residents were gay couples. It is known for its social diversity and inclusion. Eighth Avenue is a center for LGBTQ oriented shopping and dining, and from 16th to 22nd Streets between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, mid-nineteenth-century brick and brownstone townhouses are still occupied, a few even restored to single family use. Chelsea is also known as one of the centers of the city’s art world, with over 200 galleries in the neighborhood.