The Monster: a place for all of us

There were doubts about whether The Monster, the legendary West Village gay bar named after a mythological sea serpent, would survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Since opening in 1982 at 80 Grove Street by Joe Scialo, the bar has been a popular destination for the LGBTQ community — along with friends and allies — for its drag shows, Sunday tea dances, and its piano bar.

But when the pandemic hit and places closed, the beloved Baldwin piano was carted off and a staff meeting was called. The bar’s current owner, Charlie Rice, announced that maybe it was time to throw in the bar towel.

Daniel Tobey, who, up until then had been working at the Monster two nights a week as a party promoter, felt the venue should persevere.

“The bar deserved more than a quiet disappearance,” he told Gay City News, recounting his rallying cry for patience. This was before the arrival of federal assistance and before local businesses shifted to outdoor operations.

For the regulars who had been frequenting the bar for the past 30 to 35 years, the place was more than a weekend haven. It was home. When Tobey asked for patience, he was put in charge of the bar’s pandemic-era protocols, overseeing its outdoor expansion. And he was determined to bring back a piano. For someone who first set foot in the bar in 2009, when he was visiting from Seattle, Tobey couldn’t believe he was now, 10 years later, the bar’s general manager. 

On June 13, he was on hand with the bar’s longtime piano player, Martin St. Lawrence, to receive the 2023 Village Award from Village Preservation. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is a non-profit group that works to protect the architectural heritage and cultural history of downtown neighborhoods that include Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. 

The group has championed the landmark designation for more than 1,250 buildings in New York including, most recently, Julius’, the city’s oldest gay bar, the LGBTQ Community Center, and the Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse. And at the group’s annual meeting at Cooper Union’s Great Hall on June 13, The Monster was among six businesses being recognized.

The program was emceed by legendary downtown performance artist Penny Arcade, who noted that at a time when so many are being made to feel unwelcome, “The Monster bar’s longstanding ethos [of inclusivity] is all the more vital and extraordinary.” 

“With so much drawing us apart — isolation being a serious public health concern — we feel fortunate to have in our neighborhood a place like The Monster for its commitment to supporting and bringing all of us together and for supporting the LGBTQ+ community for more than four decades,” Arcade added.

Erik Bottcher, an out gay member of the New York City Council who represents District 3, was also on hand and remarked that The Monster had been “one of the first places I went when I arrived in New York from my small town,” and, he joked, “I may or may not have been 21 at the time.”

The awards ceremony featured a musical program by St. Lawrence, who has been playing the piano at The Monster for 27 years. At Cooper Union, he played the bar’s most requested songs that included “Over the Rainbow,” “Somewhere,” and an audience singalong to “Greatest Love of All.”

When pressed afterward about how the crowd did, St. Lawrence said they were pretty good.

“I hope they come sing at our place,” he said, before heading back to the bar to play his nightly set.