New book by David Kennerley traces the dizzying rise and demise of legendary queer NYC clubs in the 1990s

GETTING IN presents striking images of LGBTQ club flyers and stories from celebs like nightlife guru Michael Musto, drag artist Lady Bunny, DJ Robbie Leslie, and photographer Sean Kahlil

Journalist and LGBTQ archivist David Kennerley invites readers to remember the mayhem from the golden age of queer nightclubs in New York, with his new book, GETTING IN: NYC Club Flyers from the Gay 1990s, praised by The New York Times as “an electric visual stroll through New York’s 1990s gay club scene.”The foreword is by none other than Michael Musto, nightlife guru and dishy columnist since the 1980s.

The 1990s in New York City was a heady time for clubgoers, especially those with a queer bent. Massive dance clubs like the Roxy, Palladium, Limelight, and Tunnel drew fiercely passionate crowds. But the plucky smaller venues like Splash, Crowbar, Pyramid, and Sound Factory Bar were just as vital. Kennerley ventured into these now-legendary clubs. And when it was time to leave, promoters handed out flyers for the next week's parties. Most people tossed them on the sidewalk, but he saved each and every one.

GETTING IN spotlights over 230 of the most eye-popping, culturally resonant examples from his collection. The invites are not only visually stunning –– depicting flamboyant Club Kids, shirtless hunks, and sassy drag queens –– but tell a story of a unique moment in history when the LGBTQ community was reeling from the AIDS crisis and nightspots provided a refuge. GETTING IN is the first book to showcase and analyze queer nightclub invites from this era.

The 232-page, coffee-table-style book features essays and quotes from 40 denizens from the decade, including drag doyennes Lady Bunny and Linda Simpson, DJs Larry Tee and Susan Morabito, Club Kids Goldy Loxxx and Ernie Glam, photographer Sean Kahlil, and go-go boy Mark Allen.

David Kennerley is a journalist and historian specializing in LGBTQ culture. For two decades, he has been an Arts & Entertainment reporter for Gay City News, the NYC-based LGBTQ newspaper and website. Examples from his ephemera collection were shown in the “Letting Loose and Fighting Back” exhibition at the New-York Historical Society honoring the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. He currently lives in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan and occasionally still goes clubbing.