The Fat Cat In The Cubbyhole
The story of how one forgotten lesbian bar became another beloved one.
The Cubbyhole bar, located at 281 West 12th Street in Manhattan’s West Village, is perhaps one of the most universally beloved LGBTQ+ bars in New York City. But what many people do not know is that before the bar was renamed Cubbyhole in 1994, the tiny space on West 12th Street was, in fact, home to a lesbian-centric piano bar called DT's Fat Cat. If you walk into Cubbyhole today, you can actually still see an original DT's Fat Cat plaque nailed to the wall near the entryway, under which it states "Est. 1987," the year it first opened. The plaque is, however, quite easy to miss to the untrained eye (Cubbyhole’s owner literally pointed it out to me once, after I had been there hundreds of times), since the interior decor of Cubbyhole is so flamboyant, over-the-top and dizzying that the dull plaque hardly stands out.
DT's Fat Cat took its peculiar name from the two women who first opened the place. The"D" came from “Debbie,” as in Debbie Fiero, while the "T" stood for “Tanya” Saunders. “Fat Cat,” meanwhile, seems to be a fairly typical name for jazz clubs, but could also very well have been a double entendre, perhaps also alluding to a woman’s nether region. DT’s Fat Cat took over the lease of a bar that had been operating there called Twelfth Night and was originally intended to host live entertainment. The brainchild of Saunders, who had previously worked in advertising and real estate, it quickly shifted into a jukebox joint and became a lesbian mecca. According to historian Gwendolyn Stegall, when DT’s Fat Cat first opened, it was was incredibly dark inside and explicitly lesbian. The walls were painted black, and despite the diminutive size of the space, there was a large piano in the back that was used for live performances.
One notable artist who recalled performing at DT's Fat Cat was Lady Glamb, (real name Gayle Rabinowitz), who told GO Magazine that she had worked as a piano singer at DT’s, where her stage name, playfully, had been “Muffin.” Broadway star Terri White, according to the Andrew Martin Report, also performed live at DT's Fat Cat, in 1988, while a flyer at the bar names Steve Lowenthal as a performer, among others. Various other bar listings from over the years help remark on what DT's Fat Cat was like before it became Cubbyhole. One writeup states: "Mostly women. An elegant salon. Piano bar on weekends. Men welcome." Another listing calls DT's a "comfy piano bar at the corner of West 4th and West 12th Streets" that was frequented by older regulars. One patron, meanwhile, fondly recalled a "Xena, Warrior Princess" themed night that was held regularly at DT's Fat Cat.
In 1993, Debbie Fierro decided to leave DT's in order to open Rubyfruit, a new lesbian bar and restaurant located nearby at 531 Hudson Street. Rubyfruit took its name from Rita Mae Brown’s landmark lesbian novel, Rubyfruit Jungle, and operated on Hudson Street until 2008. Saunders, however, continued to run the Fat Cat space on her own, and in 1994, decided to change the name of DT's Fat Cat to Cubbyhole, perhaps a nod to the bar’s square footage. She had to request permission to use the name, however, from her friend Elaine Romagnoli, who for years had operated the two-worded Cubby Hole, another iconic lesbian bar at 438 Hudson Street. By that time, though, Cubby Hole had closed down and been revamped into Henrietta Hudson, which is one of the last remaining lesbian bars still in operation in New York City today. Permission was granted to Saunders, and the new Cubbyhole (one word) was christened thus in 1994.
In the year 2000, a woman named Lisa Menichino began working behind the bar at Cubbyhole. Saunders, meanwhile, continued running Cubbyhole solo until her death in 2018 and then bequeathed the bar to Menichino, whom she considered like family. Though the Cubbyhole has widely been thought of as a lesbian bar, both Saunders and Menichino have always preferred to refer to it as a “neighborhood fusion bar.” “Exclusivity bored her,” Menichino commented in an article for Gay City News. “She wanted a diversity of people. That’s much more interesting.” To date, Cubbyhole is still owned and operated by Menichino, and remains a beloved and iconic institution, with a tiny nod hanging on the wall honoring from whence it came.
References & Further Reading:
Cassell, H. (2022, May 11). Cubbyhole Has a New Look for the Spring. Gay City News. https://gaycitynews.com/cubbyhole-has-a-new-look-for-the-spring/
Davis, A. (2021, April). Cubbyhole. NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/cubbyhole/
Gieseking, J. J. (2020). A Queer New York: Geographies of Lesbians, Dykes, and Queers. New York University Press.
Gilbert, M. (2018, June 21). Hats Off to “Our” Tanya: A Dedication to Cubbyhole Owner Tanya Saunders. GO Magazine. https://gomag.com/article/hats-off-to-our-tanya/
Gilbert, M. (2021). Women of Cubbyhole A to Z. BOOKBABY.
Gonzalez, A. (2021, February 22). A Herstory of Lesbian Bars in NYC: Gwen Shockey Charts No Man’s Land. Bedford + Bowery. https://bedfordandbowery.com/2017/11/a-herstory-of-lesbian-bars-in-nyc-gwen-shockey-charts-no-mans-land-in-a-new-gallery-show/
Ingall, M. (2018, June 4). Farewell to Tanya Saunders, Longtime Owner of Beloved NYC Lesbian Bar. Tablet Magazine. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/farewell-to-tanya-saunders-longtime-owner-of-beloved-nyc-lesbian-bar
Kaplan, J. (2020, February 18). Cubbyhole is New York City’s Best-known Lesbian Bar. We Visited the Tiny West Village Spot That’s a “Second Home” to its Regulars - Here’s What it Was Like. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/what-best-known-nyc-lesbian-bar-cubbyhole-is-like#cubbyhole-is-located-in-the-west-village-at-281-west-12th-street-the-lower-manhattan-neighborhood-has-played-a-big-role-in-the-lgbtq-history-of-new-york-city-as-well-as-the-lgbtq-rights-movement-across-the-nation-1
Kish, R. (2022, August 31). Meet Lady Glamb, the Fabulously Lesbian Pentecostal Reverend. GO Magazine. https://gomag.com/article/meet-lady-glamb-the-fabulously-lesbian-pentecostal-reverend/
Martin, A. (2011, July 14). Drew’s Friendship Folio #5: Terri White. The Andrew Martin Report. https://themartinreport.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/drews-friendship-folio-5-terri-white/
Noor, P. (2021, July 7). The Fight to Save One of America’s Last Lesbian Bars: “We’re Like an Endangered Species.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jul/07/cubbyhole-lesbian-bar-america-new-york-west-village
Schindler, P. (2020, February 26). Cubbyhole’s Tanya Saunders Dead at 82. Gay City News. https://gaycitynews.com/cubbyholes-tanya-saunders-dead-at-82/
Somvichian-Clausen, A. (2022, June 6). The Best Bars, Parties, and Pop-ups for Queer Womxn in NYC. Thrillist. https://www.thrillist.com/drink/new-york/best-lesbian-bars-nyc
Stegall, G. (2019). A Spatial History of Lesbian Bars in New York City. https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-k46h-fa23
Stein, E. (2004, June 29). A Lesbian Bar Where Everybody Knows Your Name. amNewYork. https://www.amny.com/news/a-lesbian-bar-where-everybody-knows-your-name/
Thomas, J. (2024). A Place of Our Own: Six Spaces That Shaped Queer Women’s Culture. Seal Press.
Yu, J. (2022, November 17). Your Guide to NYC Lesbian Bars. The Observer. https://fordhamobserver.com/71029/opinions/your-guide-to-nyc-lesbian-bars/
Zinaman, M., & Menichino, L. (2024, January 3). Lisa Menichino Interview. personal.
Love this post Marc! The history, the images and the rare story of lesbian bar rich with personal and social history. I recall being in there in 2018 on the day Sanuders died. Out of nowhere, staff came by and gave patrons a shot of something red (!?) and we all toasted an incredible woman. It was such a treat. Thank you for sharing.