UNIVERSAL GEAR Flagship Store Launch!

reporter: Miguel Dominguez

Hotter, Hotter, Hotter, Hotter, Hotter
To get more of an eye popping, live eye full of these Hunks, albeit more heavily covered, rush over to XL Nightclub, where they are safely kept behind the bar counters for fear of setting the whole place on fire

On May 18, Universal Gear launched its new flagship store in Hell’s Kitchen, its second location in Manhattan. The first store, in Chelsea, opened in November 2001, creating a dynamic shopping environment with dance music listening stations and aluminum and polycarbonate fixtures. It became instantly popular among the Queer community.

"The gay community has helped position our store for enormous growth," said David Franco, co-founder and owner of Universal Gear. "But the non-gay customer also makes up about 30% of our sales. Straight men are increasingly feeling more comfortable wearing cool, city gear and sportswear and buying in a traditionally gay area."

DAVID JARRETT's Seminal Art Collection

reporter: Miguel Dominguez

David Jarrett

David Jarrett’s collection of male figurative art, must be described as museum quality. The only other collection I would consider its equal, is located at the Leslie Lohman Museum. No wonder David Jarrett had been chairman of the advisory committee, which was dissolved in the spring of 2009, at the former Leslie Lohman Gay Art Foundation. He’s got the eye of a professional curator. He also writes articles on male-figurative art for the Leslie Lohman Museum's Archive quarterly journal and occasionally exhibits some of his photography in their premises.

Joe Radoccia's NAVIGATION

THE COFFEE SHOP Film Wrap Party

reporter: Miguel Dominguez

The Coffee Shop Director Jana (AJ) Mattioli

The Coffee Shop is the latest feature coming from the highly acclaimed LGBTQ film production company, Mattioli Productions, currently filming in New York City. Mattioli Productions, known for serving the LGBTQ community with groundbreaking work in movie production is run by Jana (AJ) Mattioli (recently honored in the Advocate as “40 People Under 40 to Look Out For.”) AJ Mattioli’s directorial film debut of An Affirmative Act, starring multiple Academy Award and Emmy winners and nominees, had a very successful national theatrical release in 2011.

 Film cast: Blanche Baker, Bobby Walker, Denise Finelli, Holly Meek,
Keith Collins and Elissa Goldstein, with AJ on top

ART + SIN: The Black Party Posters 1981-2012

reporter: Miguel Dominguez

On March 8, at The LGBT Center, a cocktail party took place to showcase the scandalous Saint-At-Large celebration of sensuality, sin and everything in between with a one-day-only erotic art exhibition displaying rarely seen Black Party Posters from 1981-2012.

WARNING! Explicit Nude images after page break

THE PIERS: Art and Sex along the New York Waterfront

reporter: Miguel Dominguez

Curator Darren Jones, art historian and scholar of Queer Studies Jonathan D. Katz, curator Jonathan Weinberg and Charles leslie of the Leslie Lohman Museum

As the first gay and lesbian art museum in the world, the mission of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art (LLMoGLA) is to exhibit, preserve and foster the creation of gay and lesbian art and artists which speak directly to all facets of the gay and lesbian experience, such as political, historical, romantic and social imagery. The Piers: Art and Sex along the New York Waterfront exhibit, which opened on April 3rd, met most of the criteria above in one of the most popular exhibitions The former Leslie-Lohman Foundation ever had.

Excellent French Brasserie Cuisine at CAFE UN DEUX TROIS

review & photos: Miguel Dominguez

Owned by restaurant team George Guenancia and Gerard Blanes, who have had over 35 years of experience in the business from Paris to New York, Café Un Deux Trois is located half a block away from the constantly bustling Times Square, but one wouldn’t know it from the quiet, intimate and relaxed atmosphere one immediately experiences upon crossing the threshold from a very inconspicuous entrance.

Owner Gerard Blanes flanked by general manager Randy St. Louis

and maitre D' Michael Ratel