(Today Rivera and D’Angelo remain partners, while Cannistraci is the operating owner.) Lisa Graziano, now the managing owner, started as a bartender and DJ.Ĭannistraci chose the bar’s memorable name to “feminize” that of the English explorer who claimed New York’s harbor for the Dutch. One of those regulars was Minnie Rivera, a nightlife promoter who wanted to take over the corner space and open a new lesbian club.Īfter some prodding, Cannistraci changed her mind: “It became a calling-it was something I had to do.” Rivera brought in Joey D’Angelo, a longtime club owner, to be the third partner. “I used to laugh on the inside” when regular customers would suggest she open her own bar, she says.

In 1991, Cubby Hole, the longtime gay bar now located on West 12th Street, occupied the ground-floor space at Hudson and Morton. And on the corner of Hudson and Morton Streets, Henrietta Hudson Bar & Girl opened for business. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 3,000 for the first time ever Silence of the Lambswon the top four categories at the Academy Awards. The first American Patriot missiles of Operation Desert Storm landed in Iraq. The Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union dissolved and the Cold War ended.