Building
FAMILIES
REMEMBRANCE
Cubbyhole’s Tanya Saunders Dead at 82 Lesbian barkeep had the “ability to make everyone feel welcome�
COURTESY OF BETT Y BY THEWAY
COURTESY OF BETT Y BY THEWAY
! ! I
Tanya Saunders nuzzles one of her beloved animals.
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
T
12
anya Saunders, a child refugee from Nazi Germany who owned a West Village bar since 1987, the last 24 years under the name Cubbyhole, died on April 29 at the age of 82. The cause of death, said Lisa Menichino, Saunders’ close friend who worked with her for the past 18 years, was heart failure, after roughly a year of poor health. Though the Cubbyhole was widely thought of as a lesbian bar, both Saunders and Menichino preferred to dub it a “neighborhood fusion bar.� “Exclusivity bored her,� Menichino told Gay City News. “She wanted a diversity of people. That’s much more interesting.� In a 2004 profile on the bar in The Villager, Gay City News’ sister publication, Saunders herself explained, “When I used to go out, I’d always catch a lot of attitude at bars and clubs. I always wanted to open a bar and I thought when I did, I’d make sure it was a friendly, casual place where people would feel comfortable. I wanted a real mix of people. I live my life that way, and I wanted it in my bar. We’ve got men and women, gay and straight here.� The Cubbyhole was known for its colorful, even extravagant DIY decorations, and that may have
Tanya Saunders, 1935-2018.
been due, in part, to what Menichino described as Saunders’ “superstitions.â€? “We always had to save things that were red and green,â€? she recalled. “Tanya considered them lucky.â€? New York magazine once wrote that the lively dĂŠcor made it look as though Saunders had “raided a thrift shop the day after Mardi Gras,â€? while The Villager wrote that “the thatch of Japanese lanterns, model airplanes, oversize goldfish (which match the covers on the bar stools), and at least one lobster suspended from the ceiling [make] the place look more like some sort of fantastic forest.â€? Saunders first got into the bar business — after a career in advertising — in 1987 by opening up DT’s Fat Cat at 281 West 12th Street at the corner of West Fourth Street. When her business partnership in that bar with another woman ended in 1994, Saunders secured the name Cubbyhole from the owner of another lesbian bar that once had that name. In the 24 years since, the venue has nightly been a hive of activity, with crowds often spilling out onto the corner on warm evenings. Its ability to draw mixed crowds was testified to by no less than Andy Cohen, who in explaining why he loves New York in a 2012 is-
䉴
TANYA SAUNDERS, continued on p.13
May 24 – June 6, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc