In 1970, the whole idea of a singles scene was still pretty new. The first bar officially known as a singles bar—a T.G.I. Friday’s on East 63rd Street and First Avenue—opened in 1965, packing in young unmarried professionals and turning First and Second Avenues uptown into a singles zone in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Soon ads like these, from the March 28, 1970 issue of Cue magazine, began springing up, hoping to attract New Yorkers looking for a mate. And the era of the desperate, Looking for Mr. Goodbar single was born.
Considering that they make a point of accepting anyone 18 to 50, this social events group doesn’t look especially promising. I wonder just how “elegant” the “swinging night clubs” Plaza 9, Act 1, and The Roundtable really were!
Tags: Looking for Mr. Goodbar, New York Singles, singles bars, T.G.I. Friday's, Upper East Side
Ephemeral New York 
October 24, 2008 at 4:02 pm |
Lovely. I remember seeing all the singles’ bars on the Upper East Side, but not knowing what they were.
I have a book from 1966 about the NY “scene” called New York Unexpurgated – Saki’s would fit right in to it.