What does the past have that the present doesn’t?
Story by: Mike Miksche
Photography by: Motorboot Photography – Robert Green
October 2, 2019
Nick Wafle and Matthew Paul have been reawakening the spirits of legendary leather bars gone by with their parties in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Under the moniker of Mister Drummer 1979, the two have spent afternoons collecting archival material from places such as The Catacombs, The Tool Box, and The Gauntlet II with which to outfit their parties, bringing these places back to life. Wafle also leafs through old Drummer magazines looking for ads or write-ups about these bars or clubs, along with other relevant content to share on social media in order to educate potential partygoers.
Their moniker, coupled with their passion for the past, might suggest either Wafle or Paul is Mister Drummer 1979. Well, they’re not. Wafle was only four years old back then and Paul wasn’t even born yet. And the first Mr. Drummer wasn’t appointed until 1980.
Wafle had chosen the name because Drummer was a huge inspiration for him — the back issues from the late ’70s became the impetus for the events — and he views ’79 as the pinnacle of the leather scene. It’s obvious that the past holds something special for him that the present simply lacks.
“I think at the time [leather] was a much more rebellious thing,” Wafle explains. “Being gay and then taking it a step further and being into heavy leather and S&M is like making a statement and rebelling against heteronormative culture.”
He feels that prior to the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco, the leather scene was at its most “decadent” and “sleazy.” Today, he believes that a lot of the rebelliousness has been lost to heteronormativity and the acceptance of homosexuality, but he also thinks that after the epidemic began, people directed their sexually rebellious energy towards fighting for their lives with organizations like ACT UP.
“I think [the parties are] a way of honoring a lost generation,” Wafle says. “A lot of those folks who died in the ’80s were a part of the scene and it’s important to retell that story. I think there’s a way to honor it and recognize it and keep it relevant in today’s world where we’ve come really far, but there’s still a space for rebellion and self-expression that leather represents to me.”
He explains that above all else, what they’re trying to get across with their parties is that these men were “badasses” who were ahead of their time and were “stepping to the forefront of what it meant to be gay, and living it.”
The party began at a dive bar on Haight Street in San Francisco called Underground SF, and it’s still where they hold their events today during the Folsom Street Fair and Dore Alley weekends. It’s a place that Wafle describes as a “blank canvas.”
“There’s nothing on the walls,” he says, laughing. “There’s hardly any furniture. Just like a banquette on one wall. Then there’s a dance floor behind the bar — a small dance floor — and then off the dance floor is an alleyway where the trash cans are normally stored, which we roll away to create a backroom.”
The alleyway backroom is outfitted with tea lights, lube, and paper towels. Inside, there’s red lighting, a smoke machine and a strobe over the dancefloor, if it’s working. When the projector isn’t broken, he’ll play VHS versions of classic gay BDSM porns like Born to Raise Hell, which, as it turns out, stars Val Martin, who was named the first-ever Mr. Drummer in 1980.
“He explains that above all else, what they’re trying to get across with their parties is that these men were ‘badasses’ who were ahead of their time and were ‘stepping to the forefront of what it meant to be gay, and living it.’”
“That’s the formula that I’m always aiming for; that mix of heavy cruise bar, a little bit of dance and then a backroom,” he says.
But does the party deliver the rebellious spirit that he so desperately longs for?
“I think so,” he says. “Just that we’re setting up a backroom and risking the bar’s license feels like we’re getting away with something. I think public sex is something that’s very policed these days. At least in California… And I think that’s something that needs to happen in a public space. It’s just hard to get away with.”
He claims that older guys who had gone to the cruise bars of yesteryear have complimented him on replicating the same vibe.
“Beyond the whole public sex piece,” he adds, “by telling the story of these spaces and shining a light on it, it’s opening up people’s eyes to our forebearers who created this leather culture that we maybe take for granted.”
