Cubbyhole

Overview

West Village bar at 281 West 12th Street, a bar on this site since 1987 (as DT's Fat Cat), renamed Cubbyhole in 1994 when Tanya Saunders took the name of the prior Cubby Hole at 438 Hudson; sources differ on whether she bought the name or was given permission.

The bar at 281 West 12th Street has operated since 1987, when Tanya Saunders and Debbie Fierro opened it as DT's Fat Cat ('D' for Debbie and 'T' for Tanya, per Queer Happened Here). Wikipedia says Saunders and Fierro ran it 'as a refuge for all comers'. Saunders described it as a 'neighborhood fusion bar' (NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project). In 1994, Saunders renamed the bar Cubbyhole, after The Cubby Hole (two words, a distinct name) that Elaine Romagnoli had operated at 438 Hudson Street from 1983 (NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project; Queer Happened Here says circa 1981) until 1990. Sources differ on the terms of the name: Wikipedia says Saunders bought it from the owner of an already-closed lesbian bar, not named there; Queer Happened Here's 'A Tale of Two Cubbyholes' says both 'bought' and 'permission and blessing' of Romagnoli; its 'Fat Cat' post and the NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project say Romagnoli gave permission, with no purchase mentioned; Gay City News says only that Saunders 'secured the name'. Romagnoli closed the Hudson Street bar in 1990 and went on to open Crazy Nanny's. Lisa Cannistraci opened Henrietta Hudson at 438 Hudson in 1991 (NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project). Both bars were still operating as of the dates of those sources. The bar is known for a 'thatch of Japanese lanterns, model airplanes, oversize goldfish' (the Villager, 2004, via NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project; Gay City News obituary), and for its jukebox (Gay City News, 2021). Tanya Saunders died on April 29, 2018, at 82 (Gay City News; Queer Happened Here gives the year); she left the bar to Lisa Menichino, who had bartended at Cubbyhole since 2000 according to Queer Happened Here. The Lesbian Bar Project, a campaign launched in October 2020 whose documentary short followed in June 2021, names Cubby Hole and Henrietta Hudson among its 36 bars. Cubbyhole closed in March 2020; a fundraising campaign had drawn more than $76,000 in donations by April 2021; the bar reopened in summer 2020, closed again in December, and patrons celebrated its reopening on April 8, 2021 (Gay City News). The bar has operated at 281 West 12th Street since 1987, as DT's Fat Cat and, from 1994, as Cubbyhole.