An iconic refuge and safe haven for New York City's queer community dating back well over a half a century, Fire Island holds a special place in LGBTQ+ history. Known for its legendary party scene, as Andrew Holleran introduced to us in Dancer from the Dance, Fire Island's infamous bacchanals have gone on to become the stuff of gay myth and legend.
Now, you too can experience a little slice of what it would have been like to dance on those fabled dancefloors thanks to a recently unearthed collection of tapes. Dubbed "The Pine Walk Collection" after the tapes were the discovered in a recently purchased Pine Walk home, this treasure trove of recorded DJ set spans almost two decades worth of parties from 1981 all the way through 1999.
The collection features over 200 tapes with sets from DJs such as Michael Jorba, Giancarlo, Teri Beaudoin, Robbie Leslie, Shaun Buchanan and more taken from Memorial Day weekenders, Labor Day parties, season openings and reoccurring club nights. Filled with countless hours of vintage house and disco, this archive of DJ sets from Fire Island's heyday is not only an amazing glimpse of that nightlife, but also just a solid collection of mixes that still hold up today.
The Pine Walk Collection is currently available for free via Mixcloud. According to the archives' description, all of the tapes "are being carefully digitized and remastered and offered to stream for free here on Mixcloud with permission from all of the living DJs."
Play a few select highlights, below, and check out the full collection, here.
Photo via Getty/ Hiroyuki Ito