.: 100% combed cotton jersey
.: Heavy fabric (7.66 oz/yd² (260 g/m²))
.: Boxy fit

Chaps — New York City Vintage 1970s–1980s Gay Western & Leather Bar Tee

Located at 1558 Third Avenue, between 87th and 88th Streets, Chaps was a popular gay neighborhood bar during an era when New York's homosexual nightlife was expanding well beyond the familiar streets of Greenwich Village.

And this wasn't exactly your typical Upper East Side cocktail lounge.

While the neighborhood was better known for wealthy socialites, expensive apartments, and ladies who lunched, Chaps offered something a little more interesting: a place for gay men to gather, drink, cruise, and enjoy an evening without having to venture downtown.

The bar embraced the masculine Western and leather styles that became enormously popular in gay culture during the 1970s and 1980s. Denim, boots, leather, and a carefully cultivated mustache were practically a uniform.

Who needed a three-piece suit when a tight pair of 501s could do so much more?

By 1985, Chaps was well established on the city's gay nightlife circuit. A contemporary listing in New York Native described it as a relaxed, popular neighborhood bar with friendly bartenders, DJ music, and a clientele drawn from both the surrounding neighborhood and the rest of the city.

Open daily from 3 PM until 4 AM, the bar also offered reduced-price drinks during weekday happy hours, giving local gentlemen plenty of time to unwind after a hard day at the office.

Or find someone to help them unwind.

Chaps was still appearing in New York gay bar directories in 1987, a reminder of the extraordinary number of establishments that once served the city's gay community before changing neighborhoods, soaring rents, and the devastating AIDS crisis transformed the nightlife landscape.

Its exact opening and closing dates remain difficult to establish, but Chaps survives in vintage advertisements, bar directories, and the memories of men who experienced New York's wonderfully uninhibited gay nightlife firsthand.