It had this fascinating brutalist aesthetic to it, and, you know, even from afar, I could tell that it was a place where people could be themselves, whatever that meant. I was living with my sister at the time, and I would walk past this bar called Eastern Bloc in the East Village. Do you remember the first gay bar you ever went to? Here’s the 31-year-old’s advice for getting a bartender’s attention, holding your head high in a day job, and how to get invited to an SNL after-party. We’ve gotta make sure we keep them open so the next generation can be awkward and amazed and supported, too.”
(He penned a love letter to that bar, a famous downtown New York City dive called Eastern Bloc, as part of his campaign duties.) “I didn’t even how to order a drink,” he laughs.
“The first time I walked by a gay bar, I knew there was something special happening there, even before I could walk in,” Yang tells.
