“It was like nirvana for gay men”: How WeHo nightclub Studio One changed the course of LGBTQ+ history
Studio One Forever takes viewers within the walls of the iconic venue, reliving its glory days and highlighting it as a symbol for our community’s resilience—a spirit that will linger long after its gone.Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.Upon learning that the building that once housed Studio One was on the verge of being demolished, filmmaker Marc Saltarelli set out to tell its story—and possibly help save it.
To do so, he assembled an incredible array of subjects whose lives have been forever changed by the nightclub and its adjoining cabaret dinner club The Backlot.From former employees, to patrons, to performers who graced its stage (including Thelma Houston and the late Chita Rivera), everyone has their story to tell about Studio One, and together they offer a kaleidoscopic view of a time and a place that represented great change for the LGBTQ+ community, which should resonate for future generations to come.Years in the making, Studio One Forever is now available through most major digital platforms, and to celebrate, Queerty sat down for a conversation with Saltarelli to hear about his own personal history with the nightclub, and to learn how he assembled many lifetimes worth of stories into a tribute to a true landmark for the queer community.Check out this Queerty exclusive clip—featuring footage from the 2019 Studio One reunion—and then read our interview with director Marc Saltarelli below:Marc, you’ve previously shared that you were a newly out Midwestern transplant in the early ‘80s when you had first experienced Studio One for yourself.
What do you remember hearing about it at the time? What convinced you to go?I came out in Illinois, at the University of Illinois, and moved out here to go to film school—I couldn’t get into USC, but I went to Loyola Marymount, which is an amazing film school.
