Woven, Not Stranded: A Retrospective of The Web
At The Chinese American Arts Council, November 14 - December 5, 2025
Read my interview with co-curators Yukai Chen in New York and Xiaojing Zhu in Beijing at CultBytes.
Between a much anticipated opening in 1990 and its closing in 2013 The Web, 盘丝洞, pulsed with American Disco and House music that kept crowds dancing well into the night. Three years before Lucky Cheng’s served brunches and employed Asian and Asian-American Drag performers in the East Village, an Upper East side multi-level venue on Madison Avenue at the East 58th Street corner was the first Gay Asian-owned Gay bar in New York City, a distinction that, sadly, remains unchallenged to this day. People of color own very few LGBTQ nightlife businesses in New York City. Aside from The Web and Alibi opening in Harlem in 2016, Queens was the only borough where Queer people of color owned LGBTQ+ bars. Twenty three consecutive years in Manhattan for any LGBTQ+ club is a significant feat. Clubs with far less duration have influenced generations, pop culture, and became legendary: Mineshaft was only open from 1976-1985.
The Web remains part of New York City’s undercurrents of modern Queer lore, a constellation of citywide locations well known to those who were there but obscure within the scope of mainstream recognition. A current exhibition at the Chinese American Arts Council is the first retrospective of this unique home for Queer Asian communities. Titled The Web: The Birth and Legacy of New York’s First Asian Gay Bar, and co-curated by Xiaojing Zhu and Yukai Chen, the exhibition features photographs, ephemera, and an installation to celebrate the cultural touchstone The Web was for so many Asian and Asian American New Yorkers.
A Selection of Photographs from the exhibition:
Left: Installation view. ”The Web: The Birth and Legacy of New York’s First Asian Gay Bar.” Photo: Yanmei Jiang. Scanned and edited by Yukai Chen. Chinese American Arts Council Archives. Middle: Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily featuring The Web’s New York City Gay & Lesbian Pride float on cover, 2007. Scanned and edited by Yukai Chen. Chinese American Arts Council Archives. Right: The Web’s float at New York City Gay & Lesbian Pride, 2001. Scanned and edited by Yukai Chen. Chinese American Arts Council Archives.