Club A

Club A is a recurring social venue in these diary entries, associated with an argument over who could be invited, a party billed as an exclusive meeting of uptown and downtown that proved nearly empty, and a later dinner attended by Andy Warhol. Across these occasions, the club’s promise of access and fashionable company repeatedly meets the diary’s more prosaic record of who was admitted, who appeared, and who was left out.

The January Invitation Dispute

On January 8, Warhol described a quarrel with Chris Makos over an upcoming party at Club A. Warhol said his name appeared on the invitation as a host and objected that he could not invite whomever he wanted. When he asked who else was coming, Chris Makos named a group Warhol characterized as boys Chris had been involved with. The dispute made the guest list, rather than the party itself, the immediate source of friction.

An Exclusive Party With Few Guests

The party took place on January 10. Warhol recorded calls from people hoping to get in and described Chris Makos as insisting on the party’s exclusivity. Steve Rubell called, as did Calvin, who wanted advice on what to wear. The interest in gaining entry set up an expectation of a crowded, socially charged event.

Warhol left while snow was falling, paid four dollars for a cab, and arrived to find almost nobody there. The event had been promoted as a meeting of uptown and downtown, but the empty room reduced that ambitious social promise to a letdown. In this account, Club A’s exclusivity is less a mark of successful glamour than a performance that fails to produce the gathering it advertises.

A Later Dinner

In a separate entry, Warhol recorded taking a cab to dinner at Club A for four dollars. He sat at a table beside Diane von Furstenberg, who discussed plans for a new store and a party she was giving for Michael Graves; she did not invite Warhol to that party. The entry places Club A within the same overlapping world of dining, design, and invitations, while distinguishing the dinner from the earlier party: here the notable detail is not the room’s turnout but Warhol’s proximity to a guest and his exclusion from another occasion.