The Saint nightclub

The Saint nightclub is presented in Andy Warhol’s diary as a place where an art-centered, black-tie corporate dinner met the afterlife of a nightclub associated with gay disco culture. A 1987 account makes that contrast tangible: guests came for a watch-company event and Sarah Vaughan’s singing, yet felt uneasy about eating in the dark venue and passing rooms associated with its earlier use.

Setting and remembered reputation

The diary identifies The Saint as a former gay disco, a history that shaped how the dinner guests experienced the venue. Its account does not describe the nightclub’s broader layout or usual clientele; it records instead the unease prompted by the site’s past and by the darkness of the room. Food served on black plates became part of that apprehension, making the dinner’s formal arrangements feel unsettling to the group.

The Rado Watches dinner

Warhol attended a black-tie dinner hosted by Rado Watches, organized around a painting he had made and a performance by Sarah Vaughan. The combination brought together a commercial sponsor, Warhol’s art, and a celebrated singer in one event. The diary emphasizes Vaughan’s strong singing, while noting that, after the performance, the group was taken to her room and passed spaces associated with sexual activity at the club.

After the event

The group told Vaughan that she had sung well, though she seemed more interested in her drink and asked someone to cap her brandy. Once hungry, Warhol, Paige, and Wilfredo went to the nearby restaurant 103, where their inexpensive meal contrasted with the black-tie dinner. They also found waiters whom Wilfredo could use as models for shoots he was arranging in Atlantic City for Interview. In this account, The Saint is a brief but vivid setting: a polished art-and-entertainment occasion unfolds in a venue whose remembered past continues to govern the guests’ reactions.