Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day appears in the diary as a conspicuously busy New York holiday. On February 14, 1978, Andy Warhol moved from an “I Love New York” party to Vitas Gerulaitis’s Valentine’s party and then on to Studio 54, recording the day as a sequence of social encounters rather than a single observance.

A Holiday in the City

Warhol was struck by how many people were out celebrating and described the occasion as a major holiday. Paulette Goddard picked him up for the “I Love New York” party at Tavern on the Green. The day also brought politics into the holiday’s social orbit: Bella Abzug attended while voters were deciding whether she would win the congressional seat vacated by Mayor Koch. The diary records the election as part of the evening’s conversation, without stating its outcome.

Parties and Relationships

Warhol next went with Catherine Guinness to Gerulaitis’s gathering at Le Club. Peter Beard and Tom Sullivan arrived; Sullivan and Guinness had an agreement that each could go out and be with other people, and that evening Sullivan was accompanied by a young model while Guinness attended with Warhol. The entry presents the arrangement matter-of-factly, as one more detail in the night’s social traffic.

Jerry Hall was also there. She told Warhol that she was looking for a house for herself and Mick Jagger and that they planned to live together for six months. Warhol noted that others disliked Hall but that he liked her. After Le Club, the night continued at Studio 54, where, in his account, everyone seemed to be present. The holiday’s significance in this entry lies in that compressed itinerary: celebration, politics, negotiated intimacy, and celebrity talk all occupy the same February evening.