“It turned out that I actually liked room living,” Garrett said. The temporary arrangement became a 22-year stay. It was around May 1978 when part of the ceiling of Garrett’s Hell’s Kitchen one-bedroom apartment fell in, and the then 26-year-old actor and taxi driver put down $40 for what was supposed to be a week stay at the McBurney Y. But it was a serious gym for people who really wanted to go and work out every day, and a nice place to live for working-class people.” “ did have some overlapping of gay cruising. “There was certainly a party aspect to their video and that time was the height of all the gay clubs in Chelsea,” recalls Davidson Garrett, who lived at the McBurney Y from 1978 through 2000. Yet former residents of the McBurney Y in Chelsea - the building that inspired the song, and which was featured in the video released in late 1978 - say the reality of stays at the YMCA in those days was more complicated than the lyrics portray, with gay culture and working-class workouts coexisting in a single communal space. The song has also immortalized the Young Men's Christian Association in pop culture.

In the 40 years since the Village People released “YMCA,” the song has become a cultural touchstone: a gay anthem famous for its innuendos and double entendres about young, fit men “having a good time,” as well as a staple at Yankees games and bar mitzvahs.