Partner Andy Warhol, Alan Wanzenberg
Queer Places:
57 E 66th St, New York, NY 10065
TWA Flight 800 Memorial, William Floyd Parkway, Mastic Beach, NY 11951
Jed Johnson (December 30, 1948 – July 17, 1996) was an American interior
designer and film director. Initially hired by
Andy Warhol to sweep
floors at Warhol's Factory, he subsequently moved in with Warhol and for
twelve years was his lover.[1][2]
As a passenger in the first class cabin, he was killed when TWA Flight 800
exploded shortly after takeoff in 1996.[3]
In 1967, Johnson and his twin brother Jay moved from Minnesota to Manhattan. Two weeks later, he delivered a telegram to the Decker building which was being renovated by Paul Morrissey before it became the new home of Andy Warhol's Factory.[4] Johnson accepted an on-the-spot job offer to sweep floors, but quickly moved into editing several films including Andy Warhol's Dracula and L'Amour, and eventually directing Andy Warhol's Bad.
He picked out a townhouse for Warhol on East 66th Street and designed its interiors.[5] He lived there with Warhol for a number of years.
Johnson was later a member of the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board, formed the year before his death.[6]
Among other offshoot projects, Johnson designed the offices of Interview magazine. Through that work, he met Sandra and Peter Brant and worked with them on eleven projects.[5] He built on this career, eventually forming a partnership in both business and life with the architect Alan Wanzenberg, and taking on clients such as Mick Jagger and Richard Gere.[7]
That year he met Jed Johnson (pictured together), who would later become a famed interior designer, and the two stayed together for 12 years. At the time Johnson was a 19-year-old college kid from California who worked at The Factory fixing things up. He moved in with Warhol and they 'functioned as husband and husband' and appeared to have a full sexual relationship
He was awarded the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame Award in 1996.[8]
On July 17, 1996, Johnson was a passenger on TWA Flight 800. He, along with 230 other passengers and crew members, was killed when the plane exploded off the coast of Long Island, New York.[9]
My published books:
