A Gay Neighborhood or Merely a Temporary Clter of “Strange” Bars? Gay Bar Culture Antwerp | SprgerLk

Contents:

• GAY ANTWERP ANTWERP CY GUI
• THE BEST ANTWERP GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ANTWERP
• ANTWERP: A GAY MT-VIS STATN BELGIUM!
• EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS ANTWERP
• A GAY NEIGHBORHOOD OR MERELY A TEMPORARY CLTER OF “STRANGE” BARS? GAY BAR CULTURE ANTWERP
• TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE 'THE CROWD ROOM' DEFEND BY FANS
• ANTWERP GAY CISE CLUBS
• GAY BELGIUM
• THE KKY'S (CLOSED)ANTWERPMENUHOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSSNASCISE CLUBSSHOPSMASSAGECY GUIGAY MAPBELGIUM EVENTSTHE KKY'S (CLOSED)
• ANTWERP GAY MAP
• GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS ANTWERP
• ANTWERPEN GAY DANCE CLUBS
• GAY ANTWERP · BYGUI

GAY ANTWERP ANTWERP CY GUI

We have been to a fair number of gay pri events over the past two years – four last year and five this year which we later learned was unimprsive pared to the ten pl pri events another Amerin expat livg Germany had attend this year – but we have never seen a cy so cked out rabows before.

By the end of the weekend we realized that although Antwerp is a morately known cy often bypassed for Bssels a morately vised untry that’s often overlooked by s more prodig neighbors, s abily to appeal to the gay muny as a travel statn is imprsive and somethg we won’t soon fet.

Footnote 1 Although Antwerp has e to be reprented as the “gay pal” of Flanrs, we will show that never veloped a full-fledged gay neighborhood the Anglo-Amerin tradn of the ncept—that is, a neighborhood characterized by the historil clterg of a wi range of urban functns for sexual mori (social, cultural, rintial, sexual, mercial, wh service and hospaly dtri as well as entertament venu).

THE BEST ANTWERP GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ANTWERP

As several other Wtern European natns (and many non-Wtern untri bis), the clterg of sexual mori Antwerp has been limed largely to the enomic, social, and cultural bs of (nightlife) entertament, wh lbian and gay meetg plac historilly ncentratg particular neighborhoods that, moreover, have shifted over time and dissipated aga. As the inty of morn-day “homosexuals” me to be shaped and solidified (roughly as of the send half of the neteenth century), people who intified creasgly as members of this mographic created private, semi-public, and public meetg spac for themselv, startg larger ci such as Berl and New York (Beachy 2014; Chncey 1995).

ANTWERP: A GAY MT-VIS STATN BELGIUM!

Belgian urban neighborhoods tend to be more fely graed and mixed, more plex their stratifitns and ls homogeneo, and as a rult do not ve the same strong sense of dividualy and inty as do many of the inic neighborhoods the English-speakg world, which are unrwrten by a more outspoken logic of martn and differentiatn. A self-chosen, not-enomilly enforced rintial clterg of one segment of the populatn one specific area—lbians and gays our historil shorthand scriptn—has th never seemed as necsary or enticg as much bigger ci this should be add a larger cultural ntext: Flanrs as a whole is a nsely populated regn which pecially the triangle Antwerp-Ghent-Bssels has sometim been scribed, parative ternatnal terms, as a sgle extend nurbatn (GUST 1999: 32–38; Albrechts and Lievois 2004).

EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS ANTWERP

This cultural pattern is so eply graed that appli even to lbians and gays the days of massive anti-homosexual hostily ral Flanrs, when one would have expected a great many of them to engage the same kd of “reverse diaspora” (Sfield 1996: 281) to central ci that has been historilly characteristic of sexual and genr mori other untri. They did not build most of their liv around a specific, regnizably gay neighborhood, but ma ocsnal e of the clters of bars that over time beme available we are able to embark on the followg narrative and analysis, is also necsary to reflect methodologilly on how our vtigatn is shaped (both enabled and rtricted) by s hristic ndns. Neher the French penal of 1810 that was adopted Belgium after the untry’s pennce 1830 nor the Belgian penal of 1867 prohibed homosexual acts between nsentg adults private, although public displays of homosexual tert and sire uld be prosecuted for “asslts on honor and public cency” (Vanhaelewyn 2008: 248).

This impli that for much of the neteenth and twentieth centuri, Belgian homosexuals were not as strongly persecuted as many other European untri, though the fact that they were not actively opprsed by the State may also have slowed down lbian and gay inty formatn and social activism, pecially the largely Dutch-speakg and voutly Catholic Flanrs, where a nservative social value system persisted well to the send half of the twentieth century (Dupont et al. Partly as a rult, gay life remaed very much unrground and has bee hard to retrace om official sourc equently ed by historgraphers other untri, such as police fil (Dupont 2015), the most important source of rmatn that we have about everyday lbian and gay life the early to mid-twentieth century nsists of a number of tobgraphi and oral history terviews wh lbians and gays.

”Although visibily and silence th reigned supreme mastream Flemish society, om the early twentieth century onwards some form of gay subculture did start to emerge tentatively out-of-the-way pockets, and was Antwerp, particular, that began to velop somethg that might qualify as a gay nightlife (Hellck 2002: 6). Loopmans and Van Den Broeck (2011) have fact traced the roots for such typil harbor prostutn much further back history, llg the area one of the olst red-light districts Europe, whose origs lie the fifteenth is here, near the river and the harbor, that Antwerp’s gay nightlife most probably first took shape. Yet, while we may be certa that same-sex sexual practic took place there, is not so clear whether the area already wnsed a mimally anized form of homosexual subculture durg the late neteenth century, and if so, whether this was then tegrated the tablished bs of heterosexual prostutn.

A GAY NEIGHBORHOOD OR MERELY A TEMPORARY CLTER OF “STRANGE” BARS? GAY BAR CULTURE ANTWERP

1(Source Imag by Bart Eeckhout, April 2020)The visible gay history of the Skippers Quarter: where for most of the twentieth century Danny’s Bar ed to be (until the mid-1990s), today a stretch of new-built rintial ho and a brasserie are to be found (left), and the historilly narrow alley where the Crystal Palace ed to be (until the buildg llapsed the 1960s), bland archecture now reigns supreme (right)Full size imageThe gay clientele of the Skippers Quarter steadily grew; on the eve of the Send World War, the neighborhood had apparently acquired a distctly gay nnotatn to those the know.

Whereas Shakpeare had a female bartenr, Jackie, and attracted a mostly female crowd, the bars near the tra statn had male bartenrs and clientele: “Dikke Piet” (Fat Pete) was the gay bartenr of Fortunia, “Miss Banaan” (Miss Banana) served at Week-End, and the drag queen “Eddy”/“Edh” at La Ron (Wters 2011: 56–58; Kegels 2008: 37–38, 64, 89–90) of the 1950s, the nam of such new bars more often ntaed d referenc to homosexual culture.

TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE 'THE CROWD ROOM' DEFEND BY FANS

Olr bars’ nam the Skippers Quarter that had already been operatn before they attracted a gay clientele would sometim refer to the harbor lotn (De Lichttoren [The Lighthoe]), to a regn (Café Normandie), the bar’s owner (Danny’s Bar), or the venue’s terr sign (Crystal Palace).

When one of the gay bars the vicy of the statn, Week-End, changed owners the late 1950s, was renamed as La Vie en Rose (Pk Life), thereby alludg not only to the eponymo song by Edh Piaf, the French sger who was then beg a cult diva among homosexuals, but also to the growg symbolism of the lor pk, which, unr the fluence of Amerin cloth manufacturers, had e to be rerved almost exclively for young girls and th rried a strong feme nnotatn (Paoletti 2012). As before, such slight geographic displacements were relevant only to the lotn of bars and clubs, bee the lol lbian and gay populatn as a le had not sought to move to any of the neighborhoods and had not set up a muny life, service sector, or cultural dtry them (Fig.

ANTWERP GAY CISE CLUBS

Sce 1993 has also been hog a gay(-iendly) fé/club terg to a younger crowdFull size image3 The Paradigmatic Case History of Café Strange the Central Statn AreaSo far, we have limed ourselv largely to a bird’s-eye view of the permutatns of twentieth-century gay nightlife Antwerp as origated the Skippers Quarter and, the send half of the century, moved to addnal neighborhoods.

GAY BELGIUM

Bee of the venue’s longevy, moreover ( still surviv), prents a sufficiently extend se study that allows to ponr the twenty-first-century cle of gay bar life Antwerp as 1955, a gay-iendly bar the Dambggtraat, a street loted near the popular neighborhood Seefhoek, was reopened by the gay uple Bno and Julien (Kegels 2008: 112–113).

At the time, the epicenter of gay life was probably still the Skippers Quarter, yet by then the Dambggtraat also happened to host the gay bar Fortunia, and the street was nveniently wh walkg distance om the statn, wh s daily crowd of natnal muters and ternatnal travelers, as well as one of the largt and most notor public toilets ( ont of the statn), where men were known to hook up and/or have sex wh other men (Kegels 2008: 75–79) Shakpeare, Café Strange was one of the lol pneers when me to alludg to the kd of patrons targeted, and the nature of the bar, through s very name. Instead of stickg to the tradnal jebox, they acquired a profsnal DJ set wh turntable, hired DJs to ensure that a ntuo flow of mic was beg played durg parti, bought new rerdgs on a regular basis, and advertised both natnal and ternatnal LGBT media—for stance, the much-read Dutch Gay Krant and ternatnal guis such as Spartac.

THE KKY'S (CLOSED)ANTWERPMENUHOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSSNASCISE CLUBSSHOPSMASSAGECY GUIGAY MAPBELGIUM EVENTSTHE KKY'S (CLOSED)

The majory of visors to Café Strange appear to have been gay, lbian, or bisexual, although natnal and ternatnal gay guis show that the mographic shifted over the years, om a relatively wir range age and genr durg the 1980s to a crowd of mostly gay men durg the 1990s, and then morphg to a mix of gay and gay-iendly patrons a bar stayed fancially que profable until the 1990s, when the number of patrons began to dwdle. 4 The Decle of Gay Bar Life AntwerpThere are many different reasons why mercial gay bar life the area to the north of Antwerp’s Central Statn started to cle toward the end of the twentieth century until has by now—two s to the twenty-first century—all but disappeared. A handful of gay-iendly mega clubs, mercial party formats, and mastream mixed bars, such as Hsenhuis and Red & Blue (both loted the reveloped part of town to the north of the Skippers Quarter), ma sure to expand their bs by seekg to seize a big part of the pie of LGBT leisure culture.

Several of the buildgs on the left ed to hoe the gay bars that gave the street s nickname of Vasele Street and that have sce gone out of bsFull size imageWh enomic petn th g om two sis—one activist, one mercial—and the reputatn of the area and s gay venu beg ever more dub, the bars the statn area me to seem old-fashned, uneventful, sleazy, and unsafe, wh dire nsequenc for their mercial viabily.

ANTWERP GAY MAP

Although Antwerp went through a procs of mornist urban planng the perd after the Send World War, which also affected the Skippers Quarter (Loopmans and Van Den Broeck 2011), the streets harborg the gay bars near the tra statn remaed largely untouched by (Loopmans 2008). Yet even then, the actual material effects of such cy-planned upgradg seem to postdate, by and large, the mise of the lol world of gay bars, which was more driven by the logic scribed the prev paragraphs than by any form of cy planng or gentrifitn phg the bars out of of the micro-chang on the ground wh the cy of Antwerp should obvly be amed aga a larger cultural ntext—that of the relatively quick shift attus toward sexual and genr mori wh Wtern European societi overall, a shift that has arguably been even faster Belgium (and pecially Flanrs) than most of s neighborg untri. Major sights, rtrants, shops and gay nightlife are packed to the cy 's On TodayLe BaroqueLive DJ - om 9pmChez MamanDrag Show PerformanceCafé Que Pasa- Temporarily ClosedLat BeatsValentoParty Night wh DJ'@ The PubLGBTQ Chat CafeWhat's On TomorrowLe BaroqueLive DJ - om 9pmChez MamanDrag Show PerformanceCafé Que Pasa- Temporarily ClosedLat BeatsCafé Que Pasa- Temporarily ClosedChill OutFLASH Tea Dance @ You Night ClubFLASH party night om 10:30pmSna Aquari - OstendMen-Only Day 2pm-11pmValentoParty Night wh DJ'@ The PubLGBTQ Chat CafeBook A Travel Gay Approved HotelLotnCheck InCheck OutGutsSearchAbout BelgiumHomosexual activyLegalSeptember 3, 1944Same-sex marriageLegalJune 1, 2003LGBT discrimatnIllegalJanuary 1, 2003Equal age of nsentEqualJanuary 1, 1985Learn MoreTrendg Hotels BelgiumU Eat & SleepMarivx HotelHotel JulienHoliday Inn Exprs Antwerp Cy NorthNews & FeaturA Gay Weekend In Bsselsnull..

The timate MoreThgs To Do BgYou’d be fiven for thkg that Bg was the whimsil set of a blockbter MoreEurope's Bt Lbian BarsLbian bars are important venu for LGBT+ women to feel safe and have fun around MoreThe Bt Gay Snas EuropeLookg for mischief the Old World? The openly gay bar is a relatively new addn to the social space scene, and beme que mon que quickly, perhaps, some say, too, most straight folks have ltle fear of homosexualy, and gay bars bee their jot du jour--to the horror of many men and women who wish they still had their sacred space ee of bachelorette parti (read Drew Droege's take on this phenomenon).

THE TIN ROOM: It's all about the go-go boys and their pol at this Dallas hotspot, which allows anyone 18 and over, which means plenty of young guns n be found roamg the expansive, dimply l, OhCLUB MASQUE: Gays, girls, straights, bis, and drag queens aplenty dance the night away unr one roof. Don't let exposed brick and velveteen curtas fool you, Bolt's open to all, and would love to have VEGAS, NevadaKRAVE MASSIVE: Callg self the "world's largt gay bar, " and featurg Ibiza-sized danced floors, five themed dance rooms, three bars, two stag, a VIP lounge, a marti lounge, a gift shop ('s Vegas remember) and a theater, and more go-go boys than you n shake your stick at, Krave Massive may be the biggt homo pleasure place on Earth. ) and the perfect pat, this is where many a gay brgs his or her out-of-town pals to see and experience the heart of Perhaps the social epicenter of hard-partyg Alterna-Wood, Akbar is the go-to spot the middle of Los Angel's antigloss neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, and Echo Park.

GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS ANTWERP

MANCHESTER, New HampshireBREEZEWAY PUB: Unplited fun and dallianc n be found at the aptly named Breezeway Pub , FloridaJAMBOREE LOUNGE: A wonrful boozy dive bar where the drks are strong and so is the sleaze, this is a perfect antidote to the overwhelmg to the technilor displays seen at other Miami The ial gay at hoe, a plethora of rooms to play awa here this South Beach mt. And ask please before they p a LAFITTE IN EXILE: The olst gay bar the Uned Stat, 's a great iendly hangout even if do feel like a dgy dive for the most part, wh vio screens and cmmy FRIENDS: In the heart of New Orleans's French Quarter, you're sure to make some new pals over pool, shuffleboard, and cheap drks at Good OZ: The most popular dance club the French Quarter.

INDUSTRY: As Hell's Kchen has overtaken Chelsea as the gayborhood of the moment, Indtry (om the same people who brought you Elmo and Barracuda) outsh as the stand-and-mol masterpiece where the boys (and girls) are pretty and the nights stretch until ': The gran dame of New York Cy's gay bars, Juli' is the olst, most ntuoly popular and poppg gay bar town. The boys are wonrful, the mic lively, the vtage photos pellg and the burgers and tater tots are a mt-have durg late night 'S CRISIS: Another oldie but goodie the Big Apple, Marie's Crisis has been on the scene for almost four s and prr to that this basement space was a pre-prohibn gay bar and before that was a brothel. For a different kd of vibe than you'd expect at a gay bar, take advantage of the photo booth or Skee-Ball The newt (and one of the few) gay-centric dance clubs the cy has weekly themed parti, special gut DJs, and some of the hottt boys om around the world lookg for a night of sweaty dancg.

ANTWERPEN GAY DANCE CLUBS

OKLAHOMA CITY, OklahomaTHE BOOM: The Boom's rint drag star Renee Hilton and her drag queen sisters are some of the bt the cy, but you n only go to one event here, make sure 's this rtrant/bar's gospel Sunday, NebraskaDC SALOON: There's not an ounce of pretense and jt the right amount of sleaze this bar or among s clientele, primarily a mix of lol bears and leather MAX: The Max scrib self as "the bt gay dance club Ameri. And, y, the men rock, ON CAMAC: A piano bar downstairs and a night club upstairs, this staple the Cy of Brotherly Love is lively and rehg exercise high and low, and nsistently leav patrons feelg like a ln 'S BAR: The Cy of Brotherly Love's bt gay bar is arguably s skankit.

Loted on the San Anton Strip, 's the perfect place to pre-game before headg over to Heat or JUAN, Puerto RiCIRCO: This small spot Santurce, the hub for gay nightlife, packs 'em --for the drag queens, for the dancg--and, even better, no matter how crowd gets, there's always a great vibe. CHILESANTIAGODIONISIO: In addn to beg the first gay bar the Bellavista neighborhood, Dnis has the charm and character of an off-the-beaten path nightclub, plete wh small ndlel tabl and a stageful of bawdy PRINCIPE: See how Chileans do theme night at this always rc bar and club, home to many of the cy's bt drag + MEDITERRANEANAUSTRIAVIENNABLUE ORANGE: One of the more popular rtrant chas Vienna, Blue Orange offers some of the bt breakfast fare the pal.

Although not particularly fashnable, 's always crowd a good way, wh lots of nooks for CAFE: Most of the actn tak place on the siwalk at see-and-be-seen-bar, where handsome French gents take cisg to the next level, and look oh-so-chic dog Charmg and zy, wh staff that will go out of their way to engage you, Okawa stands out on Rue Vieille-du-Temple, a street punctuated wh the gay bars of the Marais, the gayt part of gay Paris. PANORAMA BAR/BERGHAIN: An enormo Ferris wheel si sets the stage for Bergha, the ultimate rgmaster's n of iquy: myriad v, ns, dance floors, locker rooms, and bathtubs, while Panorama Bar, a world-class dance club wh an unrivaled lp of ternatnal DJs, occupi the upper 'S BAR: The crowd is young, gged (thk T-shirts, flannel, and leather), and 'ber-nghty at Berl's classic gay n for "succsful cisg".

GAY ANTWERP · BYGUI

RUSSIAMOSCOW12 VOLT: A mixed crowd of younger and cidly, tentnally hip Mosw help give poppy, lorful 12 Volt a sh of thentic, uneded Rsian Rsia's ernment and public at large railg agast "homosexual propaganda, " but you wouldn't know by lookg at Sharm's dance floor, where men and drag queens let loose to Rsian and. " If that's not your speed, the downstairs area has an timate outsi ck to take weather and pool CORNER: A tavern that's more of a drkg tablishment where you'll watch a gby match rather than a hardre club, you're most likely to fd your bear iends equentg, was opened by gay guys and serv a weekly "braai, " Aikaans for grilled meat, an sential social ctom. The crowd, though mostly straight, is almost exclively expat, so if there's a well-heeled homo travelg through Kathmandu at the same time you are, chanc are he'll swg through PHILIPPINESMANILABIG PAPA: One of many "macho dancer bars" Manila, bars where the mcle-bound go-go bars dance artfully to moody mic stead of gyratg to the bass, Big Papa's also one of the bt.

Pk Vatn Rentals attend the 26th Annual IGLTA (Internatnal Gay and Lbian Travel Associatn) Global Conventn Antwerp Belgium om June 23-26, 1010 and the Gay Pri events on June we prepare to leave Antwerp after a great 4 day vis, we want to leave you wh some rmatn prented by the Cy of Antwerp: Wele to Gay Antwerp. This has led to some new iativ: Antwerp Pri - A third, edn to be held this first ever Belgium Leather Pri, which Gay Antwerp is proud to be workg wh January 2010Antwerp will host the IGLTA (Internatnal Gay and Lbian Travel Associatn) nference 2010 Antwerp will also host the 2013 Outgam Wh this support om the Cy, Gay Antwerp has a rosy future General Informatn Antwerp (Antwerpen) is loted the Flanrs regn of Belgium, and is renowned as a port cy. One area which was prevly the gay centre is around Van Schoonhovenstraat (known lolly as "Rue Vasele"), this still has a number of venu loted on the Town Gay Antwerp Durg the week the scene tends to be fairly quiet (events do still exist - check the agenda for tails).