Gay Clubs - the Greatt Gay Bars the World |

Contents:

• THE STRANGER'S GUI TO THE BT GAY CLUBS, SHOPS, AND BARS SEATTLE
• WHY GAY BARS ARE DISAPPEARG ACROSS AMERI
• THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI
• GAY CLUBS
• THE DOS & DON'TS OF GAY CLUBBG
• D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS
• THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW
• YOU COULD BE A GAY BAR RIGHT NOW AND NOT EVEN KNOW IT
• GAY 90’S: MNEAPOLIS’ MOST INFLUENTIAL GAY BAR
• THE 10 BEST AMSTERDAM GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS AMSTERDAM
• IN 1973, AN ARSONIST KILLED 32 PEOPLE AT A GAY CLUB. WHY HAS HISTORY SHGGED?
• MOSW GAY CISE CLUBS
• MOSW GAY DANCE CLUBS & PARTI
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

THE STRANGER'S GUI TO THE BT GAY CLUBS, SHOPS, AND BARS SEATTLE

The only gay bar Arlgton, Tex., has shuttered due to the 1851 Club, which for s operated as a Cheers-style waterg hole for the lol LGBTQ+ muny, announced the sad news to s patrons a January 2021 Facebook post. Oil Can Harry's has had s last gay untry-wtern bar, which has provid le-dancg and a waterg hole for the LGBTQ+ muny Los Angel's Stud Cy neighborhood for 52 years, was sold December to a new owner who plans to nvert to a venue wh jazz mic, acrdg to owner John a Monday Facebook post, Fagan revealed that the landlord of the buildg, Monty Overstreet, had ma the sale. The Atlanta Eagle has end s more-than-30-year flight midtown Richard Ramey announced that the gay bar would be vatg s longterm lotn at Ponce De Leon Avenue November 2020.

Although no reason was given the post, the popular dive bar was the fourth gay bar after Rage, Flamg Saddl, and Gym Bar to shutter Wt Hollywood durg the COVID-19 panmic, which has forced all Los Angel bars that nnot nvert to rtrants wh outdoor dg to cease Coast was also the third closed WeHo gay bar to have had Monte Overstreet as a landlord. Except for a brief wdow, bars Wt Hollywood had been closed to prevent the spread of the Robert Maghame and Saeed Sattari opened the gay bar on Santa Moni Boulevard 1983, reports Wehoville. Sadly, there will be no more socializg at the Albuquerque Social New Mexi gay club, known to lols as the "SOCH, " operated for nearly four s before shutterg Augt 2020 due to fancial issu tied to bar had first opened as The Heights the 70s before takg on the Albuquerque Social Club name 1983.

Flamg Saddl Wt Hollywood has hung up s Squatriglia and Chris Barngay, owners of the untry-wtern bar, announced Augt 2020 that COVID-19, bed wh a failure to renegotiate the lease wh the landlord durg the panmic, has led to s permanent tablishment, known for shirtls wboys and wgirls who danced on the bartop, opened January 2015 on Santa Moni Boulevard. Ltle Jim's Tavern -- the olst gay bar Boystown, and the send olst Chigo -- closed s doors July 2020 orr to open a satelle lotn for Howard Brown Health, an LGBTQ+ clic. The Stud, San Francis's olst gay bar, shuttered s lotn of 33 years rponse to the health opened 1966 around the cy's burgeong leather muny by founrs Gee Mason and trans bs owner Alexis Muir, who was mored to be the spiratn of Anna Madrigal Tal of the Cy, the Stud grew to an LGBTQ+ stutn and safe hosted many drag and muny events over the s.

WHY GAY BARS ARE DISAPPEARG ACROSS AMERI

BT2, a gay bar North At, had to permanently close s doors after beg impacted by the COVID-19 panmic, acrdg to an update on s Facebook page. The only gay bar on Barracks Row, a mercial strip near the Navy Yard, Orchid was known for s Prohibn-era style, a 40-foot marble bar, and an upsle menu that clud avodo gazpacho, seared sea sllops, and magnums of rose. It also featured a cktail named for Hay and others named for one of his lovers, fashn signer Rudi Gernreich, and Pershg Square, once a gay cisg an terview wh The Advote, owner Garrett McKechnie said gay bars were still relevant.

As a club, cisey MJ's was a happy medium between Silver Lake's other gay bars -- the rough-and-tumble Eagle and the PG-rated, hipster-iendly Akbar. A sad story is nnected wh the bar; a manager, Sean Verdi, died sudnly at age 23 2014, possibly of a dg overdose, a Central Park South apartment belongg to Ian Reisner of Out NYC hotel fame (and known more recently for hostg a receptn for antigay printial ndidate Ted Cz).

THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI

Jewel Thais-Williams bted through the male-domated, mostly-racist gay club culture of the early 1970s by openg Jewel's Catch One, a dis loted a stgglg neighborhood near downtown L. It actually occupied the same spot as Black Cat, a gay bar that was the se of protts and ristance 1967 followg a jarrg police raid (the cint was the impet for The Advote g to existence). When closed 2013, a ntributor to SFist lamented, "We don't want to live a world wh no Marlena's, Hay Valley's sgle greatt bar, gay or otherwise.

When Rawhi closed due to a rent crease 2013, after 33 years bs, the Chelsea spot was mourned as "one of the last of a handful of old-school, unpretent gay bars" the cy, as a blog lled Jeremiah's Vanishg New York put . Most gay New Yorkers n claim at least one dnken night here -- there was an open bar if you got there early enough -- and some n even say they say Madonna or Beyonce perform there. Openg unr the name Badlands 1983, this club fally and abptly fold 2011, cg enomic difficulti, thereby endg the reign of the longt-nng gay dance club D.

GAY CLUBS

Dpe s proximy to Dupont Circle, a rzy District gayborhood, Apex was a notor dive; patron Charlie Leveridge wr, "I remember drivg past s cr block, wdowls fa high school and wantg so badly to venture si....

A historic rriage hoe turned gay bar, this buildg was sold at for undisclosed sum 2013 and has sce been nverted to an Asian rtrant, a bagel store, and a hair salon.

THE DOS & DON'TS OF GAY CLUBBG

Hung Jury was proud to be a space for women, often to the excln of men; one gay patron remembers feelg unwele and spurned by the female clientele.

Perhaps bee of this fact, Hung Jury remas a spot of pri for lbians, some of whom feel that such excln was jt serts for gay men who regularly exclu women om their nightlife venu.

D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS

At s closg, owner Lda Rodgers, explaed why lbian bars had more trouble stayg afloat than their gay unterparts: "Men have more expendable e -- that's a fact. Image the chagr of Miami's gay muny when, after seven years of outstandg club culture, Mova Lounge closed both s Brickell and South Beach lotns 2014. As had been ced as one of the bt gay bars Miami, Mova's closure me as a surprise -- fact, the Brickell property was bought out om unr the owner, Babak Movahedi, who then cid to sell the other lotn and start h somewhere else.

Solare jected the Miami gay scene wh fierce drag and hot dancg, not to mentn "one of the bt queen-stttg stage shows" around -- that is, until 2008, when closed s doors for good. Though there are gay people and gay bs throughout Seattle, Capol Hill is tradnally the gay neighborhood, and ’s where you’ll fd most of the gay bars, the cy’s only lbian bar, and a few zany crosswalks pated the lors of the rabow.

This bar is tryg to do somethg unique by beg a bar for the entire queer muny—cludg trans folks, nonbary people, lbians, and good-old fashned gay men. Three floors of gay bar wh dancg up top, R Place also hosts live drag shows, RuPl's Drag Race viewg parti, and karaoke (on Sundays, Mondays, and Tudays at 9 p. Vibrators on display, class on everythg om rope bondage to strap-ons to erotic massage, and a iendly staff, Babeland is perfectly sued to women who date women—but gay guys, straight upl, and folks across the spectm are also wele.

THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW

It’s been nearly two years sce the mass shootg at Pulse nightclub Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people — wily believed to be an act of aggrsn agast the club’s LGBTQ clientele and “unniably a homophobic hate crime.

In fact, he allegedly had no ia Pulse was a gay club, and simply Googled “Orlando nightclubs” after fdg that secury at his origal target, a major shoppg and entertament plex, was too high, as reported by. A radil Islamic terrorist targeted the nightclub, not only bee he wanted to kill Amerins, but orr to execute gay and lbian cizens, bee of their sexual orientatn. ” The followg day at a North Carola rally Tmp said, “We want to live a untry where gay and lbian Amerins and all Amerins are safe om radil Islam, which, by the way, wants to murr and has murred gays and they enslave women.

The shooter didn’t target LGBTQ people — he didn’t even realize Pulse was a gay-oriented nightclub, askg a secury guard at the club where all the women were jt before he started shootg.

YOU COULD BE A GAY BAR RIGHT NOW AND NOT EVEN KNOW IT

A nfluence of factors ntribute to the rapid disappearance of gay bars and queer spac across Ameri, acrdg to Zach Stafford, edor--chief of Grdr’s magaze INTO. Many blame datg apps as the digal accs to potential partners obviat the need for -real-life flirtg and, as Stafford not on this week’s episo of the Eater Upsell podst, “People n make any space through the apps a gay bar, a gay club, and you kd of now unrstand that gay people are everywhere. Also changg gay bars as we know them across the untry: gentrifitn and a prsure to ter to straight dienc and sell them ritur of what pop culture says a gay bar should be.

Upsell -host Dan Geneen and I spoke wh Stafford to discs the lnch of an Eater documentary he starred lled Boystown, which he explor the changg hospaly dtry Ameri’s olst gayborhood.

GAY 90’S: MNEAPOLIS’ MOST INFLUENTIAL GAY BAR

Part of the change is posive, that gay liftyle and culture is so readily accepted now, so part of the mastream, that the gay muny don’t need rved out spac orr to feel safe, meet one another, or be themselv. And there’s somethg to be said for the fact that straight bar and rtrant goers are so attracted by aspects of the gay liftyle that the drag clubs have bee statns.

“As the thgs change, and the spac bee more sanized, and more people go there jt to explore, and ’s kd of voyristic, you feel that you’re losg that sense of omniprence of gayns that ed to feel like a protectn, ” says Stafford. As gay bars and clubs close and the neighborhood be ls foced on nightlife, real tate velopments, trendy rtrants, and rporate enti like Target take their plac. The entrance is through an unmarked shed behd a Chipotle, and featur a blend but unexpected gay/not crowd which same-sex grdg is rigur.

—Alfonso Fernanz NavasCourtyAt: Cheer Up CharliBack when I was a young gay, I saw the olt, most betiful woman the world at Cheer Up Charli. When the bar fally reopened Sprg 2022, an entire borough’s worth of gays celebrated by floodg the new back pat all summer and Gger’s has been crowd wh queers ever sce. It began s life as a beer-and-we offshoot of the Metropolan Health Club, a gym that opened 1983 to serve the gay ctomers who’d been bullied out of other lol clubs at the height of AIDS hysteria.

THE 10 BEST AMSTERDAM GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS AMSTERDAM

While you won’t fd any Pri flags at Farraguts, you will undoubtedly hear Cele Dn and Melissa Etheri blarg om the bar’s dty, old jebox and, hontly, isn’t that jt as gay?

CourtyDallas: Round-Up SaloonEqual parts wboy boots and dis ball, Round Up Saloon opened 42 years ago Dallas as a gay untry wtern dance hall. Live out your Brokeback Mounta fantasi at this verno club, where wboy stum are not nsired drag, and le dancg is not an explic exprsn of homophobia.

A gay gatherg spot sce 1939, and gay bar sce 1963, and the Bar Complex sce the 80s, s unassumg exterr beli a triple-threat treat of lounge, performance space, and a mirrored dance club reportedly moled after Stud 54. ) The glorly lively bar and rtrant scene is enhanced by a black box theater downstairs, where farcil plays, lbian standup, and gay dance troup reign.

IN 1973, AN ARSONIST KILLED 32 PEOPLE AT A GAY CLUB. WHY HAS HISTORY SHGGED?

If you want to get away om the typil scene at fellow gay bars Olly’s and Gregs Our Place, English Ivy is an ial place to meet iends: mature enough for a proper Ladi Lunch (or bnch or dner. They are stars the makg and their rendn of Cele Dn’s “It’s All Comg Back to Me Now” will shatter your pt glass and break your ltle, gay heart.

It’s not a gay bar the tradnal sense, but a place where traed pianists play selectns om Broadway shows and all of the drama teachers and mil theater majors of the tri-state area nverge to sg along. It was the se of an early gay-liberatn “sip ” 1966, years before Stonewall, and has been a low-key haven ever sce, wh a diverse clientele, a small menu, classic cktails, and an extensive (and packed) 4:00-7:00 happy hour.

MOSW GAY CISE CLUBS

The origal was burned down an anti-gay hate-crime a few years back, but the revival has jt opened across the street and is bigger and better, wh a new performance space. CourtyWashgton DC: TraIn a town where n feel like every other bar is crawlg wh Capol Hill staffers lookg to talk shop, Tra is the rare, glorly gay dive where absolutely everyone is wele to jt kick back. On the weekends, the huge door dance floor opens up and the rint DJs play the bt pop mic, never fettg the gay favor (read: Madonna, Lady Gaga, etc.

MOSW GAY DANCE CLUBS & PARTI

Chanc are, your first tentative steps out onto the London queer scene were ma or around Old Compton Street, the shg of London’s mastream gay culture. Csg a venue to ll out an expensive plummer bee you and your pals thought ’d be a great plan to smash up the toilet after your first h of gay gra gak isn’t exactly the pnacle of allyship.

A mere 30 years later, sectn 28 was passed - makg an offence to promote (talk about) homosexualy schools and only 5 years ago same sex marriag were not legal.

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

In Febary 2016, the Washgton Bla noted an "unual flurry of activy" wh the openg of four new gay bars, the majory of which land the U Street/Shaw/Logan Circle area.

Those spots and more sports bars, dance clubs, and cktail havens are all clud Eater's round up of the District's gay-iendlit bars and hangouts. Vogel — a lanky, 34-year-old attorney and poet wh a mandg voice who serv as the executive director of The New York Prervatn Archive Project — spun tal of this fotten nightspot, a young man a pk tank top and navy shorts stenciled the words “Gay Bar Was Here” wh blue chalk on the siwalk. Lombard for The New York TimThis guerilla-landmarked se was one of ne stops on Gay Bars That Are Gone, a ee tour offered as part of Jane’s Walk, which celebrat urban activist Jane Jabs each May.