When The Woodward, Detro's olst-nng gay bar, burned a massive fire last week, spurred a nversatn about the history of the bar self and how to remember and celebrate s signifince the gay muny while lookg toward the future.
Contents:
- WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS
- BACKSTREET AT LARGE MULTIPLEXDETROMENUHOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPBACKSTREET AT LARGE MULTIPLEX
- WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS
WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS
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"I went there almost every Wednday and Saturday growg up as a gay boy, " Keller said. Acrdg to a 2018 Pri Source article, drag entertaer Torchy said there were about "45 gay bars and five steam baths" the, Keller said, the Backstreet at Large Multiplex will be among jt a half-dozen that still operate the of the bars still operatg, such as Menjos on Wt McNichols, Gigi's on Wt Warren and others, me about around the same time that the origal Backstreet olst LGBT bar, Keller said, is the Woodward Bar & Grill which, acrdg to Pri Source, has been a popular LGBT-servg tablishment sce as early as the 1960s.
BACKSTREET AT LARGE MULTIPLEXDETROMENUHOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPBACKSTREET AT LARGE MULTIPLEX
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Keller, who says he “grew up as gay” at Backstreet, acquired the tablishment when he was approached by former owner Dr. “I want to keep a part of the gay bars where you walked the door and no matter how your day was or what ont you had to put up ont of somebody … I want them to be able to walk the door and be whoever they wanna be and be how they wanna be, ” he said.
Keller attribut this to the fact that beg openly gay/queer wasn’t wily accepted to the gree that is today.
The bar/club was a quick succs among Detro’s gay muny and was even open seven nights a week at one pot. Sce then, the tablishment has had multiple owners, but Keller says that the rise of gay datg webs and, today, phone apps has led to a downturn club and bar attendance.
WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS
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“They don’t unrstand, as olr guys, when we went to a gay bar … that’s how you met people or if you wanted to date somebody or if you wanted to hook up [lghs] or meet a iend … that’s what you had to do. When The Woodward, Detro's olst-nng gay bar, burned a massive fire last week, spurred a nversatn about the history of the bar self, but also where was suated Detro gay history more broadly — and how to remember and celebrate s signifince the gay muny while lookg toward the future.
The fire happened the middle of Pri Month, and not jt any Pri Month Detro: This year marks 50 years sce the cy's first Pri march, held June 24, 1972 to mand "full civil rights for gay people" and a repeal of all anti-gay laws, the Free Prs reported back then. The march, officially lled Christopher Street '72, was self a remembrance of the uprisg at the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street New York Cy on June 28, 1969, when protts broke out rponse to a police raid at a gay bar. In s 70-odd years, The Woodward has been part of many tersectg stori of gay life and culture Detro, cludg policg of gay spac, ownership shifts, racial segregatn and populatn trends the cy.
The owners said they never set out to open up a gay bar.
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"We jt opened up and whichever way went, went, " Andy Karagas told "Gayzette" 1973 (as reported Andy's obuary 1997). "And when went gay all the way, we kicked out all the straights that night. He later me out as the time, owners of gay bars Detro were mostly not gay themselv.
Gay sex was a crime Michigan — as had been sce the 1800s — and police equently harassed and arrted gay people and raid gay bars.
"It was technilly illegal to operate a bar that was a renzvo for homosexuals, " said Tim Retzloff, adjunct assistant profsor of history and LGBTQ studi at Michigan State Universy.