Gigi’s Celebrat 50 Years: The Olst Gay-Owned Gay Bar Detro Is Now a Half-Century Old - Pri Source

Contents:

• WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS
•  MICHIGAN LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS
• HUNDREDS REMISCE ABOUT HISTORIL DETRO GAY BAR SCENE
• BT GAY BARS IN METRO DETRO
• GAY BARS DETRO, MICHIGAN
• BT GAY BARS IN DETRO
• BT GAY BARS IN METRO DETRO
• HAYLOFT SALOONDETROMENUHOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPHAYLOFT SALOON
• BT GAY BARS IN DETRO
•  MICHIGAN LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS
• GIGI’S CELEBRAT 50 YEARS: THE OLST GAY-OWNED GAY BAR DETRO IS NOW A HALF-CENTURY OLD
• BT GAY BARS IN DETRO
• FORMER SE OF DETRO'S LONGT-NNG GAY HEALTH SPA, TNT HEALTH CLUB, FORECLOSURE

WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS

From downtown Detro to Royal Oak, Gay-Friendly nightlife reigns supreme. Gay-Friendly Bars & Clubs Metro Detro. As one of the olst gay spac Detro, this spot is te to s gay roots but is always open to anyone who wants to jo the fun.

 MICHIGAN LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS

Loted the former gay mec of Detro, Palmer Park, the plex clus the Menjo’s Bar, the Eagle Leather Bar, and the Olymp Theater. It’s fely the place for a night of gay-oriented entertament — the bt kd! Gigi's Gay Bar.

One of the bt gay and drag bars the cy, Gigi’s is optimal for drks and a show. Ferndale has been the center of gay life Detro sce the 2000s and Soho is the classy yet sual spot for gay men, women and everyone between right the heart of the downtown area off Wt Ne Mile Road.

Whether you’re gay, straight, bi, trans, or queer, the are great tablishments to make a night of and teract wh a diverse muny. 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.

HUNDREDS REMISCE ABOUT HISTORIL DETRO GAY BAR SCENE

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.

"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.

BT GAY BARS IN METRO DETRO

Bars at the time, gay and otherwise, sometim paid off police to be left alone. The Woodward provid a safe haven for whe gay men.

Like many gay bars of s era, did not embrace people of lor. In that way, The Woodward was not unlike most other early gay bars Detro.

Startg after World War II and to the 1960s, several gay bars were cltered around Farmer and Bat streets downtown Detro, cludg Club 1011, La Rosa's and The Silver Dollar. Very few gay bars at the time tered to Black patrons, although there were two Paradise Valley that Retzloff has intified his rearch: The 705 and the Ra-bo Mic Club. Their place was known as "The Gay Spot.

GAY BARS DETRO, MICHIGAN

More gay hangouts began to crop up beyond downtown the '50s and '60s.

Gay ownership of gay bars beme more mon this era. Menjo's, which still exists, was gay-owned when Mike Crawford, Henry Trent and Joe LaRosa, Jr. Gigi's, on Wt Warren near the Southfield Freeway, will take on the mantle of the olst operatg gay bar Detro if The Woodward do not survive.

It dat s foundg to 1973, when the former supper club was purchased by Tony Garne — a gay man and one of the founrs of Bars and Towels, Inc., an early associatn for owners of gay bars and bs. Other notable Detro gay bars of the 1970s clu The Famo Door, on Griswold near Grand River Capol Park, which had been a straight bar until was purchased 1972 by Ernt Backos, the owner of the old Club 1011, which by then had been sold and molished for parkg. The Famo Door beme a Black gay nightclub "famo" for s mic and dancg.

BT GAY BARS IN DETRO

On the east si, at Seven Mile and Van Dyke, an terracial gay uple, Bobby Calvert, who was Black, and Dan Campbell, who was whe, opened Todd's Sway Lounge 1975.

Todd's was one of the few racially tegrated Detro gay bars s the mid-1980s, there were about four dozen gay bars Detro, pared to about a dozen 20 years earlier. Retzloff said several factors played to the rapid growth of the gay bar scene Detro the '70s and '80s, even as Detro's populatn cled.

BT GAY BARS IN METRO DETRO

Though many gay people had moved to the suburbs, few gay bars existed outsi Detro until the mid-1990s, due to trenchant suburban anti-gay discrimatn.

And as factori closed throughout those s — particularly Dodge Ma 1980 — bars that had prevly served workers shifted to servg a gay clientele. "The ugly part of that is that the owners preferred to have gay ctomers to havg Ain Amerin ctomers, " Retzloff said. "Bee of the pal vtment that tak to n a bar and the st of a liquor license, there were always far fewer Black (owned) gay bars, " Retzloff said.

Detro's gay bar scene cled the '80s and '90s as Baby Boomers aged out of their bar-gog years and the HIV/AIDS epimic renewed discrimatn agast gay people and cimated the muny.

HAYLOFT SALOONDETROMENUHOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPHAYLOFT SALOON

Today, there are about 10 gay bars the metro Detro area, acrdg to a listg OutPost magaze — not cludg the Woodward. Even the home of Ruth Ellis, one of Michigan's most wily known gay activists, is a vant lot today. The are jt a handful of exampl of gay bars, clubs and gatherg spac that have been razed over the years.

BT GAY BARS IN DETRO

It is also home to the sound system of Club Heaven, a gay dance club that opened at Seven Mile and Woodward 1985. The first a three-part seri of panel discsns, this one on the history gay bars Detro, drew a crowd of more than 250 people to the Olymp Theater Saturday night. “The first gay neighborhood was downtown along Monroe Street the cy’s theater district, ” Haller told the crowd.

Sappgton enjoyed gog to gay bars long before she created her Metra magaze, which would chronicle the gay bar scene 1979. “I always hung out gay bars, ” Sappgton said. “I had a hair shop Romeo, Michigan, and I advertised the only gay paper that I knew of, which was Metro Gay News.

 MICHIGAN LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS

“Too many plac gave a hard time bee we were gay, ” Sappgton said. Torchy talked to the crowd about the magnu of the gay bar scene Detro the 1970s. “There were 45 gay bars and five steam baths, ” Torchy said.

But, size or not, there was a st to dog bs wh the gay muny. “Even if you go back far enough you’ll fd was illegal to serve a known homosexual at a bar anyway. Primarily a gay bar but we get very mixed crowds.

The history of the LGBT muny metro Detro spans the cy’s past, but took new shape right after World War II when gay clubs began openg mostly downtown. This gay-owned Spanish tapas rtrant featur a lp of tradnal tapas, which are meant to be eaten small portns while sippg on the spot’s hoe-ma sangria or a craft cktail. This relative newer to the cy’s nightlife scene isn’t explicly a gay bar, but ’s fely LGBTQ-clive, om s management to the event programmg on hand.

GIGI’S CELEBRAT 50 YEARS: THE OLST GAY-OWNED GAY BAR DETRO IS NOW A HALF-CENTURY OLD

Detro, Michigan's Top Rated Gay Bars Profsnals. Wh a signifint number of gay bars the area shutterg their doors, 's good to know there are still some great plac around!

Wherever you end up, 's almost a guarantee you'll have a great time at one of the gay bars around Detro.

Woodward Cocktail Bar is one of the olst gay bars the cy.

BT GAY BARS IN DETRO

(248) 542-7646 known as a gay bar, this Ferndale hot spot is great for anyone lookg to have a fun time. Kls Reich, better known to gay Metro Detroers by Tony Rome, was born Berl, Germany and immigrated to the U.

A homeowner Detro’s Boston-Edison neighborhood, Bigham was a faiar patron for many years at the Diplomat, Bookie’s Club 870, and other lol gay bars. Known Detro’s gay muny as Tommy K, Thomas Patrick Kyewski attend Hamtramck High School.

FORMER SE OF DETRO'S LONGT-NNG GAY HEALTH SPA, TNT HEALTH CLUB, FORECLOSURE

At var lol nightspots the 1980s and ‘90s, he did go-go dancg and performed as Ta Wells, and held the distctn of wng both the Miss Gay Detro and Mr. Gay Detro petns. The Hayloft Saloon is a Detro gay bar Warrendale, close to the cy's gay nightlife.

Throughout the week this Detro gay bar hosts karaoke nights, unrwear parti, and more.

For those of you lookg for the bt Gay iendly tablishments around town, here are the top six to nsir cludg Menjo's Complex, Rabow Room, Gigi's and more.