In Memoriam: 17 Defunct Gay Bars D.C., Chigo, Miami

Contents:

• D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS
• D.C. NO LONGER HAS A CENTRAL GAY NEIGHBORHOOD. DO THAT MATTER?
• D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS
• CHASG ‘PHANTOMS OF THE PAST’: 8 GAY AND LBIAN BAR ARCHIVISTS ON PRERVG LGBTQ+ NIGHTLIFE HISTORY
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• GAY ANKARA

D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS

's evolvg gayborhood has shifted towards Logan Circle and U Street. 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. New gay dive bar Tra opened last year, urty of the team behd Town Danceboutique and Number Ne.

D.C. NO LONGER HAS A CENTRAL GAY NEIGHBORHOOD. DO THAT MATTER?

New to the Shaw/U Street gay bar scene is Uproar, which buted last year. The natn's pal is home to a lively LGBTQ+ nightlife scene wh plenty of gay and lbian bars jt wag for you to jo on the fun. Larry’s Lounge is a gay neighborhood pub, wh always-affordable drks, solid happy hour specials, mouth-waterg pub fare (see: sweet potato tots) and one of the cy’s iendlit pats (you n brg your dog, too!

Number Ne to the btlg Logan Circle urty of -founr Ed Bailey, who helped DC’s gay nightlife scene to grow durg his days as a DJ. Suated right the heart of Adams Man’s btlg 18th Street is Pchers, a gay sports bar, and A League of Her Own, the adjacent bar for lbian and queer women. Read more om our 2016 Gay Issue here.

D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS

“I told them I was gay, ” says the 73-year-old Dupont Circle rint, whose closet door me “flyg off” when he was 28. Gay polil groups and bars had taken root; anti-war and civil-rights monstratns abound. In an age where g out was more dangero than ually is now, when beg openly gay often triggered prejudice and srn, books and newspapers like the Washgton Bla, tablished 1969, played a ccial role creatg muni.

Prt mattered, not only as a means of relayg rmatn on gay happengs but also as one of drawg queer folk together. He’d settled on the name after the Internatnal Gay Rights Congrs Edburgh adopted the Greek letter as a symbol of solidary.

CHASG ‘PHANTOMS OF THE PAST’: 8 GAY AND LBIAN BAR ARCHIVISTS ON PRERVG LGBTQ+ NIGHTLIFE HISTORY

At the time, “there weren’t many thgs that were gay” the neighborhood, he says.

“But people were here and they were gay. ” Other rints were gay-iendly. P’s, the Fraterny Hoe (later, Omega), Phase 1’s Northwt outpost, and the Last Hurrah (next lled Badlands, and most recently, Apex)—waterg hol that tered to gay men.

The ncentratn of queer culture has sttered, however, and some look back on the “gayborhood’s” heyday wh pri and sda. Gay Dupont may not be ad, but ’s slowed down nsirably—as have those who vivified . “Gay Pri Day, ” which would eventually bee Capal Pri.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

In a sign that Dupont was reifyg s reputatn as a queer “ghetto” like the Village New York and Castro San Francis, Gay Pri Day 1979 attracted 10, 000 people and stretched three blocks. Throughout s history, Lambda Risg served as a muny center, renzvo spot, and gossip l for the District’s gay populatn.

Was lettg me know how much he appreciated Lambda Risg bee he knew his 15-year-old son was gay, but didn’t know how to handle that, ” he says. “At one time, might have been the only place you felt fortable gog to to purchase gay books. There was a certa amount of announcg yourself by gog there: ‘I didn’t know he/she was gay.

GAY ANKARA

Donahoe giv queer tours of Dupont upon requt, and says fewer people raise their hands when he asks whether they thk of the neighborhood as “gay central” than the past.