The Past and Future of One of Hoton's Most Historic Gay Bars – Texas Monthly

Contents:

• THE “GAYBORHOODS” OF TEXAS
• DALLAS' OAK LAWN 'GAYBORHOOD' BE FIRST TEXAS TO GET STATE HISTORIL MARKER
• A YEAR GAY BARS
• THE PAST AND FUTURE OF ONE OF HOTON’S MOST HISTORIC GAY BARS
• AN INPLETE COMPILATN OF THE GAY BARS AT HAS LOVED AND LOST
• THE 10 BEST TEXAS GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS TEXAS
• NORTH TEXAS GAY BARS HAVE PROVID MUNY FOR MANY. HERE ARE THEIR STORI
• WHERE DID FORT WORTH GAY BARS GO?

THE “GAYBORHOODS” OF TEXAS

Texas’ “gayborhoods” aren’t jt neighborhoods wh rabow-pated crosswalks at their tersectns; they’re historic muni where Texas pri and gay pri tersect ever-fascatg unison.

Their one-of-a-kd rtrants, vivac nightclubs, and lovable lols crown the gayborhoods as attractive statns—no matter where you fall on the sexualy spectm.

DALLAS' OAK LAWN 'GAYBORHOOD' BE FIRST TEXAS TO GET STATE HISTORIL MARKER

In 1947, one of the first gay bars Texas, Club Reno, opened Dallas, heraldg the cy’s LGBTQ muny as one of the earlit to form the state. As that group grew to over 3, 000 while marchg through downtown, Dallas beme the se of the first gay pri para all of Texas.

A YEAR GAY BARS

The marker ss at “The Gay Crossroads, ” loted at the tersectn of Throckmorton Street and Cedar Sprgs. The sign’s backdrop is JR’s Bar & Grill, an inic gay club that has served Amerin eats sce 1980 wh regular drag queen and celebry appearanc. Next door is Statn 4, known to lols as S4, a 24, 000-square-foot nightclub and gay utopia sce 1986.

THE PAST AND FUTURE OF ONE OF HOTON’S MOST HISTORIC GAY BARS

Also at “The Gay Crossroads” tersectn is Sue Ellen’s, nsired to be the olst lbian bar the state.

The Montrose neighborhood Hoton was found 1911 and had an timated 30 to 40 gay bars by the late ’70s.

In June of 1977, LGBTQ advote Ray Hill anized a rally prott of sger and anti-gay activist Ana Bryant visg the cy. More than 1, 000 people showed up, which began the gay liberatn movement Montrose and led Hill to help tablish The Montrose Center, an anizatn still operatg today that foc not only on advocy but also on offerg rourc to the muny. Ls than five wt downtown, Montrose featur gayborhood stapl like permanently stalled rabow crosswalks and historic saloons.

AN INPLETE COMPILATN OF THE GAY BARS AT HAS LOVED AND LOST

RIPCORD opened 1980 and has the distctn of beg the olst gay leather bar Texas. San Anton’s Ma Avenue is terchangeably referred to as “The Strip” and “The Gay Strip, ” but ’s gay no matter what you ll .

Loted jt north of downtown, Tob Hill, this central gayborhood district don’t fall short on rabow flair.

Also on June 26 is The Strip’s Pri Block Party, an -person event to memorate Pri Month the gayborhood.

THE 10 BEST TEXAS GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS TEXAS

In 2016, Luther’s hosted a spontaneo meetg wh San Anton Police Chief William McMan to discs the rponse of lol law enforcement after the tragic mass shootg at a gay nightclub Orlando, Florida. A short stri over a nearby rabow crosswalk will land you at the pnacle of gay nightlife San Anton, North Ma Avenue’s bar strip.

"I first learned of the former Club Reno — "the first gay bar all of Texas, " acrdg to Karen Wisely's Universy of North Texas master of arts this — om the bronzed narrative that will appear on a historil marker set to be planted 7 p. Wednday  ont of another inic gay bar: JR's Bar & Grill on Cedar Sprgs Road Oak Lawn.

It will make Dallas the first cy the state wh an official Texas Historil Commissn subject marker acknowledgg a longstandg gay and lbian muny. " For a relatively new cy, Dallas has a lot of ancient history memorated 1991, when this photo was taken, the crossroads of Dallas' gayborhood was the tersectn of Cedar Sprgs Road and Throckmorton, where Crossroads Market and Unn Jack were loted. We know as the gayborhood, or what's left of — the Rource Center, JR's, Sue Ellen's, Statn 4 and the Round-Up Saloon.

NORTH TEXAS GAY BARS HAVE PROVID MUNY FOR MANY. HERE ARE THEIR STORI

The tersectn had been known as The Crossroads sce the late 1960s, but s legacy was forever cemented 1980 wh the openg of the namake market there that beme the muny's bookstore and meetg puttg the marker there, Emery said, "we hope n still some pri young people — all people, gay and non-gay, to know the cy which they live has bravely been forward standg up for s. The young generatn hand all of the rights, we hope they will stop and enjoy reflectg on the brave people who chose to intify as early as the 1950s, " when gay men were picted this very newspaper as "sex perverts" out "rptg the morals of dozens of Dallas teenagers. "To get the marker, Chilrs wrote about how  the 1930s, gay men would meet the shadow of the Magnolia Petrolm Buildg at Commerce and Akard streets — "Maggie's Corner, " as was known.

Ervay St., on Wood Street jt across om what is now the central years, downtown was filled wh wk-and-nod clubs bee was illegal to be gay Dallas. "Over time, the gay muny found a home out the open along Cedar Sprgs — amid the "bohemian atmosphere and picturque archecture, " scribed on the historic Police Chief U.

WHERE DID FORT WORTH GAY BARS GO?

(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)The days, the gayborhood is begng to disappear, on the verge of beg a long stretch of big-box apartments and cha eateri dottg Cedar Sprgs Road. Complete text of the historil marker:THE CROSSROADSDESPITE DALLAS'S REPUTATION AS ONE OF THE STATE'S MORE CONSERVATIVE CITIES, ITS LGBTQ (LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER, QUEER) COMMUNITY WAS AMONG THE FIRST IN TEXAS TO ORGANIZE POLITICALLY AND SOCIALLY.

IN 1947, THE CITY BECAME HOME TO ONE OF THE FIRST GAY BARS IN TEXAS, CLUB RENO, AND IN 1972 WAS THE SITE OF THE FIRST GAY PRIDE PARADE IN TEXAS. IN 1980, THE PRIDE PARADE MOVED FROM DOWNTOWN TO CEDAR SPRINGS AREA SURROUNDING THE INTERSECTION OF THROCKMORTON STREET AND CEDAR SPRINGS ROAD HAS BEEN CONSIDERED THE CENTER OF THE DALLAS LGBTQ COMMUNITY SINCE THE EARLY 1970s AND IS KNOWN AS "THE GAY CROSSROADS" OR "THE CROSSROADS. GAYS AND LESBIANS BEGAN MOVING TO THE AREA, DRAWN TO ITS BOHEMIAN IMAGE AND PICTURESQUE ARCHITECTURE.

MORE GAY-OWNED BUSINESSES AND BARS FOLLOWED, AND BY THE END OF THE 1970s, THE MAJORITY OF BUSINESSES IN THE AREA CATERED TO THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY. WITH THE ONSLAUGHT OF THE AIDS CRISIS IN THE 1980s, THE CROSSROADS BECAME NOT ONLY AN ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT, BUT ALSO A CENTER FOR POLITICAL ACTIVISM, SOCIAL SERVICES AND MEDICAL THE HISTORIC HEART OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY OF DALLAS, THE CROSSROADS REMAINS THE LOCATION OF THE OLDEST GAY BUSINESSES IN THE CITY AND AS THE PRIMARY GATHERING POINT FOR LGBTQ POLITICAL AND SOCIAL EVENTS, INCLUDING THE ALAN ROSS FREEDOM PARADE. 1965 Circle of Friends, the first gay anizatn Dallas, is found.