History of Edmonton’s Gay Bars, Part 1: The Begng | Edmonton Cy as Mm Project ECAMP

Contents:

• THE BEST EDMONTON GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS EDMONTON
• LIST OF EDMONTON’S GAY BARS
• HISTORY OF EDMONTON’S GAY BARS, PART 2: A FLASHBACK TO FLASHBACK
• 'IT WAS SO IMPORTANT': COMMUNY REFLECTS ON FORMER EDMONTON GAY BAR NEW DOCUMENTARY
• HISTORY OF EDMONTON’S GAY BARS, PART 1: THE BEGNG
• HISTORY OF EDMONTON’S GAY BARS, PART 3: THE LONG-RUNNG
• GAY ALBERTA TRAVEL GUI
• GAY NIGHTLIFE - BARS, CLUBS, SNAS - NEED ADVICE - EDMONTON FOM
• EDMONTON GAY MAP
• THE BEST EDMONTON GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS EDMONTON
• STEAMWORKS EDMONTONEDMONTONMENUHOTELSBARSSNASGAY MAPSTEAMWORKS EDMONTON
• HISTORY OF EDMONTON’S GAY BARS, PART 1: THE BEGNG
• GAY DATG EDMONTON

THE BEST EDMONTON GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS EDMONTON

Read the 5-part seri, The History of Edmonton’s Gay Bars.

LIST OF EDMONTON’S GAY BARS

First Gay Bar (Club 70) – September 1969. Our clientele range om gay to bisexual, trans, qutng, straight.

Acrdg to owner John Reid, was to be “for gay people and their iends. For the send time, a gay bar was a basement. Gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr, or straight were all wele as long as they rpected the right for same-sex activi to be the foc of an eveng’s entertament.

HISTORY OF EDMONTON’S GAY BARS, PART 2: A FLASHBACK TO FLASHBACK

Wh many LGBTQ muny members brgg along their iends (both gay and straight), the club regularly reached the pacy set by the ALCB.

Though was not a gay bar, the crowds were very much a mix of people.

'IT WAS SO IMPORTANT': COMMUNY REFLECTS ON FORMER EDMONTON GAY BAR NEW DOCUMENTARY

List of Edmonton’s Gay Bars. The ternatnally renowned Edmonton gay bar Flashback opened 1975 and for 16 years was open to the LGBTQ2S+ muny and their alli. "[It] had a sign the door that read, 'Flashback is a club for gay people and their iends, '" said Matthew Hays, the film's wrer.

"It was a place where if you were homophobic, you weren't wele. Gay or straight. At the time, Hays said was unmon for gay bars to let heterosexual people .

"In the 1980s, there was still a lot of vol and toxic homophobia wherever you went, " he add.

HISTORY OF EDMONTON’S GAY BARS, PART 1: THE BEGNG

"Even when I was at the Universy of Alberta on mp I would hear people sayg really homophobic thgs, really nasty thgs about AIDS. Part of that was self protectn, so Flashback was different that said everyone's wele as long as you're ol wh gay people.

HISTORY OF EDMONTON’S GAY BARS, PART 3: THE LONG-RUNNG

"A lot of straight people for the first time met gay people when they were partyg at the club and was a great way for people to learn about the fact that we're all this together, " he said. The Edmonton Queer History Project (EQHP) reports that founr John Reid saw the need for a more clive space after Mother Jean, a straight woman wh roots the drag muny, was nied entry to an Edmonton gay bar.

GAY ALBERTA TRAVEL GUI

Phair is Alberta's first openly gay elected official and founr of AIDS Network of Edmonton. "I thk a lot of people thk of Alberta as a real homophobic backwater and I like people to see some of the really fabulo queer thgs that went on Edmonton, " Hays said.

When the landlord found out that gay people were g his buildg, he promptly put locks on the doors and nied further entry. Ias nnected to social pury activism that emerged the 1890s began impactg how society was expected to thk, and as the Send World War began, so did the persecutn of gay men.

It was beg difficult to meet other gay men, and Edmonton-based law enforcement were creasgly chargg dividuals wh crim such as gross cency, buggery, and posssn of obscene lerature. Bill C-150 opened the doors to the gay and lbian muny Edmonton, fally allowg for the opportuny to meet others a “public” place.

GAY NIGHTLIFE - BARS, CLUBS, SNAS - NEED ADVICE - EDMONTON FOM

Many tabl were filled wh gay men shortly after openg each day. In the evengs, the back sectn of the Mayfair Hotel tavern was a haven for members of the gay and lbian muny, often meetg to swill back untls draft glass, sloshg beer over the terry cloth table vers that were required by the Alberta Liquor Control Board (ALCB) which then dripped down onto the beer-soaked rpet (another requirement of the ALCB. The on clost to the back were for the “gays, ” and this ctom was rpected by hotel staff and ctomers alike.

EDMONTON GAY MAP

There was a ph to create safe spac for gays only, where ls termglg wh other populatns lsened the chance of abe.

In the fall of 1969, when homosexuals were no longer thrown jail for their sexualy, a small group of people cid to open a place dited to gay and lbian folk. In the later part of 1969, they opened the very first gay bar Edmonton. This historic se was schled for moln Augt 2020, which wip away the begng of Gay Bar History Edmonton.

THE BEST EDMONTON GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS EDMONTON

This also meant that to be a member or a gut, one had to be gay or lbian.

The dour-lookg person monorg the entry would grill any prospective guts wh qutns about their purpose for g, their sexualy, and more- to get “proof” they were gay or lbian. It was a meang procs to first-timers already nervo about g to a gay tablishment, but served to protect the clientele those early years.

Dpe the bt efforts to ensure the safety of those g to Club 70, asslts om “gay bashers” happened many tim through the years, and police were often lled when fights took place outsi. She had bee Mother Jean to many gay guys om her daily viss to the Kg Eddy Tavern, and her excln om Club 70 beme too much. Dis was of particular signifince to gay male culture the late 1970s and to the 1980s, when quickly lost mercial viabily the straight world wh Amerin mpaigns like “Dis Demoln Night” and “Dis Sucks.

STEAMWORKS EDMONTONEDMONTONMENUHOTELSBARSSNASGAY MAPSTEAMWORKS EDMONTON

Origally known as “The Cock’s Roost, ” The Roost opened ially as a gay men’s club.

Tilroe rells how “many gay folks who were not as outgog or good lookg would hang out till the bter end hopg to fd a iend and other folks who clearly were unhappy and had drowned their sorrows. Well to the 1990s, was not unmon for gay-bashers to drive around tcks lookg to e trouble for patrons. As societal acceptance of LGBTQ2 people creased this led to the ls obv need for dited gay bars, which sadly meant bs cled.

One “ageg gay man” Gloucter, England, lamented the loss, sayg, “The Roost was the bt waterg hole that I have vised, not only Canada but also the world. Another important venue Edmonton’s gay bar scene was The Roost.

HISTORY OF EDMONTON’S GAY BARS, PART 1: THE BEGNG

At the same time that Flashback ( s first lotn on Jasper Avenue) was fillg to pacy, four people who had been fluential the management of Club 70 quietly built a new gay bar on the ma floor at 10345 – 104 Street.

Ultimately, this proved to be a huge benef to Edmonton’s gay bar scene as people moved back and forth between the clubs.

GAY DATG EDMONTON

In 1985, the AIDS epimic h Edmonton and began takg the liv of clubgoers om the gay muny.

Other plac entered Edmonton’s gay bar scene those early years.

Boots ‘n Saddle operated as a more open-door gay bar, as opposed to beg exclive to queer folk. Consistently voted the Bt Burgers by See Magaze and Vue Weekly, the ia of a public eatery joed wh a gay bar was a novelty that was met wh general acceptance by the by lunch crowds downtown. Loted a two-story buildg at 10116 – 124 Street, they also tered to the gay and lbian crowd.