Deadle Detro | Gallery: Woodward Cocktail Bar, a longtime gay spot New Center, burns

Contents:

• WOODWARD BAR MEMORI: RELLG 25 YEARS OF PARTI AT DETRO’S OLST GAY BAR
• WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS
• WOODWARD BAR & GRILLDETROMENUHOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPWOODWARD BAR & GRILL
• GALLERY: WOODWARD COCKTAIL BAR, A LONGTIME GAY SPOT NEW CENTER, BURNS

WOODWARD BAR MEMORI: RELLG 25 YEARS OF PARTI AT DETRO’S OLST GAY BAR

The Freep says that William Karagas first opened the Woodward 1954 and that over time began to attract ctomers om nearby Wayne State’s notable gay populatn. 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.

I had no ia of s history as the olst gay bar the cy when I first started gog back the ‘90s.

I’ve traveled the untry and gone to more gay bars than I n unt. I attend lots and lots of Hotter Than July – Detro Black Gay Pri parti at The Woodward.

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

Over 60 years of gay history lerally up smoke, and all that’s left now are the memori. "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.

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.

WOODWARD BAR & GRILLDETROMENUHOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPWOODWARD BAR & GRILL

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. "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.

GALLERY: WOODWARD COCKTAIL BAR, A LONGTIME GAY SPOT NEW CENTER, BURNS

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.

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.