‘The are our hom’: LA gay bars fight to stay afloat after year of shutdown | Los Angel | The Guardian

Contents:

• INDIANAPOLIS GAY BARS: 7 SPAC MA FOR THE LGBTQ+ MUNY
• WHERE HAVE ALL THE GAY BARS GONE? 
• CHIGO GAY NIGHTLIFE GUI: DOWNTOWN & SOUTH SI
• TOP 10 GAY BARS PARIS
• TOP 10 GAY CLUBS & BARS DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN (DOWNTOWN) (NEW YORK CY)GAY CLUBS & BARS DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN (DOWNTOWN)
• ‘THE ARE OUR HOM’: LA GAY BARS FIGHT TO STAY AFLOAT AFTER YEAR OF SHUTDOWN
• A YEAR GAY BARS
• SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS

INDIANAPOLIS GAY BARS: 7 SPAC MA FOR THE LGBTQ+ MUNY

Gay bars offer LGBTQ+ muny members a place to go which they n be fortable and treated as humans, they ’s important that the spac rema open, as a bs and to the public, so people and outsi of the LGBTQ+ muny n enjoy the bars and experience queer culture, said Alexanr, stage name Duchs Morngstar. The bs has sce remaed a part of the gay bar Our Place routely hosts drag performance nights, featurg artists such as Sage Summers, Heather Bea and Brooklyn Burroughs, and drag pageants. English Ivy's -owner Sam Stt said about 80% of the bar's clientele are regulars, llg the bar a "gay Cheers, " referencg the bar the 90s s "where everybody knows your name.

The eatery loted the Sat Joseph neighborhood is not a dance club, but rather a “gay-therg” place for members of the LGBTQ+ muny and alli, acrdg to s webse. By night is Almost Famo, an “everyone bar, ” which do not market self as a gay bar but ters to queer people, said assistant general manager Jam Alexanr, stage name Duchs Morngstar. “You n e to this environment and be queer and feel like you’re safe but ’s not your typil what you would thk gay bar feel, ” said show director Myke Dobbs, whose stage name is Lady Dumpster.

For many years, Zonie’s has been one of the ma plac to see profsnal performers and one of the few gay bars to host open stage nights for amatr artists. More than 30 years has passed sce those days, and Rosie’s, like dozens of other gay bars Rochter and hundreds across the untry, has closed.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE GAY BARS GONE? 

In a blog post for the Out Alliance’s “Shoulrs to Stand On” project that archiv memori of LGBTQ+ culture Rochter, Dardano relled g out Rochter and some of the many gay and lbian bars that served as social spots for Rochter’s queer muny. Listgs for bars that tered to gay men dropped to 387 om 699 durg that perd, while lbian bar listgs fell to jt 15.

CHIGO GAY NIGHTLIFE GUI: DOWNTOWN & SOUTH SI

The precipo drop was only offset by a marked rise between 1987 and 2007 listgs for tablishments which women and gay men were socializg. ) click to enlarge COURTESY OF THE OUT ALLIANCE In 1973, a bunch of bikers opened a gay bar lled the Bachelor Fom on Ma Street, near Goodman Street.

From the 1960s through the early-ghts, downtown Rochter saw the openg and closg of dozens of gay bars and dance clubs. “The biggt challenge is that you don’t really need a gay club anymore, ” said Joe Marcella, 63, owner of Club Marcella Buffalo, which had a lotn Rochter on Liberty Pole Way om 1994 to 1999.

TOP 10 GAY BARS PARIS

But others sist that, regardls of general clivens, there are many reasons that havg specifilly gay spac is still important.

Bat relled one of Rochter’s earlit gay bars as Dick’s 43 Lounge (also referred to as Martha’s, after the owner), which opened on Front Street the 1950s and later moved to Stone Street and then State Street. “They would see men dancg as ditive of, ‘This is a gay bar, ’” Bat said, addg that he spected some plac paid off thori to be alerted to unannounced viss om police.

TOP 10 GAY CLUBS & BARS DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN (DOWNTOWN) (NEW YORK CY)GAY CLUBS & BARS DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN (DOWNTOWN)

By the late 1970s and early ’80s, as the threat of police harassment fad, the taverns, piano bars, and dance clubs began to serve the gay muny new ways. Tim Tompks, 67, relled hostg a meetg at Liberty, his club on Liberty Pole Way, to discs the strange new disease that seemed to only be affectg gay men. In attendance were Tim Sweeney — who would bee the print of Gay Men’s Health Crisis New York Cy — and Tompk’s iend, Sue Cole, who worked for Monroe County’s STD clic.

click to enlarge PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH Longtime Rochter rint Ove Overmyer at the Bachelor Fom, a Universy Avenue gay bar that has been open sce 1973.

‘THE ARE OUR HOM’: LA GAY BARS FIGHT TO STAY AFLOAT AFTER YEAR OF SHUTDOWN

When asked why so few gay bars exist today, the answer om patron after patron was almost universal: “The ter. “The advent of the ter changed everythg — you n have your dner and your sex livered straight to your door, ” said Tuday Thomas, a 60-year-old trans woman, edian, and actrs who is based Los Angel but grew up Rochter and bartend and performed at several gay clubs here the late ’70s and ’80s. Marcella said his Club Marcella started out as a gay space, but quickly beme popular wh straight people, too.

click to enlarge PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH Sara Rosenfeld, pictured wh her dog, Cyprs, has worked at gay bars Rochter and San Francis, and says that many of the spots have closed for both fancial and cultural reasons. Rosenfeld currently works as a school culture nsultant, but spent years as a bouncer at several gay bars Rochter and San Francis.

A YEAR GAY BARS

Through that work she ma a more ser observatn: not all gay bars are safe spac for all gay people, pecially queer people of lor. That qutn is the central foc of a forthg book by Mattson, the Oberl profsor who tracked the cle of queer bars, tled “Who Needs Gay Bars? Jt like s ago, gay-specific spac n take the guswork out of the kd of night you’re gog to have — they crease the chanc that you’ll get harassed, or seen by someone who is homophobic, Bat said.

Although Chigo has among the greatt selectn of gay nightspots the untry, the majory of the hangouts - om bars and diss to LGBT-popular rtrants - are popular mixed rintial-mercial neighborhoods on the north si of the cy.

SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS

You n fd extensive lists of tablishments the Chigo Lakeview Gay Nightlife Gui and the Chigo Anrsonville Gay Nightlife Gui.

Fortunately, there are a uple of very fun gay nightspots right the heart of downtown, not to mentn an almost endls supply of terrific rtrants, many of them wh mixed gay/straight followgs.

Addnally, on the cy's South Si, you'll fd a pair of gay bars that ter predomantly to Ain-Amerin patrons, Club Espe and Jeffery Pub. It's also a b of a distance to reach the bars, but they're both legendary nightspots that are well-worth checkg out, pecially given that many of the natn's gay Ain-Amerin hangouts have steadily disappeared over the years. Also take a look at the Chigo Gay Bathhoe and Sex Club Gui, which has plenty of advice on where to meet guys lookg to hookup around Chigo.