Private Clubs, a Liquor Co Loophole and Lucky: How Gay Life Came of Age Ptsburgh | 90.5 WESA

Contents:

• PRIVATE CLUBS, A LIQUOR CO LOOPHOLE AND LUCKY: HOW GAY LIFE CAME OF AGE PTSBURGH
• HOW THE STRIP DISTRICT GAY BAR LUCKY’S HAS SURVIVED NSTCTN AND CULTURAL SHIFTS
• PTSBURGH GAY CY GUI: PROGRSIVE, PICTURQUE, AND A PERFECT PLACE TO CALL HOME
• LUCKY AFTER DARK: PTSBURGH’S GAY AND LBIAN SOCIAL CLUBS 1960-1990
• A GAY GUI TO PTSBURGH
• GAY PTSBURGH
• BT GAY BARS IN PTSBURGH

PRIVATE CLUBS, A LIQUOR CO LOOPHOLE AND LUCKY: HOW GAY LIFE CAME OF AGE PTSBURGH

Among other thgs, Lucky was known to post bail for gay men who were arrted police raids at the bar — only to be taed aga after brgg them back to the AVA for more partyg. A 1952 grand jury vtigatn revealg several Ptsburgh police officers, known as the “morals squad, ” were not only volved rptn but also homosexual behavr — th leadg to the group’s disbandment — set the stage for Lucky to tablish a foothold nightlife, acrdg to the project. “Lucky and his partners moved om the stunted posn of the gay patron to the gay owner, ” the PQHP’s “Lucky After Dark” talog reads.

HOW THE STRIP DISTRICT GAY BAR LUCKY’S HAS SURVIVED NSTCTN AND CULTURAL SHIFTS

Lucky’s clubs also served as the mol for a number of gay bars that would follow.

They met Downtown at Pegas before gog to Zack’s on Fourth Avenue, where Noxon was “cut loose” by his new iend, a Ptsburgh native who wanted the 24-year-old to vis every bar he uld the next few hours as a kd of crash urse gay nightlife. “My god, if this is gay life, let me at . Noxon remembered leavg bars groups of three or four to ensure safety agast any homophobic attacks that might happen on the way to the next waterg hole.

Gay bashgs, while they didn’t happen regularly, were btal and equent enough to make queer people worried, Noxon said. As Noxon saw , many of the gay bars Ptsburgh the 1980s were sufferg om mismanagement.

PTSBURGH GAY CY GUI: PROGRSIVE, PICTURQUE, AND A PERFECT PLACE TO CALL HOME

Sce the closg of Pegas and the Eagle, Noxon has lamented the cle of Ptsburgh’s gay nightlife, placg much of the blame on the ter’s abily to nnect people who would have otherwise had to venture out to bars to meet one another and cise. Some of them look back the then-monplace discrimatn agast gay bars wh wh humor, such as one person who rells her last vis to the Holiday endg when the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board “me and took me away!

Handwrten not honorg memori ma at Holiday Bar, which end s reign as Ptsburgh’s olst gay bar when closed 2007. (Ptsburgh Queer History Project) Handwrten not honorg memori ma at Holiday Bar, which end s reign as Ptsburgh’s olst gay bar when closed 2007. In the mid-20th century, some clubs, such as the AVA, began to velop a reputatn for sexual viancy as men also sought to pe the nf of a society which beg gay was still strictly taboo.

LUCKY AFTER DARK: PTSBURGH’S GAY AND LBIAN SOCIAL CLUBS 1960-1990

Haggerty was CMU’s go-to expert for rearchg gay Ptsburgh. It was very unual to have this much visual rmatn about any kd of gay club or bar, let alone Ptsburgh. Although the PQHP’s archive ntas materials featurg lbians and transgenr people, many of the club owners and personali documented the archive pict an “ele, gay, almost exclively male and whe” crowd, Haggerty said.

In many ways, Noxon se the shrkg of Ptsburgh’s gay unrground as a bad thg, pecially at a time when anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and laws are on the rise the U. The basement of the buildg on the rner of Liberty Avenue and Strawberry Way was once the Pegas Lounge, one of the most popular gay clubs the cy of Ptsburgh. Opened June of 1980, the Pegas Lounge was a fixture of gay life the downtown neighborhood until s move to the North Si neighborhood 2009.

The Pegas Lounge is most notable, however, for s many servic to the gay muny over the years, particularly s activism fightg AIDS and providg a safe space for young gay men. The club soon beme a centerpiece of Ptsburgh’s gay muny.

A GAY GUI TO PTSBURGH

When opened the Pegas was among the most smopolan s for gay patrons the Ptsburgh area, hostg a piano and cktail lounge on the upper level and a dance floor down below.

Actrs Kathleen Turner also equented the club durg her time headlg a play Ptsburgh tled Pegas is also notable for s socially nsc role wh the gay muny of Ptsburgh. Owner David Morrow felt particularly rponsible for providg a safe space for young gay men, nstctg a fence down the middle of the club separatg an unr 21 area servg juice and soda om an over 21 area servg alhol.

GAY PTSBURGH

Charl Raldo out of the Universy of Ptsburgh, LGBT+ mental health anizatn Persad, and the Gay and Lbian Communy Center, the Pegas and other gay clubs the Ptsburgh area worked to rec s ctomers as volunteers for a study search of a cure for AIDS. Bee of s role as a haven for young gay men and as an early rponr to the AIDS crisis, the former se of the Pegas reprents a unique landmark wh the history of Ptsburgh’s gay muny. Generatns of gay men found themselv and their place wh the muny over the thirty pl years of s existence.

The club opened an era when gay men routely lost their liv and livelihoods for publicly exprsg their sexualy. Bee of the Pegas Lounge and other venu like , the gay muny of Ptsburgh was able to face everyday bigotry and the unprecented upheaval of the AIDS crisis together. Wh more and more venu welg gay patrons and the ter providg a place for gay men to nnect wh one another, he argued, the mand for exclive spac for gay men was creasg.

BT GAY BARS IN PTSBURGH

The former se of the Pegas Lounge om 1980 to 2009 remas vant, but passersby n still view om the outsi and appreciate s unique role the history of Ptsburgh’s gay muny.

"Pegas, noted Downtown gay nightclub, relotg to North Si. Gay Cable Network wh Zed Armstrong and Michel Ferci – Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry.