Kween Astoria | New York Gay Cocktail Lounge & Kchen

Contents:

• THE OLST GAY BAR QUEENS SECUR ITS FUTURE JACKSON HEIGHTS
• THE NEWT GAY BAR NYC
• THE 30 BT GAY BARS NYC
• GAY BARS QUEENS: WHERE TO PARTY JACKSON HEIGHTS
• THE BEST QUEENS GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS QUEENS
• THE NEWT GAY BAR NYC

THE OLST GAY BAR QUEENS SECUR ITS FUTURE JACKSON HEIGHTS

The olst gay bar Queens, Friend’s Tavern, will rema Jackson Heights at 78-11 Roosevelt Avenue, near 79th Street.

THE NEWT GAY BAR NYC

Though was not immediately clear whether Friend’s was imment danger of closg whout purchasg the se, many gay bars have feared they wouldn’t be able to survive the panmic.

THE 30 BT GAY BARS NYC

Friend’s Tavern (or Friend’s) Jackson Heights is known as the olst active gay bar Queens and has been owned sce 1989 by Eddie Valent and Casimiro Villa, bs partners and former personal partners.

GAY BARS QUEENS: WHERE TO PARTY JACKSON HEIGHTS

It has been a particularly important nightlife space for gay and bisexual Lato men, many of whom, as immigrants, found a sense of muny an openly gay environment that they may not have had their native untri. Friend’s Tavern (popularly referred to as Friend’s) has been bs at this lotn sce 1989 and is nsired the olst operatg gay bar Queens. Valent, who along wh Villa also operat the nearby Club Evolutn, has lled this stretch of Roosevelt Avenue “the gay Village for Latos, ” reference to the historilly gay whe enclave of Greenwich Village Manhattan.

THE BEST QUEENS GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS QUEENS

Though Jackson Heights’ LGBT muny was predomantly whe datg back to the 1920s, many gay Hispanics moved as part of a large flux of Lato immigrants the 1970s and 1980s. For Latos, the nightlife spac reflected the dance-driven cultur of their native untri, but also provid an openly gay atmosphere that, for many, was not available back home.

Acrdg to LGBT rights activist and journalist Andrés Duque, walkg to Friend’s soon after emigratg om Colombia 1993 and seeg Colombian men kissg and dancg together was “a revelatn of [his] life and [his] gay life.

” Others also relled the signifince of beg around people wh shared backgrounds — Lato, immigrant, and LGBT — which fostered a sense of muny, particularly for those who moved to New York whout their fai or were forced to be more closeted their homeland (though gay bars did sometim exist urban areas) or their immigrant muni here. Two days after the June 12, 2016 mass shootg at the gay nightclub Pulse, Orlando, Florida, which the majory of the victims were Hispanic (and nearly half were Puerto Rin), Valent helped anize an English- and Spanish-language vigil outsi Club Evolutn that ntued along Roosevelt Avenue to Friend’s and Te Colors, another gay Lato bar.

THE NEWT GAY BAR NYC

Valent, who knew some of the victims om when they lived Jackson Heights and equented Friend’s and other area bars, spoke about the importance of gay nightlife spac as safe havens:. There are a lot of [LGBT] people who e om other untri, and they leave primarily bee of the fact that there’s so much prejudice and homophobia their untri. S., the first thg they do is look for a bs that’s gay, more likely a bar or a club, where they n make their first iends.

While several newer gay Lato bars operate on and around Roosevelt Avenue, former bars and clubs clu the Love Boat, at 77-02 Broadway Elmhurst; Club Llamarada (pronounced “Yamarada”), a popular dance spot at 82-20 Baxter Avenue Elmhurst; and Lucho’s Place, at 38-19 69th Street Woodsi. As wh Friend’s, the bars were also equented by non-Lato gay and bisexual men om elsewhere the cy and Long Island wh an tert the Lato bar scene. Read our transparency report to learn PNew York Cy, NY19 ntributnsJan 2018 • FriendsLove this gay bar.