Gay Nightlife Knoxville: Bars, Clubs, & More

Contents:

• GAY NIGHTLIFE KNOXVILLE, TENNSEE: BARS, CLUBS, & MORE
• THE BEST TENNSEE GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS TENNSEE
• GUI TO GAY STREET KNOXVILLE, TENNSEE
• CLANCY'S TAVERN& WHISKEY HOUSEDISVEROUR STORYCLANCY’S TAVERN AND WHISKEY HOE IS DOWNTOWN KNOXVILLE’S PREMIER IRISH PUB. LOTED DIRECTLY NEXT DOOR TO THE HISTORIC TENNSEE THEATRE, AT THE RNER OF GAY STREET AND CLCH AVENUE.ABOUT USDAILY SPECIALSMONDAYTEAM TRIVIA NIGHTSTARTS AT 7PM 1ST PLACE: $50 GIFT CARD2ND PLACE: $25 GIFT CARD3RD PLACE: $10 GIFT CARD TUESDAYBREWSDAY TUESDAY7PM – CLOSE $3 MICRO & DOMTIC DRAFTS $4 IMPORTS & HIGH GRAVY BOGO LIQUID GOLD BEER CHEE WEDNESDAYWINE WEDNESDAY4PM – 10PMHALF PRICE BOTTL OF WETHURSDAYHAPPY HOUR3PM – 7PMWHERE ELSE WOULD YOU RATHER BE?SATURDAYMORNING MIMOSAS11AM – 5PM$4 BLOODY MARY & MIMOSASSUNDAYMORNING MIMOSAS11AM – 5PM$4 BLOODY MARY & MIMOSASJO THE EXPERIENCEWE OFFER A RELAXED AND TIMATE EXPERIENCE THAT SETS APART OM THE RT. LOTED ON THE SAFE, CLEAN AND BTLG GAY STREET OF DOWNTOWN KNOXVILLE, CLANCY’S TAVERN AND WHISKEY HOE IS A UNIQUE SETTG AND THE PERFECT PLACE TO SPEND THE EVENG.VIEW THE EVENTS CALENDAR#GALLERY-0{MARG:TO}#GALLERY-0 .GALLERY-EM{FLOAT:LEFT;TEXT-ALIGN:CENTER;WIDTH:50%}KNOXVILLE IRISH PUBKNOXVILLE IRISH PUBKNOXVILLE IRISH PUBKNOXVILLE IRISH PUBCOME VIS US
• 530 SOUTH GAY STREET
• GAY TENNSEE
• GAY STREET

GAY NIGHTLIFE KNOXVILLE, TENNSEE: BARS, CLUBS, & MORE

Apart om a uple of gay-oriented spac, many bars the area are que mixed and blatantly show their support for the LGBTQ+ muny. The cy has bee a haven for gay rints and tourists throughout the regn.

For a cy far smaller than Memphis, 's a b surprisg that Knoxville has nearly the same number of gay bars.

The Edge: One of the longt-nng and largt gay clubs, The Edge is well outsi the cy center—about 7 wt of town off I-40 along a by road led wh strip malls—but 's very much the top gay venue town.

THE BEST TENNSEE GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS TENNSEE

Held mid-June, 's a full-day event begng wh the morng para through the heart of downtown along the serendipoly named Gay Street. 135 S Gay St. If you walk up to someone Knoxville and ask where the neart gay bar is they may only be able to name one or two different optns.

GUI TO GAY STREET KNOXVILLE, TENNSEE

Sassy Ann’s Hoe of Blu is also another Knoxville stutn that has not necsarily brand self as a “Gay Bar”, but has more recent years garnered a rather loyal group of LGBT patrons.

The plac are a part of a very large llectn of Gay and Lbian Bars to have existed Knoxville over the last half century. The history of Knoxville Gay bars is fadg and will be plete as is wrten today. I have gathered rmatn om the posters, om terviews wh LGBT cizens and siftg through s of Metro Pulse & small prt gay media articl, an attempt to create a hive anthology of Knoxville Gay bars.

The Hiaway – Acrdg to one source, The Hiaway was first loted off an alley on Gay Street near the prent-day ATT Buildg. The bar operated the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, eventually movg to a buildg on the 200 Block of Gay Street where was torn down durg the expansn of Summt Hill Drive. It is unclear whether this was an exclively LGBT bar or if was one of a handful of bars throughout the cy that were open md and iendly to the lol gay muny.

CLANCY'S TAVERN& WHISKEY HOUSEDISVEROUR STORYCLANCY’S TAVERN AND WHISKEY HOE IS DOWNTOWN KNOXVILLE’S PREMIER IRISH PUB. LOTED DIRECTLY NEXT DOOR TO THE HISTORIC TENNSEE THEATRE, AT THE RNER OF GAY STREET AND CLCH AVENUE.ABOUT USDAILY SPECIALSMONDAYTEAM TRIVIA NIGHTSTARTS AT 7PM 1ST PLACE: $50 GIFT CARD2ND PLACE: $25 GIFT CARD3RD PLACE: $10 GIFT CARD TUESDAYBREWSDAY TUESDAY7PM – CLOSE $3 MICRO & DOMTIC DRAFTS $4 IMPORTS & HIGH GRAVY BOGO LIQUID GOLD BEER CHEE WEDNESDAYWINE WEDNESDAY4PM – 10PMHALF PRICE BOTTL OF WETHURSDAYHAPPY HOUR3PM – 7PMWHERE ELSE WOULD YOU RATHER BE?SATURDAYMORNING MIMOSAS11AM – 5PM$4 BLOODY MARY & MIMOSASSUNDAYMORNING MIMOSAS11AM – 5PM$4 BLOODY MARY & MIMOSASJO THE EXPERIENCEWE OFFER A RELAXED AND TIMATE EXPERIENCE THAT SETS APART OM THE RT. LOTED ON THE SAFE, CLEAN AND BTLG GAY STREET OF DOWNTOWN KNOXVILLE, CLANCY’S TAVERN AND WHISKEY HOE IS A UNIQUE SETTG AND THE PERFECT PLACE TO SPEND THE EVENG.VIEW THE EVENTS CALENDAR#GALLERY-0{MARG:TO}#GALLERY-0 .GALLERY-EM{FLOAT:LEFT;TEXT-ALIGN:CENTER;WIDTH:50%}KNOXVILLE IRISH PUBKNOXVILLE IRISH PUBKNOXVILLE IRISH PUBKNOXVILLE IRISH PUBCOME VIS US

For the Knoxville gay muny, the Back Office was one of first large sle gay nightclubs for dancg and socializg.

After The Back Office was molished for the Cy-County Buildg, Colony beme one of the more popular gay bars Knoxville for a number of years. Tradns – Tradns is one of the only gay bars on this list to be loted Market Square.

530 SOUTH GAY STREET

The Circle J – Loted on Church Street the 1980’s, Circle J was a quieter place for gay people to meet and talk. The Pri posters reference this bar as a popular meetg place for the Knoxville 10%, one of the first gay polil activist anizatns the cy. This was the first gay bar I ever went to my life.

Origally opened as a straight bar, Cy Lims beme very popular wh lol gays and the early 1990’s changed management and rebrand self as Tmps. Tmps was a bar that embraced s tablished gay followg wh popular drag shows and theme nights. Dence/Bourbon Street – Loted off Kgston Pike on Carr St, Bourbon Street was a nice and large dance bar that operated the late 2000’s for a uple of years and was ially really popular wh the lol gay muny.

The young crowd and dance environment ma this otherwise straight bar a gay iendly tablishment to go dancg wh iends, pecially on gay-themed nights. Kandy Knox – Kandy Knox is the only legimate gay bar to be loted on Chapman Highway that mak this list. The crowd on a typil weekend was mixed gay and straight but always iendly acrdg to my terviews.

GAY TENNSEE

Gays that remember Six Fifteen told me that this event was a more subdued party wh a mixed crowd that allowed for olr generatns of gays and those not to the party scene to enjoy the pany of fellow gay men a social settg. Huddle was loted the basement of the Cook Buildg at the rner of Cumberland Ave and Gay St and began operatns sometime the 1940’s.

Huddle operated unr the radar downtown Knoxville durg an era when gay bars were illegal and for many s you uld fd a sign bi the entry that proudly read “gayt spot town. A person I spoke wh said that this bar was one of the first stanc Knoxville of a gay bar equented by straight people for the novelty of the space and environment.

The bar, loted on the back si of an old buildg on the 800 Block of Gay street, was owned by a well-known Knoxville hair drser named Joseph Weir.

GAY STREET

People say Europa was one of the better gay bars of s era and that Weir would always s up at the ont of the bar and “hold urt” by tellg stori and gossipg about the gogs on wh the surroundg muny. In the years leadg up to the World’s Fair, Weir publicly fought back the cy’s attempts to remove gay tablishments om downtown an effort to “clean up” the cy for visors. Kurt’s was open for a number of years until the early 2010’s when was rebrand as Club Exile, which still had a mixed gay crowd but also began to try and add regular drag shows wh some nights directed towards gay men.

Runng ntually as Caroel 2 sce the early 1980’s, this gay bar was nsired one of the olst the cy’s history. The Caroel was an stutn the gay muny for s. If you were a gay man or an ally livg Knoxville the last 30 years then there is a very good chance you saw at least one drag show the upstairs show bar.