In Memoriam: 17 Defunct Gay Bars D.C., Chigo, Miami

Contents:

• GAY BARS, RIP
• D.C. GAY NIGHTCLUB COBALT CLOS WH LTLE WARNG
• D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS
• BT GAY AND LBIAN BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS WASHGTON DC
• THE GAY WAY: HISTORY OF LBIAN BARS SOUTHEAST WASHGTON, D.C.
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• THE CREW CLUBWASHGTON DC'S PREMIER GAY SNA & GYM.WASHGTON DCMENULUXURY HOTELSMID-RANGE HOTELSON TODAYBARSDANCE CLUBSSNASGAY MAPSHOPSTHE CREW CLUB
• LICHT CAFé, D.C.’S NEWT GAY BAR, IS A COZY, ART-FILLED U STREET HIAWAY

GAY BARS, RIP

The natn's pal is home to a lively LGBTQ+ nightlife scene wh plenty of gay and lbian bars jt wag for you to jo on the fun.

Larry’s Lounge is a gay neighborhood pub, wh always-affordable drks, solid happy hour specials, mouth-waterg pub fare (see: sweet potato tots) and one of the cy’s iendlit pats (you n brg your dog, too!

D.C. GAY NIGHTCLUB COBALT CLOS WH LTLE WARNG

Number Ne to the btlg Logan Circle urty of -founr Ed Bailey, who helped DC’s gay nightlife scene to grow durg his days as a DJ. Suated right the heart of Adams Man’s btlg 18th Street is Pchers, a gay sports bar, and A League of Her Own, the adjacent bar for lbian and queer women. Capal Pri, one of the largt gay pri celebratns the US, is this weekend.

The above map and s acpanyg history tell the story of the bars, bookstor, group hom, clics, and church that have played sential rol DC's gay muny for the past half century.

Durg the 60s and 70s, as LGBT activism moved more to the public foreont, the number of gay bars grew throughout the District; also emergg this time were Guild Prs, which published gay travel guis, fictn, and a newspaper lled Gay Fom, as well as the Washgton Free Clic, which provid STD unselg to gay men. The growth of gay spac slowed down the 1980s, she says, but at the same time the clud DC's first gural High Heel Drag Queen Race, which has now bee an stutn. The slowed growth ntued the 90s and 2000s, but 's very possible that's bee time has passed, there's been ls of a need for gay people to hi pla sight.

D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS

“Wh greater acceptance has me blurrier l to what nstut gay bars and spac, ” wr Kate. “Nowadays bars like Nellie's, one of the few notable gay bars to open sce 2000, are attend by straight people, and many bars whout the tentn of beg a gay bar wele and celebrate their LGBT muny.

The data Kate ed to create the map is available through the Rabow History Project, an anizatn dited to llectg, prervg, and promotg gay, lbian, bisexual, and transgenr history DC. Unr the Lavenr Sre the feral ernment fired gay dividuals en masse. 's longt ntuoly operatg gay bars and one of the olst Ain-Amerin gay bars the untry, opened 1957.

Was the 'first gay-owned bar to offer same-sex dancg', sentially breakg the owner ban on dancg.

BT GAY AND LBIAN BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS WASHGTON DC

Also ntributed to 'the iatn of dancg DC gay bars on a regular basis. ' Down the street published gay travel guis, gay fictn, physique magaz, and lol newspaper Gay Fom.

The prs and publisher would be nvicted of obsceny., started at Geetown Lutheran, beme the first place to provi STD unselg to gay men.

This would lead to the Gay Men's VD Clic, a precursor to Whman-Walker clic. Others, like and, provid not only gay lerature but ccial space for activism and muny gathergs.

THE GAY WAY: HISTORY OF LBIAN BARS SOUTHEAST WASHGTON, D.C.

Gay llectiv also emerged the 1970's as an important force gay activism.

Was one of the first gay dance clubs around South Capol Street, a "relatively isolated lotn, gave a sense of secury that more -town lotns uldn’t.

Barracks Row and Pennsylvania Avenue SE rema a vibrant LGBT scene, but faced harassment om Mar at the Barracks., a gay club that opened 1980, reported six cints by Mar cludg broken wdows, shoutg slurs, threateng patrons, and asslt. MPD was strongly cricized when, durg a 1987 raid of gay bar, they donned "surgil masks and bber glov" for fear of ntractg AIDS.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Nob Hill, one of the untry's olst gay bars, hosted the first AIDS fom the Ain-Amerin muny. Provid a home for the Gay Men's Counselg Collective, which later bed wh the Gay Men's VD Clic, started at, to form the Whman-Walker Clic, the foremost provir of AIDS servic the regn.

Phase 1 and Nob Hill, one of Ameri's olst lbian bars and Ain-Amerin gay bars, rpectively, closed.

Wh greater acceptance me blurrier l to what nstut gay bars and spac.

THE CREW CLUBWASHGTON DC'S PREMIER GAY SNA & GYM.WASHGTON DCMENULUXURY HOTELSMID-RANGE HOTELSON TODAYBARSDANCE CLUBSSNASGAY MAPSHOPSTHE CREW CLUB

Monthly events like MIXTAPE and Guerilla Queer Bar Parti started up the 2000s to brg the LGBT muny en masse to non-gay bars and clubs. Nowadays bars like, one of the few notable gay bars to open sce 2000, are attend by straight people and many bars whout the tentn of beg a gay bar wele and celebrate their LGBT muny. “Image a life lived pletely to the fullt – that was Tarik Pierce, ” said Do Sevilla, -owner of the Ltle Gay Pub another Facebook postg.

1 gayt cy by the Advote? You wouldn’t know by the health of the cy’s gay nightlife—the past year alone has seen the shutterg of four gay bars and nightclubs.

Remgtons: For nearly 20 years, Remgtons’ large dance floor was filled wh gay upl two-steppg and le dancg while others leaned on the woon railgs to watch the psdo-untry-wtern scene. Or maybe ’s part of a natnwi trend away om gay-specific spac, now that queers n more eely meet and nnect public, onle, and tradnally straight spac. District gay nightclub Cobalt announced Tuday had closed s doors for the last unlike last year’s tearful, sequ-drenched send-off that shuttered Town Danceboutique, a gay nightclub off U Street NW whose buildg was sold to a veloper of high-end apartments, Cobalt’s ex was quiet.

LICHT CAFé, D.C.’S NEWT GAY BAR, IS A COZY, ART-FILLED U STREET HIAWAY

General manager Brian Blanchard did not rpond to a requt for closure surprised patrons and members of the LGBTQ muny, who took to the Inter to rell memori of days and nights spent at one of the District’s bt-known gay clubs. “Cobalt had a good gay Cheers kd of feel for a while. “The gay bar dtry has been changg over the past few years wh the populary of datg apps, changg social norms, and pop-up parti/events at non-gay venu and we appld the evolutns as posive progrs, ” he bar survived a fire that tore through the buildg 2000, forcg to rebuild, and a class-actn lawsu 2014 that alleged was shortg bartenrs by payg them ls than mimum wage while also requirg them to spl tips.

's evolvg gayborhood has shifted towards Logan Circle and U Street. In Febary 2016, the Washgton Bla noted an "unual flurry of activy" wh the openg of four new gay bars, the majory of which land the U Street/Shaw/Logan Circle area.