Bar-Hopping through America’s Endangered LGBTQ+ Places
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Gay bars have been closing by the hundreds. The story goes that mainstream acceptance of LGBTQ+ people, plus dating apps like Grindr, Lex, and Tinder, have rendered these spaces obsolete. Beyond that, rampant gentrification in big cities has pushed gay bars out of the neighborhoods they helped make hip. Who Needs Gay Bars? considers these narratives, accepting that the answer for some might be: maybe nobody.
And yet…
Jarred by the closing of his favorite local watering hole in Cleveland, Ohio, Greggor Mattson embarks on a journey across the country to paint a much more complex picture of the cultural significance of these spaces, inside the “big four” gay cities, but also beyond them. No longer the only places for their patrons to socialize openly, Mattson finds in them instead a continuously evolving symbol; a physical place for feeling and challenging the beating pulse of sexual progress.
Table of Contents
Preface A Sociologist Walks into a Bar
A Man’s World ■ CLEVELAND, OHIO
Part One Ambivalence
1 Ambivalence about Gay Bars
The City Nightclub ■ PORTLAND, OREGON
2 Changing Bars and Aging Bodies
aut Bar ■ ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN
3 Outpost Bars Put Assumptions under Scrutiny
Garlows ■ GUN BARREL CITY, TEXAS
4 Gay Bar History
Garden of Allah ■ SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
5 Not-Quite-for-Profit, Privately-Owned Community Assets
Blackstones ■ PORTLAND, MAINE
Part Two Gay Bar Fundamentals
6 Mom and Moms and Pop and Pops
Splash Bar Florida ■ PANAMA CITY BEACH, FLORIDA
7 The Training Grounds of America’s Next Drag Superstar
Independence Place ■ CAPE GIRARDEAU, MISSOURI
8 Bars for People of Color and the Ambivalence of Racial Camp
Wang Chung’s ■ HONOLULU, HAWAII
9 There Are Easier Ways to Make a Buck in the Big City than a Big Nightclub
Club Cobra and Club Chico ■ LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
10 Queer Spaces in the Gayborhood
insideOUT ■ SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
11 Small-City Gay Bars and the Only Gay in the Village
Studio 13 and Belle’s Basix ■ THE CORRIDOR, IOWA CITY & CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA
Part Three Safe Spaces for Whom
12 Gay Bars Were Never Safe Spaces
R&R Saloon ■ DETROIT, MICHIGAN
13 Undocu-Queer Dreaming and Government ID
REDACTED ■ FRESNO, CALIFORNIA
14 Owners Behaving Badly
Easy Street Tavern ■ SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTHWEST
15 Our Gender Is Medicine
Various Bars ■ INDIAN COUNTRY, OKLAHOMA
16 Conflicts over Safety in the Queer Pub
Wayward Lamb ■ EUGENE, OREGON
Part Four Lesbian-Owned Bars
17 Lost Womyn’s Spaces, Found Lesbian Bars
Wild Side West ■ SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
18 I Always Hated Lesbian Bars
Sneakers ■ JAMESTOWN, NEW YORK
19 Why Can’t We Be Straight Friendly?
Alibis ■ OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA
20 White Folks, Gay Men, and Straight Black Folks Don’t Come
Club Xclusive ■ HATTIESBURG, MISSISSIPPI
21 The Drama of Owning a Queer Bar
Blush & Blu ■ DENVER, COLORADO
22 Women First, Lesbians Second, But Everyone’s Welcome
Walker’s Pint ■ MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN
Part Five Cruisy Men’s Bars
23 Democratizing Sexy Community
Jackhammer ■ CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
24 We Were a Bear Bar. The Trans Community Was Extremely Forgiving
Wrangler ■ DENVER, COLORADO
25 Rebranding The Eagle for the Next Generations
The Baltimore Eagle ■ BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
26 Leathermen at Drag Bingo
Leather Stallion Saloon ■ CLEVELAND, OHIO
27 Queering the Gay Strip Club
The Stag PDX ■ PORTLAND, OREGON
Part Six How to Save a Gay Bar
28 Crowdfunding While Black
Alibi Lounge ■ NEW YORK, NEW YORK
29 Nonprofit Ownership Means We Celebrate Pride Every Week
The Park Dance Club ■ ROANOKE, VIRGINIA
30 Part of an Otherwise-Straight Hospitality Group
Chumley’s ■ STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA
31 The Benefits of Employee Ownership
Caven Enterprises’ JR’s, Sue Ellen’s, TMC, S4, and Rose Room ■ DALLAS, TEXAS
32 #SaveTheGayBars from Another Pandemic
Troupe429 ■ NORWALK, CONNECTICUT
Part Seven National Monuments
33 National Archive
The Stonewall Inn ■ NEW YORK, NEW YORK
34 National Memorial
Pulse ■ ORLANDO, FLORIDA
35 Municipal Landmark in Exile
The Stud ■ SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
36 AIDS Altars in Plain Sight
The Raven ■ ANCHORAGE, ALASKA
37 A Post-Gay, Not Gay, Very Gay, Un-Bar
Dacha ■ WASHINGTON, DC
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
Greggor Mattson 