Your first gay bar/nightclubs

"The Garage" in Columbus Ohio.

I practically grew up there.

It was such a great place. Front bar was called "Trends", the back dance club was "The Garage". So many memories.

It's long gone.

Sadly.

ah yes, R1....the Gay Rage. !

When I was a university student in Winnipeg from 1997-2000. A place called Gio's. I don't know if it still exists today. I miss it, but I was only there for school, and haven't had an opportunity to go back in years.

Uncle Charlies, NYC 1991. Back when the Village was still gay!

The Factory - Little Rock, Ar. I was 17 and got at 21+ wristband with no problem at all. Had a blast with some gay high school friends. (under-aged as well) We got free drinks all night long. Place is closed now.

The Gay 90's in Minneapolis...1976. I thought I had found Sodom and Gomorrah .. in a good way. The bar is still there.

Mudd Club, Club 82, Danceteria, Pyramid, Boy Bar, NYC The Stud and DNA SF

Johnny Angel's, Lexington Kentucky - once owned by Rock Hudson.

Moby Dick's (now gone, I think) in Dallas around 1994 or 95, followed by After Dark (also gone) where I saw my first drag queen that night. I also think we went to The Throckmorton Mining Company where I made out with a stranger for the first time. There was also a techno club with a name I've forgotten. It had a drag show upstairs at "The Rose Room," but by then, I was so drunk, I can't recall much of it. I was terribly nervous being out at clubs for the first time, but, it was fun. I never did it often, and, haven't in over a decade, but, recall those nights fondly.

Jack's 1962 on the Embarcadero, San Francisco

Chester Street in Champaign, Illinois. My girlfriend "made" me go there on mixed night over my (hollow) objections. A cute guy was cruising me, and without knowing it, I was cruising back. He finally went up to he and asked "is your boyfriend straight, or can i dance with him?" She dragged me out of there, but the relationship was not long for the world. I ended up back there on my own within weeks.

First gay bar mitzvah? Jodie Abramowitz and he wore his yarmulke over a sequined snood.

The Garden in Des Moines, IA, which was then called The Brass Garden, and believe me, it was filled with brass. Very 80s looking. My roommate my freshman year in college said he wanted to go there for his 21st birthday because he said he'd never gone to a gay bar before and just wanted to experience it. I had a fake ID and we got in with no problems. Cut to two months later when we both came out to each other. It was great having a gay roommate my freshman year.

[quote]Uncle Charlies, NYC 1991. Back when the Village was still gay!

But not for long.

The Ninth Circle, 1973, after hearing Bette Midler sing "Friends" in Washington Square Park. A few years later, I moved to the Village and practically lived at the Ninth Circle.

It was either Diamonds (a lesbian bar), or the Stonewall (both in Allentown, Pa).

Sheesh...It was actually called Sensations, the middle of no where Long Island. A gay outpost in straight land. I was 17, this was when the drinking age was 18 and I could easily pass for 18 since I was 14. I walked in scared as shit to a smoky mirror, brass and twinkling light filled bar (Lots of wood paneling too) The place was half full of caften queens smoking More 100s, kid you not. They must have all thought I was a rent boy. I saw a pinball machine and spent about 20 minutes playing and left.

Pegasus in the early 90s when the old guys would stand at the bar which was surrounded by a chain link fence. You can look at the twinks dancing but you can't touch!

Mickey's, Rage, 7969, Mother Lode, The Abbey

Apparently we can no longer type the name of a bar in West Hollywood that is about to film its own reality show there.

The Cha-Cha Palace, Richmond VA. 1973. I was at VCU. Liked to go up to Pier 9 in D.C. in the weekends

Early 1990s at The Robin's Nest in Cambridge, ON. Long since closed.

R18 I assume you mean Pegasus in Pittsburgh.

Mine were in Erie (ugh) - Silver Slipper and Lizzie Borden's. Then Zack's and Peg's in Pittsburgh, Joshua's in Youngstown (a really fun place with a sunken dance floor), the Innerbelt in Akron (also fun) and some places in Cleveland, including Keys and U4ia (which always bored me).

I also loved the Toolbox in Toronto. Had the most fun ever there, but it's long gone.

Village Station, Dallas, early 80s. Only went a few times... much preferred JR's, Uptown Dallas, Saint, other bars there at the time, but VS was the first.

The Pines in Tyngesboro, MA had a gay night in the 80s including male strippers. We would go from Nashua, NH over the border and have a great time. I was closeted. My girlfriend and I went and picked up a girl. And a boy. We swapped around. We ended up doing this several times until she left me for a woman and I came out.

Afterhours at the Run in Omaha (now called The Mining Co. I think). I was 17 or 18, it was the early 90s. Tiny bar with a dancefloor the size of a postage stamp. It wasn't much, but it was exciting to me at the time.

Can't remember the name, but it was 2001. I was 20 and visiting Kansas City.

The Brook in Westport, CT

There was one in Cambridge, MA in the mid 1908s and I cannot remember its name for the life of me. It was mostly for college age guys.

Sorry--I meant mid 1980s, but I mistyped.

I don't go THAT far back!

R29 is the Grandaddy of all eldergays 8^)

What did you use for lube back then, gramps?

Is "Peg" a nickname for "Pegasus"? That's retarded.

Yes, R32. I didn't make it up, but it was used by many for many years.

Dr Feelgoods in Savannah, GA. The PLACE to dance in the 80's.

I don't know why I hate "Peg's" so much, R33, but I do.

The Hawaiian Hut, West Sacramento, CA. 1973.

Black Cat, San Francisco. In North Beach. Yep, I'm super old.

Chumley's and Player's in state college.

The Raven and the cartwheel in New Hope PA.

Bike Stop in Philadelphia.

Now I remember. The bar in Cambridge was called "Paradise."

I'm R38 this was in 2004.

Mine was Tracks in D.C. God, it was fucking amazing. There was on outdoor beach volleyball court in the middle of the bar!

R41, I loved that place. Only went there once (during the March On Washington in 93 I think), and had the most amazing time there.

Ahhh, the Glory Hole next to the Peeping Tom arcade on Wells in Chicago.

And r20, there is no filter on DL Beta as The Abbey prints fully as T h e A b b e y.

Weeping over lost troll-dar on Beta.

r19, has it unedited.

Oh, well...

Great post!

Uncle Charlie's of course!

I condole you R35.

I've never been in a gay bar,there aren't any in this part of the state and I don't drink anyway.

[quote] I've never been in a gay bar,there aren't any in this part of the state and I don't drink anyway.

HISSSSSSSSS.

Bed Club in Manila while on a study abroad for Fil-Ams. Rage was the first one I went to in the States.

The Mother Lode in West Hollywood. I was 20 yrs 19 months old and going to UCLA, and was able to turn the seven (for July) into a two with a pen on my drivers license. Those were the days.

20 years, 19 mos old?

I like that. I'll use it.

Chez Colette, Nashville. Colette was a straight former dancer and we called her Mom. Best time of my life.

Leon's, Baltimore, 1973

Oops. 20 yrs 9 months.

Pearl in Burlington, VT.

The OP (old plantation) Jacksonville fla,1977. I was 15 and scared shitless. But when I passed through that hallway and into the main bar, I knew I had come home.Sigh,the memories !

First one I went to regularly was a dance club in WeHo called "Studio" or "The Studio". I was going to UCLA at the time. It was great fun, the place was always packed and from time to time some minor celebrity would be spotted. I remember seeing Jean Claude Van Dam there.

Apparently way back in the day this place was L.A.s first "disco" called "The Factory".

Before that though there was a 18 years-old-plus mixed crowd at a place called "The Odyssey" on Beverly Blvd. near La Cienega. Mixed but leaning towards gay/very gay-friendly. Used to see Kristy McNichol there all the time. It was an open secret then that she was gay. Nobody cared and nobody gossiped or felt compelled to out people then in this pre-tabloid TMZ era.

R56, I felt the same way when I hit my first gay bar. I was 16 and terrified but went with some friends so it was a little easier. Illusions in Atlanta was my first gay bar, The Sportspage my first lesbian bar. I didn't like The Sportspage at all. Mean women who didn't like my friends (men). Both bars have been gone for a long time. My most nostalgic bar was Southern Nights in Orlando, great mixed crowd without the gay/lesbian drama. Great friends and great memories from that time.

my first time I was fondled, raped, and then ordered to return nightly for spankings.

Pretty Woman, 1990 starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. What a great experience it was !

Pearl in Burlington, VT.! I was too scared to go in there - afraid I'd see someone I knew.

Hunter's in the west suburbs of Chicago. And one sad night at the Open Clioset in Toledo.

R58, I was in Southern nights many ,many times in the mid 80s ! Loved their strip shows ! What was that huge gay disco in Atlanta in the late 70s ,Algoyah Ballroom ? I had many a wild night there too !

Stagecoach Baltimore 1994. I went alone and was nervous as hell, but thankfully the bartenders were friendly and accommodating. A few beers helped to relax me and I stayed for a pretty good while. A few guys hit on me, but I felt too nervous to do anything but kissing. It has long since closed, but will always hold a special place for me

R53, Leon's was a dive bar to the hilt.....but it had it's moments.

It was the Limelight,not Algoyah ballroom !

Sweet Gum Head, Atlanta. 1974. Fabulous!

Venture Inn on Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, 1976, back when Liberty Avenue was the 'Burg's red light district, not the Cultural District as it has been restyled.

Back then, Pegasus was a straight stripper bar called The Staircase.

The fraternity brothers made us pledges go into Shawn's Place up near the Duquesne campus.

Zack's on Fourth Avenue was the original home of the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange.

Back then, my favorite bar was David's on Penn Avenue, up near the Continental Trailways bus station.

Yes, I am old... ancient maybe ... possibly pre-historic

I thought Southern Nights was a lesbian bar. Perhaps the few times I went were "lesbian nights."

Babylon in Redondo Beach, CA. Long since torn down for beach city gentrification. You had the beach cities crowd and some of the wanna be gangsters from Hawthorne, Compton, and Inglehood. It was not as threatening or scary to me as WeHo.

The Cue Club in Norfolk, Virginia. It was in January 1985. I was a 19yo sailor in the US Navy. I was so mortified that I left after about 30 minutes. By Easter 1985, I would stay there 'till closing, then head on the The Late Show, a members-only afterhours club. I have such great memories, and I would repeat that experience in a heartbeat.

Oh, the Cue also had some of the best drag performers!

An all-ages club called Rage (aka City), Portland, late 90's. My friends and I weren't of drinking age, so we mostly went for the dancing and the hooking-up.

Rendezvous, San Francisco. an upstairs bar on Sutter St. No longer in existence.

1982 ......

The Porthole

followed by

The Torch

The Gallery

The Hippo

Leon's

Masquerade

The Drinkery

Go West

The Hippo sounds like the kind of bar a MichFester might frequent.

Uncle Charlie's NYC in the village

The Pothole in Rye, NY, r73?

The earlier incarnation of R71's bar- the City Nightclub. Portland circa the early 90s.

First one. The Copa in Key West 4th of July 1988. My smalltown bf refused to dance with me because it looked odd to him. I knew our days were numbered then. I could not believe there were that many gay guys in the world as I saw on that dance floor. My brother died the day I got back home, so that trip is very entrenched in my memory.

The first one I regularly frequented was Stone Castle in Greenville, SC. It could be loads of fun. There was also a guy named Monroe in Jax, FL who opened up lots of very nice bars, though they never stayed open for very long. The ones I really miss are The Armory and The Cove in Atlanta. The Armory was good for being young and hot and pickups. The Cove was good once the slut stage had taken hold, and it was all about the sex. The Armory was replaced with condos. The Cove was replaced with a sewage processing plant. I don't know if that was by design or just happenstance.

And, of course, Parliament House in Orlando. I think it's still kicking....or at least nudging a bit.

ROXY nightclub in NYC 1992 and my first time doing Xtasy ;) swinging high on the swing with my friends on my BDAY!

I could go to XXX before I could drink so my "baptism of fire" was the Bijou Theater in Chicago with its all-male movies and action in the seats and the back rooms.

r80, I remember the rack in the lounge.

The UpStairs Lounge, New Orleans, Summer of '73.

It as also my last gay bar.

Backstreet - Atlanta

Fist gay club I ever went to was called The Studio Club. It was in Glen Cove, LI way back in 1983! Damn I'm old:)

Atlanta - mid 80's

Backstreet on Wednesday and Saturday nights

The Armory on Friday night and Sunday afternoon for Drag Races

Pharr Library Tuesday and Thursday - 2 for 1 drinks, they gave you a ticket when you paid for a drink.

Weekends, Illusions, The Bar on Peachtree and The Cove all thrown in the mix too.

Rarely downstairs at The Gallus - that's where the rough trade went.

Ozz Supper Club in Buena Park, CA (Orange County) - 1995

I soon finally convinced friends to go to Axis (Formerly Studio One) in West Hollywood and to Mickey's in West Hollywood. It sucked being under 21 in those days.

Buddies, Boston, when it was in a basement on Boylston St. Best set up for watching the dancing ever. The Paradise in Cambridge with its eccentric and nasty regulars.

The Power Company in Durham, NC. Closed now, but in the mid 90s it was a destination. Two dance floors and three bars in a 3-story former department store.

I miss the music - Durham's large gay black community vogued to solid, throbbing house grooves that got deeper and sassier after last call. "and remember: if you have to drink and drive, drive someone else's car!"

Here in Hooterville we don't even have any regular bars much less gay ones.

R82 I'm glad you are still with us.

R67 - I am from Pittsburgh and aside from Pegasus had never heard of any of those!

R80....I remember the Bijou too! Though I hear it's even more of a vile pit now than it was in its good days.

I took a younger friend to the baths for his first time, and he stood just inside the door and said, "This is what I've been waiting for my entire life!" He said aloud exactly what I thought years before.

My first boy-girl dance was in 1957. I mention that a because I was asked to go by a black girl. Our parents were acquainted, so I suspect this was worked out carefully. It went fine and there was not a whisper of surprise or disdain. Imagine that .. 1957.

Ten years later, I went to my first gay bar, The Golden Horseshoe in Seattle. I was really nervous. Doggone if only a few minutes had passed when this black guy comes straight across the wide-open room and asks me to dance. I remember thinking back years later, noting that was the ONLY time I got asked to dance in a bar/disco.

I'm way to shy and self loathing to ever go to a bath house.lol

The Necto. Probably the greatest gay club in the world.

Calumet City IL, just south of Chicago. 1978. I think it was called Our Place or something to that effect. It was basically a hole in the wall but very popular and a fun atmosphere. The gals had one nearby called The Patch which was one of the oldest lesbian bars in the country. It was at the height of disco.

Carbondale , IL . A bar called Main Street . 1988 or 1989 . Drag Show every Sunday .

R67, don't fret. I came out at the Tilden in 1977. That and the Tender Trap /Trapeze were my mainstays.

r88, I grew up in the Power Company as well in the late 80s and 90s. It was something else wasn't it? I remember seeing a drag queen back up and fall over the railing and down the stairs into the first floor during a performance. She got up and finished the show!

I was drinking Singapore Slings and Tequila Sunrises back in those days!

Old timer here -

Feathers in River Edge, NJ (1979) - and it's still around.

The TownHouse on 58th Street on my 35th birthday

1270, Boston in 1990. It was a trip. Loved the roof deck overlooking Fenway, on game nights.

Two doors down, the Ramrod. Too afraid to go in for a few years, but eventually did and immediately loved it.

Moved to San Francisco and found The Edge on 18th, then the Sling. Good times.

R85, what was the name of that bar across the street from the Gallus? It was loads of hustlers and frequent inquiries whether you wanted to buy drugs.

Didn't Dugan's Bistro put Poppers in the ventilation?

R93 You might be surprised at how many similarly "afflicted" men are at the baths. In my own case, I've been neurotically shy all my life and STILL would be uneasy walking into a bar. Any kind of bar. But the baths, never a problem. Shy about my skinny body too. Not at the baths; into my towel and off I go.

R102, I'm not sure. What you describe is the way I remember The Gallus being. At least downstairs. Upstairs the restaurant was actually pretty nice. There were a lot of older houses on Cypress back then so I'm sure one of them could have been the place you're thinking about. Atlanta was so much fun back in that time. All those places and more are gone now.

I'm not into anonymous sex anyway R104 so the baths aren't for me for a few reasons.

Little Augies, and El Toga. Both in Fort Worth, TX.

[quote] I'm way to shy and self loathing to ever go to a bath house.lol

Oh, dear.

The Prelude. New Hope, PA.

The Railroad Crossing, Detroit, 1990. It was a lesbian bar and I was terrified! I was a junior in college at the time. I went there for one drink. Boy was I disappointed! Not one cutie there. Mostly Butch chicks. Oh well.

The Garage, Columbus, Ohio. I was in high school, fake id. I saw my psychology teacher there. We never spoke of it, although I felt I suddenly had someone to turn to if I ever needed one.

[quote]The Prelude. New Hope, PA.

It's now called the Prelube.

"Area" circ 1983 in NYC. I met a lot of famous people that year, including Sting, Al Pacino, Boy George among others.

I think it was 1980 or 1981. It was the Gandy in Vancouver. YaleTown wasn't yet developed and a happening place to be. It's ironic that there's so much debate now about bathrooms, as it only had one washroom at the time, so if you had to go, you used it. The music was a good mix of dance and New Wave. There was a pool table that always had a game going. Since the music wasn't too loud, people could actually talk to each other. A couple of blocks up the street, was the Luv-a -Fair, which was a Dance Club. That was my second hang out. It was louder. I went there on Mondays and Thursdays, and that played alternative music. The crowd was LGBT on those days. On the weekends, it drew straights and people who stared, thanks to an article in the paper.

moar plz

In the 70s, the MY OH MY! Bar in State College,PA was my first gay bar.

It also served underage, so I didn't have to wait till 21st birthday.

Lot's of dancing.

r87, the Boyleston Street Buddies was my first, too (1983). It was the best.

1960s: New Colony, Greenwich Avenue between Christopher and Tenth. Later LaCrepe, Empire Szechuan, now AsianFusion.

Can't remember the name, it was across from the Luden's Cough Drop Factory in Reading, PA in 1973.

Feathers in Rivers Edge NJ sucked - fucked in the back seat of his car first time back in 1984...

bump for more bars and clubs.

The Napoleon in Boston.

Blue Bugle, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

The Works, Upper West Side NYC

Harry's Back East, the cashmere sweater capital of the Upper East Side.

Private Eyes NYC 1988

I probably tricked with you R117. Did you wear a pink LaCoste shirt with the collar turned up, chinos, and topsiders with no socks?

An Ann Arborite recalls the Necto?

The Necto (called The Nectarine Ballroom when I was a youth) was only gay one or two nights a week, a circumstance that led to more than a few bashing incidents every year back in the eighties.

The Quest, on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, in 1977.

SPLASH NYC 1991 got a BJ in the bathroom and the dude swallowed my hot load...never forget it.

Club Static in Fort Collins, CO in 2003. I was in grad school and slowly coming out of the closet. It was a triple wide trailer about a mile outside town. It was a total shithole but so much fun. Guys would drive in from Wyoming and Nebraska just to experience a gay Friday night.

One of my favorite parts was after last call, everyone would head to Denny's restaurant which was in between Static and a straight country western bar. The hostess had a sense of humor and would always seat all the gay boys nearest the restrooms so that anytime a cowboy went to take a leak, conversation would stop and everyone's eyes would follow a perky, Wrangler-clad ass.

best thread in recent memory.

The Works in 1988 upper west side near the museum NYC I first met the verey drunk Nathan Lane there and he wanted to go home with me but I did much better!

I miss the Barb Wire in Toronto but it wasn't exactly a bar.

I took so many hot Canadian cocks in my mouth there.....

Early 80s: Ripples, The Beach House and The Silver Fox, all in Long Beach, CA.

Ripples at the time was the go-to fun dance bar. Apparently it has fallen on hard times and was recently featured in an episode of Tabitha Takes Over.

This one was probably many guys' LAST gay bar, but I'll throw it out there anyway: Rainbow Cactus (aka "Rainbow Casket") in Palm Springs.

Paradise in Chicago, on Broadway near Surf, summer of 1985. When I hear Madonna's "Into the Groove" I think immediately of that night.

1985 The Evening Edition in Cocoa Beach Fl. Was 19 had to park my new Camero out back because if your car was seen in the parking lot you were toast as the "girlfriend " would be told asap. Kissed by first boy there. Met my first love there . We would take our girlfriends to the straight bars and they always wondered why me and by "buddy" disappeared at midnight. We'd high tail it over to the Evening Edition and dance till last call. The owner would close up and we'd have our own "private party " until dawn.Saw my first gay celebrity ( the local weather man )there. It became my watering hole and incognito social club for the next five years. Wonder in the new bisexual 21st century if there are still places like that in small town America. Probably not. Perhaps that is a good thing . Perhaps not. As a young gayling this "safe place" helped me to realize I was ok after all. I miss the EE.

The Lost & Found in Washington, D.C. in 1986. Loved that place. It was pretty close to Tracks/DC, which was the second gay bar I ever visited. There was also a strip club in Dupont Circle called Rascals, if I recall correctly. All are now long gone.

The Bonham Exchange in San Antonio in 1998 followed by a jaunt to Oilcan Harry's in Austin a couple months later. The latter was the first time I went to a bar as an out man on the prowl.

NYC Mine Shaft a members only sex club first time fucking someone and being watched it was wild 1980

The Toilet. NYC.

First Gatsby's Cherry Hill, N.J. Favorite closed Arena New York City

R138 I love this post. Thanks for sharing your memory with us.

it was either Darts or the 1270 in Boston. 1976. Miss those days and those bars....and Sporters!!!!!

Mr. P's in DC, and I lived to tell the tale.

The Frat House in Dallas, TX, probably 1984. I went with gay friends (boy and girls, we were all 'new wavers') from high school who already knew the place and the doorman and could get in. We were all 16, the drinking age at that time in TX was 18. So I wasn't alone and nervous but was really uh… alert to my surroundings? We had cocktails which I wasn't used to drinking and all started acting really crazy, which included loudly breaking a glass on the patio. At some point the bouncer came over to us and told us we had to calm down or they'd make us leave. I'm amazed they didn't kick us out right then (probably because we were 16 year old boys!) Kind of a weird vibe for my first gay bar experience. I saw a few other friends from high school I'd always suspected were gay, and they spied me, which was awkward but I thought, "Oh well." I'll never forget that whole night.

The Frat House was a smallish bar/disco with the bar in the center and the walls painted trompe-l'œil like rows of ivy league club book shelves. Went well with the disco lights on the ceiling. LOL! It had a patio in back. Almost all Dallas gay bars had large patios because "gay BBQ night" parties were a thing. The Frat House had been there a long time and I think existed for a while after. Not exactly a dazzling place. But clearly easy to get in if you were underage. It was separate from the "gay strip" in Dallas which made it kind of unique.

Going to my first lesbian bar (in Dallas, called Sue Ellen's) at that same time in high school was actually more surreal and eye-opening, dragged there by the same group of school friends. Oh my eyes! It's like I was on another planet! I'll never forget that night either.

Later in the 80's I graduated to other bars and clubs. Dallas was mostly about nightclubs that were cool, trendy and "mixed" but clearly very gay (like Starck club), which is where I tended to go. But there were still a lot of gay bars around, I just didn't frequent them.

Great thread! I see it's an old one but I hope it gets revived.

Providence, RI Mirabar. Seriously we used to call it an S&M bar for Stand and Model. My favorite was the Yukon Trading Company though.

Woody's, Philadelphia, circa 2008

The Georgetown Grill on Wisconsin Avenue in DC, in the early '70s. I had just moved into my dorm and a guy on my floor asked me if I wanted to go to a bar. And that's the bar we went to. I had a few drinks and came to in some guy's apartment farther up Wisconsin, who was sucking my cock. The friend who brought me was embarrassed because the guy was doing it right in front of him. He never talked to me again.

I bet no one here went to Twilight.

R151 maybe he liked you but was too shy to say.

Axis West Hollywood. 1994. I was 18 and sleeping with the doorman's neighbor who let me in despite being underage.

I think it's a condo-tel now?

In the mid 80s I could be found at the Embers or Boxxes/Brig in Portland Oregon. Neither are still around.

Can't believe that I was able to work the next day after drinking till the bars closed. Since those early days, visiting bars around the U.S. and Europe, pretty much all the bars attracted the same characters. Even the leather bars. It was like I had never left Portland and was welcomed wherever I went.

This thread makes you realized just how many gay bars there used to be, all over the country.

Sadly, those that haven't already closed will close soon.

Phila: Allegro Oz The Steps DCA Woodys

New Hope: Cartwheel Prelude The Raven

The Armory in Atlanta 1993. I was a student at Auburn and drove up one Friday night determined to see WTF was up. It took me a six pack drinking in my car and listening to '10,000 maniacs' to get the courage up. The rest is history as they say.

Mable Peabody's Beauty Parlor & Chainsaw Repair, in Denton, TX.

A real place (look it up), and was my first as a freshman in college. Sadly it's closed... but what a small town gay bar scene it was! Enjoyed it for years.

Here it is! Only in Texas.

The 9th Circle.

The Dock, Cincinnati, 1998

The Back Door. Madison WI New Years Eve 1972

Havana bar in Amsterdam. Loved it here

R160 good article

Campus, in Cambridge, MA, 1985.

Tracks in DC was the best club ever in the 80's/90's. Great times!

The Roost in Edmonton, I was terrified that I had to sign in at the entrance with ID. I've also never seen so many wedding rings in my life. It was around 1992.