Eldergays, was it easy to sneak into gay bars before you were 21?

I didn't exactly sneak into them, but I was dating an older man, and he took me along to several gay clubs before I turned 18. We were always prepared to be asked to leave, but we never were. But he was protective of me, and only took me to a couple of 'vanilla' bars, without backroom action. This was back in the late 70s, early 80s.

The drinking age used to be 18, then 19, before being raised to 21. So in the olden days, it was easy and legal.

Outside Pittsburgh in the woods was a bar called the Cove that many a weekend in the early eighties starting at the age of 19 we went to visit. I don’t recall ever being asked to show any ID when we were there, and I never had a fake one to begin with. It was a large house with a big dance floor and even rentable rooms, or more like beds, on the second floor. They loved us college boys showing up there on the weekends and we drew quite the chicken hawk crowd. Even at that young age in DL fashion I was 19, but looked more like 15. It got to the point if the first thing a guy ask me was my age, I politely excused myself and walked away.

The drinking age in my state was 18 when I was growing up, and of course it was easier for younger teens to pass themselves off as 18 than 21, so in general there was more underage drinking in bars than there is now.

Can’t speak specifically to the gay scene, however, as there was exactly one gay bar in my small city, and I don’t think even that was around until my senior year of high school. Of course it had some typical cheesy small-town gay bar name, like Expressions, though I’m not sure that’s exactly correct.

I grew up in a small town in the north of England. There weren’t any gay bars. The woods near the main road entering the town on the other hand...

That said, I went to University in Edinburgh in the early 80s. There was one gay club. A cavernous dance hall called Fire Island, where the manager of the Bay City Rollers held court with fellow creeps and paedos. He was always surrounded by a menacing shoal of camp rent boys, with soul boy wedges and white socks, always willing to turn their vicious wit on any young innocent. It was like Dante’s inferno at Butlins. Definitely no age checks. Neither were there at the pub The Laughing Duck which, thankfully, had a somewhat warmer atmosphere.

The only solution was to move to London as quickly as possible.

I used to sneak into the Boom Boom Room in Laguna Beach in the late 90s/early 00s from ages 16-19ish. It was always stressful - my fake ID was ridiculously bad. But I always got in. By 19, I was partnered with a much older firefighter. His badge took care of any need for my shitty ID.

A gay friend & I used to go to our local gay bar in high school. Neither of us drank, and I think there was a rule that we could be in the bar up until 6pm? 7pm? Something like that. We still loved it, even if we were just seeing the "happy hour" crowd. Usually just a few harmless eldergays who thought we were adorable. We were just thrilled to be there sipping sodas.

I would sneak in early in lounge type clubs in Boston before the door guy would show up at 8, Club Cafe and Luxor were my faves, it was easier because they had restaurants and dining areas attached that served food and families coming from the theater district and I knew a few staff. I got a fake ID by taking a friend’s info to the DMV and getting a photo ID with his name on it, however, once I realized he was having legal trouble threw it away.

The stakes nowadays are a LOT higher because of surveillance and people willing to rat them out, it could literally bankrupt a business if a minor was caught and didn’t seem so risky back then.

[quote]The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 (23 U.S.C. § 158) was passed by the United States Congress and was later signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on July 17, 1984.

I escaped the 21 law by a couple years, but the limit was already 20band 21 where I lived.

I started college at 17 and the state minimum age at the time was 20, and 21 in the adjacent state where I often went. Only once did I ever have a problem getting into a bar - on a night after some crackdown on carding enforcement with police eyeing the doorman. I looked a bit older, maybe, or more mature in demeanor, or, in college bars, was often in the company of grad students and professors. It wasn't until I was well past 21 that I was ever carded at a gay bar.

Getting into most any bar or place that served booze (gay or straight) was far easier until rather recently.

For gay bars/clubs though there was the added layer of homosexual activity being illegal and all that brought increased pressure. If a place was raided even if patrons weren't doing anything wrong if LE found just one minor it could get bar shut down and owner a trip to jail.

By 1970's and 1980's in most major cities there was at least one gay bar that had "chicken" on menu. Ninth Circle in West Village comes to mind, long as owner(s) greased the right palms things were largely overlooked, well unless something major happened that brought news media coverage.

In fact they do say Ninth Circle eventually got into trouble for that reason, they stopped paying protection and other money, then busts all of sudden began to happen.

It was all a bit of a wink and nod really. Even if bartender wouldn't serve a young person because he looked underage (regardless of what ID said), someone else would just buy the drink either on their tab or kid would give him the money.

IIRC the gay bars near or around 53rd and Third (the gay UES area) were often full of or at least served underage hustlers. Young guys went in those bars to work, have drinks, socialize... Oh and if LE was prowling the area to hide out until heat died down. Again this could be downfall for bar if one of those young underage hustlers were caught with a drink.

NY/NJ in the late 70's drinking age was 18, you could get fake ID's in Times Square, I got a frat card and a work ID. the local laws were set up to prosecute the fake ID holder not the bar, so if you had any passable ID you could get in anywhere. Many people didn't have a photo ID of any kind. My first driver's license didn't have photo or exact birthday, just month and year. Crazy. Also the bars were ALL smoky and you could smoke weed also.