Your favorite gay or gay friendly restaurant hangouts
Just read this article that mentioned The Melrose Diner in Chicago....I remember that, Nookies and Clarke's from my Chicago days (mid 90s).
Thought it would be fun to hear your favorite diners/after bar hangouts, whether it's from a small town or from a big city like NYC. Could be a local place or some Denny's that the gurlinas commandeered after the clubs closed.......
I have fond memories of those hangouts with friends almost as much as I have fond memories of the actual clubs and bars themselves, so would love to hear about them - where, when, and who!
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | June 5, 2025 3:04 PM
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Big Cup…before 8th Avenue had a nervous breakdown
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | June 3, 2025 9:07 PM
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I hope they mentioned dear Dottie at The Melrose from the late 1980s and earlier. A real doll, and camp as Christmas to go with her ornament earrings and Kiss My Grits attitude. An original fag hag and a friend to all the queens during the dark times in a gay ghetto.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | June 3, 2025 9:45 PM
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The Golden Bull on Channel in Santa Monica.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | June 3, 2025 9:46 PM
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Ocean Diner —as gay as you can be, in HB
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | June 3, 2025 9:49 PM
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Is the Melrose still around? Do they still give you a banana with your meal?
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | June 3, 2025 9:49 PM
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Erik P, the author of this book, is very very handsome. Happy for his success.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | June 3, 2025 9:54 PM
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Also, Park Pantry, in the Long Beach gayborhood.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | June 3, 2025 9:55 PM
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R3 My parents loved The Golden Bull. It was one of their favorite places to go "on a date" - minus us kids. I think I only got to go there with them a couple of times when I was an older teenager. A few years later one of my boyfriends would like to stop in at the adjacent gay bar, the S.S. Friendship, which was basically a pickup bar for gay guys who lived in the Canyon and weekend beachgoers at "Ginger Rogers Beach" (Will Rogers State Beach). The Golden Bull still exists. The S.S. Friendship was eventually sold and reopened as Shore Bar, but I guess the owners are gay-friendly enough to rent the place out for gay events with the S.S. Friendship moniker used.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | June 3, 2025 10:16 PM
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Before Boston’s South End gentrified, there was Tremont Ice Cream. You’d get to see who wound up with whom on Sunday morning.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | June 3, 2025 10:24 PM
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Café de Flore and Le Petit Zinc in the 1980s.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | June 3, 2025 10:31 PM
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Speaking of Cleveland (where the author is from) there was an old diner somewhere near Detroit Ave on the West Side, where a lot of the gay bars were, going out towards Lakewood....? But I don't remember the name.
When I lived in Erie there was Taki's, a terrible place that was open only overnights, and we'd fill that up after the club closed, or the Perkins near one of the bars. I still remember a lesbian and a straight guy getting into an argument, whereupon the lesbian got on the table, rolled up her jeans, and said, "You want to talk about a hairy lesbian? Here's your hairy lesbian!"
R5 Sadly the Melrose closed in 2017. In fact, I think Clarkes and Nookies are closed too (not sure). Boystown became Stroller City around that time.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | June 3, 2025 10:39 PM
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[quote]Is the Melrose still around?
Nope. Closed almost 8 years ago. It's now Shitified and fancier under a new name and owner.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | June 5, 2025 3:04 PM
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