Who needs gay bars? : bar-hopping through America's dwindling LGBTQ+ places

Author(s)

    • Mattson, Greggor

Bibliographic Information

Who needs gay bars? : bar-hopping through America's dwindling LGBTQ+ places

Greggor Mattson

Redwood Press, 2023

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Note

Content Type: text (rdacontent), Media Type: unmediated (rdamedia), Carrier Type: volume (rdacarrier)

Includes bibliographical references and index

Summary: "Gay bars had been closing by the hundreds in recent decades, even before another global pandemic brought nightlife to its knees. The story goes that increasing mainstream acceptance of LGBTQ people, plus dating apps like Grindr 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. Greggor Mattson's titular question Who Needs Gay Bars? plays on these narratives, accepting that the answer for some might be: maybe nobody. And yet... Inspired by the closing of his own favorite watering hole, Greggor Mattson embarked on a journey across and around the country to paint a much more complex picture of the cultural significance of these spaces. While they may no longer be the only places for LGBTQ patrons to openly socialize, he finds that their value has evolved--they are historical archives, safe spaces, community centers, and places of celebration, entertainment, and discovery. The question th

Contents of Works

  • Ambivalence about gay bars : the City Nightclub (Portland, Oregon)
  • Changing bars and aging bodies : \aut\ BAR (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
  • Outpost bars put assumptions under scrutiny : Garlow's (Gun Barrel City, Texas)
  • Gay bar history : the Garden of Allah (Seattle, Washington)
  • Not-quite-for-profit, privately-owned community assets : Blackstones (Portland, Maine)
  • Mom and moms and pop and pops : Splash Bar Florida (Panama City Beach, Florida)
  • The training grounds of America's next drag superstar : Independence Place (Cape Girardeau, Missouri)
  • Bars for people of color, and the ambivalence of racial camp : Wang Chung's (Honolulu, Hawaii)
  • There are easier ways to make a buck in the big city than a big nightclub : Club Cobra & Club Chico (Los Angeles County, California)
  • Queer spaces in the gayborhood : insideOUT (San Diego, California)
  • Small city gay bars and the only gay in the village : Studio 13 and Belle's Basix (the Corridor: Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
  • Gay bars were never safe spaces : R&R Saloon (Detroit, Michigan)
  • Undocu-queer dreaming and government ID : REDACTED (Fresno, California)
  • Owners behaving badly : Easy Street Tavern (somewhere in the Southwest)
  • Our gender is medicine : Various bars (Indian Country, Oklahoma)
  • Conflicts over safety in the queer pub : Wayward Lamb (Eugene, Oregon)
  • Lost womyn's spaces, found lesbian bars : Wild Side West (San Francisco, California)
  • I always hated lesbian bars : Sneakers (Jamestown, New York)
  • Why can't we be straight friendly? : Alibis (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
  • White folks, gay men, & straight Black folks don't come : Club Xclusive (Hattiesburg, Mississippi)
  • The drama of owning a queer bar : Blush & Blu (Denver, Colorado)
  • Women first, lesbians second, but everyone's welcome : Walker's Pint (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
  • Democratizing sexy community : the Jackhammer (Chicago, Illinois)
  • We were a bear bar; the trans community was extremely forgiving : Wrangler (Denver, Colorado)
  • Rebranding the Eagle for the next generations : Baltimore Eagle (Baltimore, Maryland)
  • Leathermen at drag bingo : Leather Stallion (Cleveland, Ohio)
  • Queering the gay strip club : the Stag PDX (Portland, Oregon)
  • Crowdfunding while Black : Alibi Lounge (New York City, New York)
  • Nonprofit ownership means we celebrate pride every week : the Park (Roanoke, Virginia)
  • Part of an otherwise-straight hospitality group : Chumley's (State College, Pennsylvania)
  • The benefits of employee ownership : Caven Enterprises' JR's, Sue Ellen's, TMC, S4 & Rose Room (Dallas, Texas)
  • #SaveTheGayBars from another pandemic : Troupe429 (Norwalk, Connecticut)
  • National Archive : the Stonewall Inn (New York City, New York)
  • National Memorial : Pulse (Orlando, Florida)
  • Municipal Landmark in Exile : the Stud (San Francisco, California)
  • AIDS altars in plain sight : the Raven (Anchorage, Alaska)
  • A post-gay, not gay, very gay un-bar : Dacha (Washington, DC)

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Gay bars have been closing by the hundreds. The story goes that increasing mainstream acceptance of LGBTQ+ people, plus dating apps like Grindr 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 "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. From the historical archives of Seattle's Garden of Allah, to the outpost bars in Texas, Missouri or Florida that serve as community hubs for queer youth-these are places of celebration, where the next drag superstar from Alaska or Oklahoma may be discovered. They are also fraught grounds for confronting the racial and gender politics within and without the LGBTQ+ community. The question that frames this story is not asking whether these spaces are needed, but for whom, earnestly exploring the diversity of folks and purposes they serve today. Loosely informed by the Damron Guide, the so-called "Green Book" of gay travel, Mattson logged 10,000 miles on the road to all corners of the United States. His destinations are sometimes thriving, sometimes struggling, but all offering intimate views of the wide range of gay experience in America: POC, white, trans, cis; past, present, and future.

Table of Contents

I: Ambivalence II: Gay Bar Fundamentals III: Safe Spaces for Whom IV: Lesbian-Owned Bars V: Cruisy Men's Bars VI: How to Save a Gay Bar VII: National Monuments

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