Tag Archives: gay bars

Ten days ago I reported that New York City’s oldest gay bar, Candle Bar on the Upper West Side, would be closing after more than 50 years. West Side Rag reports on its closing night: [Front in photo above] Owner of Candle Bar Michelle Ader and her husband William Greene. Michelle was bequeathed the apartment by her brother 22 years …

Via DNA Info: Candle Bar, the neighborhood’s oldest gay bar — and some argue the oldest in the city — is closing at the end of the month. The Amsterdam Avenue bar opened in the mid-1960s, and some people argue it has had its license and been openly gay longer than Julius, a West Village gay bar that claims to …

Per the president of the Fire Island Pines Property Owners Association, the below apology from Manhattan hotelier Ian Reisner was read at the group’s meeting over the weekend. Dear Members of our Community, First I want to clear up that Mati Weiderpass has zero involvement or ownership in the Pines. Now let me state unequivocally that I made mistakes. While …

Longtime Manhattan nightlife promoter John Blair took to Facebook this weekend to react to beleaguered hotelier Ian Reisner’s declaration that his club is losing money because gays are cheap. Gays, like any group, will spend their money when you give them something that they want or need. Do not blame the community for any of your failures to make money. …

“You know, it’s so ironic — I wanted to build kind of a community center in the gateway to Hell’s Kitchen, which in 2008–2009 was already a gay place and now it’s even gayer. Very close to Broadway. We decided there’d be so many different ways to give back to the community. We show gay artists there. For gay performers, …

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’)); Happening NOW! #BoycottFIPOut Posted by Boycott Fire Island Pines Establishments & Out NYC Hotel on Monday, 27 April 2015 Photos by Matt Rettenmund at Boy Culture.

“I am happy to see such passion and energy in support of gay rights. We just need to channel that passion and energy to those who would deny us those rights. The dinner with Ted Cruz happened only because IT WAS NOT A FUNDRAISER. It was about security for Israel, but it also gave me a rare opportunity to address …

From the executive director of Broadway Cares: It is with regret that we have decided to cancel this year’s edition of the Broadway Bares Solo Strips fundraiser, which was scheduled for May 10 at the NYC club 42West. We cannot in good conscience hold an event at a venue whose owners have alienated our community, as reflected in an April …

Via the Des Moines Register: Police charged a man Thursday with sending hate mail containing suspicious powder to the Blazing Saddle, a gay bar in Des Moines, in late March. Eric Reece Wiethorn, 49, of Ames was arrested for first-degree harassment and booked in the Polk County Jail, the Des Moines Police Department announced in a news release Thursday. The …

A massive fire swept through Cherry Grove’s commercial district on Fire Island last night, destroying several private homes, the Holly House Hotel, and the Grove Hotel, the last of which was home to the famed Ice Palace nightclub. For decades the Ice Palace hosted the Miss Fire Island pageant and served as the kickoff location for the annual Fire Island …

As I’ve recounted here in the past, Chelsea’s formerly famed gay nightlife has long been on the decline, supplanted by many newer clubs uptown in Hell’s Kitchen. But Gym Bar, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this month, has just scored a lease for another ten years. “We didn’t want to move, I didn’t want to move anywhere but where we …

A popular gay nightclub in Lincoln, Nebraska was destroyed in a fire last night. A four-alarm fire broke out at Karma Nightclub and Cabaret, heavily damaging the building and knocking out power in the surrounding area. The fire started at the club at 226 S. Ninth St. around 7:15 p.m. Saturday. Club occupants were being evacuated from the building by …

Via the New York Times: A strip of commercial real estate along the harbor in Fire Island Pines sold for $10.1 million at auction on Thursday to developers with plans to continue the revival of a former mecca for closeted gay men. The sale price was well below the $25 million the previous owners sought when they placed it on …

Via the Irish Times: “So there’s An Taoiseach in Pantibar,” a post on the Dublin gay bar’s Facebook page reads over a picture of Enda Kenny who visited the bar last night. “It’s a changed world in many ways.” This was the reaction to the visit by Rory O’Neill, the entertainer and gay rights activist also known as Panti Bliss, …

Motown legend Jimmy Ruffin, whose 1980 smash Hold On To My Love helped usher out an era of gay nightlife, has died at the age of 78. Via the Detroit Free Press: Ruffin, whose poignant “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” is regarded by many as one of Motown’s greatest works, died Monday afternoon in a Las Vegas hospital. A Mississippi …

There is a sad follow-up to the crime reported here last week. Via the Associated Press: An Army veteran beaten by a man he met at a bar died Saturday afternoon, nearly a week after being hospitalized with burns so bad that parts of both arms had to be amputated, police and his partner said. Veteran Stephen Patrick White, 46, …

Philadelphia’s Westbury bar, which was first advertised in gay guides back in the early 60s, has closed after last month’s fire in the hotel above it. From their Facebook page: With a very broken heart, I have to announce, the Westbury Bar and Restaurant will not be reopening. Our extensive efforts trying get an exception from the city have not …

Two tourists visiting the popular Minneapolis gay bar The Saloon were shot with a BB gun on Thursday by a man shouting bible verses. “He made a disrespectful comment towards the homosexual community, towards a couple that was holding hands and he obviously didn’t appreciate that,” [security guard Tyler] Erickson said. Shortly after his expletives, Odegard’s sheer disregard for the …

Saying they are fed up with problems caused by patrons using GHB and crystal meth, the popular Melbourne gay nightclub Poof Doof has announced a lifetime ban for any customer caught using those substances. These bans will be shared with more than 100 nightclubs across Australia, who jointly use a system called Scantek to record the identities of problem customers. …

Via NBC News: An Israeli gay party promoter has published posters featuring a stark parody of ISIS beheading videos. Drek, which puts together events in famously gay-friendly Tel Aviv, apologized for the use of the homoerotic humor drawing on the gruesome murders of James Foley, Steven Sotloff and David Haines, but also defended the posters. “Our way to express our …