Tag Archives: gay bars

BREAKING: Fire Threatens Stonewall Inn

JMG reader Chris and the above Twitter user report that the NYFD is currently on the scene of a fire at the building that abuts the historic Stonewall Inn in the West Village. The building on the corner houses the Duplex, the famed gay piano bar and cabaret space. The fire appears to be limited to the building between the …

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Party Tonight At Chicago’s Sidetrack

Via press release: A community celebration of the freedom to marry will begin tonight, Tuesday, Nov. 5 in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. Media outlets are invited to cover festivities at Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted St., Chicago. The party lasts through the evening, but between 8 and 9 pm, we hope to have leading supporters of the marriage equality bill stop by …

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CHICAGO: Gay Bar Owner Arrested For 2012 Arson Of His Own Club

Chicago’s Velvet Rope bar was destroyed by arson in July 2012. Anti-gay slurs were found scrawled on the walls. On Friday, the club’s owner was arrested for the crime. The former owner of an Oak Park bar and restaurant destroyed in a fire last year was arrested Friday night and charged with two counts of arson and one count of …

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Saturday In Jersey City

From the Newark Star-Ledger: Wrapping up a historical week for same-sex couples in New Jersey, Jersey City’s Pint Bar will be hosting a “Big Gay Wedding Reception” on Saturday at 5 p.m. Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop conducted eight marriages at 12:01 a.m. and other couples have been married across the county Monday, the first day that same-sex couples could …

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MISSISSIPPI: SPLC Sues Small Town For Denying Business License To Gay Bar

The Southern Poverty Law Center has filed suit against a small Mississippi town for denying a business license to a lesbian who wants to open a gay bar. Via press release: One alderman has stated that the town, which struggles with a shrinking tax base, welcomes the prospect of fighting a federal lawsuit rather than allow a revenue-generating gay bar …

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NEW YORK CITY: Chelsea’s Rawhide Location To Become Pizza Chain Outlet

Back in March, I reported that Chelsea’s iconic Rawhide bar was closing after 34 years in business.  Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York reports on what is going in at that location: Crain’s reports that Chelsea’s iconic gay leather bar is “being replaced by a West coast pizza chain, in another sign of the gentrification of the area around the popular High …

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ACT UP Disrupts Stoli Promo At NYC Bar

Last night members of ACT UP disrupted a Stoli promotion at the popular Splash Bar in Chelsea.  Paul Schindler reports at Gay City News: It certainly didn’t have the makings of a fair fight, as a group of less than a dozen members of ACT UP/ NY faced off against a crowd of roughly 150 who had been primed with …

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NYC’s Splash Bar To Close

Minutes ago the owner of Chelsea’s iconic Splash nightclub announced on Facebook that the club will “permanently close” on August 10th. Nothing is mentioned as to a possible new location.

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Chicago Teacher May Sue Homocon Blogger Kevin DuJan Over Racism Claims

Nutcase homocon blogger Kevin DuJan (above right) may be facing a lawsuit from a Chicago teacher whom DuJan claims makes racist jokes about his students during his moonlighting gig as a stand-up comedian. Kevin DuJan, the same blogger who speculated that President Barack Obama was a gay man with a cocaine habit, posted a story on his HillBuzz blog on …

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NYC Gay Bar Gets Reality Show

Flaming Saddles, the Hell’s Kitchen country gay bar that was temporarily closed by the health department last month, will be the focus of a coming reality show. It will follow the straight couple Jacqui Squatriglia and Chris Barnes, who own the saloon that’s hosted “Modern Family” star Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Anderson Cooper and members of “The Book of Mormon” cast. …

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Health Dept Shuts Hell’s Kitchen Bar

Flaming Saddles, the popular Hell’s Kitchen country gay bar, was shut down this week by the NYC Health Department. The hot spot — which features shirtless bartenders who two-step on the bar, as well as serving dishes like “Frito Pie” — was letting hot food get cold, had improper plumbing, and had a food preparation counter that was “improperly constructed,” …

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NOM’s Brian Brown Cheers France’s “Peaceful” Anti-Gay Marriage Protesters

As violent anti-gay French protesters commit brutal bashings, battle riot police using toddlers as human shields,  and smash the windows of gay bars, Brian Brown writes on NOM’s blog: In France spontaneous peaceful demonstrations by young people protesting their government’s determination to ignore the voice of the people is causing headaches across the country. For the government, this is becoming …

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Gay Nightclub Sued By Two Women Who Claim They Were Raped By Staffers

Popular West Hollywood gay nightclub The Abbey is being sued by two women who claim that they were drugged and raped by club staffers. According to the lawsuit a gay woman who says she had never had sexual relations with a man was at The Abbey with her girlfriend in November, 2011. She says she and her girlfriend had a …

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Afternoon View – Jerry’s Deli

Jerry’s Deli, as I may have mentioned here one hundred times in the past, operates in the building that once was the Warsaw Ballroom, the single greatest gay nightclub in the history of the world. And I am unanimous in that.

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Chelsea’s Rawhide Bar To Close

Jeremiah Moss has some sad news at Vanishing New York. Opened in 1979, the Rawhide is one of the last of a handful of old-school, unpretentious gay bars left in New York City. It is a survivor. But it won’t be for long. The building that houses it on 8th and 21st in Chelsea was sold a couple of years …

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Rant Of The Day

The topic of the below rant is certainly one of most well-worn discussions in our world, but we haven’t talked about it here in quite a long time. From the work-unfriendly Tumblr titled Dear Chill Masc Bro: Dear patrons and staff of the DC Eagle Y’all faggots need to get with the goddamn program. Your cult of masculinity being so …

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SF To Get Gay Sports Bar

And it’s called Hi Tops. “You don’t have to be a jock to like being in a sports bar,” says Jesse Woodward, one of the co-owners of Hi Tops, which is the aforementioned gay sports bar that will be taking over the space recently vacated by Lime (2247 Market Street, between Noe and Sanchez). “It’s going to be for everyone. …

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LA Gay Bar Bans Bachelorette Parties

Citing recent LGBT rights setbacks like North Carolina’s Amendment one, Los Angeles gay hotspot The Abbey has banned bachelorette parties. From their press release: Every Friday and Saturday night, we’re flooded with requests from straight girls in penis hats who want to ogle our gogos, dance with the gays and celebrate their pending nuptials. They are completely unaware that the …

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DC’s Town Danceboutique Responds

In Monday’s post about bachelorette parties at gay bars, I mentioned that when at DC’s Town Danceboutique, I’d heard complaints about straight people “rubbing our noses” in their right to marry by holding parties at Town. JMG reader Chad forwarded the post to the owners of Town and here is their response. “The irony that straight people choose Town Danceboutique …

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NPR On Gay Bar Extinction

On Friday, NPR’s Marketplace show discussed the rash of gay bar closures around the country, citing Fortune Magazine’s recent list of “10 Businesses Heading For Extinction”, which includes gay bars. Listen to the audio here. An excerpt: Every year, Fortune Magazine releases a list of 10 businesses it thinks are facing extinction. Some of this year’s casualties? Record stores, crop …

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