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Who needs gay bars? : bar-hopping through America's endangered LGBTQ+ places / Greggor Mattson.

by Mattson, Greggor, author.

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Stanford, California : Redwood Press, [2023]

Gay bars -- United States.

Sexual minority community -- United States.

Sexual minorities -- United States -- Social life and customs.

9781503629202 (hardback) :

xiv, 430 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

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 : Garlows (Gun Barrel City, Texas) -- Gay bar history : 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 and 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 : Jackhammer (Chicago, Illinois) -- We were a bear bar; the trans community was extremely forgiving : Wrangler (Denver, Colorado) -- Rebranding the Eagle for the next generations : The Baltimore Eagle (Baltimore, Maryland) -- Leathermen at drag bingo : Leather Stallion Saloon (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 Dance Club (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, and 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).

"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 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, that Green Book of gay travel, Mattson logged 10,000 miles across 39 states, from the "big four" gay cities, to the flyover country where he lives, to all corners of the United States. Mattson finds one theme running through his journey: that of ambivalence. The story of gay bars is not unified or linear because they are as diverse as the country. Colorful characters, gripping experiences, and failing or thriving bars are featured in the chapters of these book and through them, the underlying spectrum of many different Americas is brought to life--POC, white, trans, cis, as well as past, present, and future"--Provided by publisher.

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