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Avenue, The - 70 Delaware Avenue (1970-1971)
Initially the site in 1969 of secret organizational meetings for Buffalo's Mattachine Society, this bar became a favorite with younger gays at a time when the Minimum Legal Drinking Age was still 18. Because of it's close proximity to City Hall, there was a constant fear of police raids and of overly-strict code enforcement.
Cruising the hot guys entering and leaving the Buffalo Athletic Club directly across the street was a popular pastime for the patrons. The Avenue, with it's huge curved-glass windows, was demolished in 1972 to make room for the new City Court Building, designed by the renowned Chinese architect I.M. Pei.
Back Pocket - 884 Main Street (1993 - ????)
The third gay bar to occupy this address, the Back Pocket was patronized by the denim-jeans crowd (a companion bar in the same building called Zippers catered to the leather crowd). Wearing blue jeans that advertised your assets was a must. Some patrons claim the name harkened back to the late 1970's and 80's when gay men would dangle various-colored hankies from their back pockets as a coded advertisement of the sexual practices they liked best. Other patrons claim the name was a term used in billiards.
Ballot Box - 12-14 East Chippewa Street (1958-1969)
Chippewa Street east of Main is only two blocks long, but on each of those blocks popular gay bars have made their home. In the early 1950's, the original Carousel was located on the second block from Main St. Later that decade and throughout the 60's the honor fell to the Ballot Box, located only a half-block from Main.
In the 1950's and 60's, downtown Buffalo still had a bustling nightlife. The streets were crowded with people till all hours of the morning. The Ballot Box being right off the beaten path tempted straight people to drop in for a cocktail and check out "real homosexuals." Venturing into the bar showed how daring you were. Just a few doors away was one of the City's few porno bookstores, lending even a greater aura of naughtiness to this block. The porno store is still in business, but it's now at the western end of Chippewa near Starbucks.
The book Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold points out that a major problem in lesbian bars is straight guys making sexual advances to the gay women. The straight men and women who visited the Ballot Box weren't there to pick up gay guys, but rather to make fun of them. The conservative Ballot Box regulars must have been a big disappointment.
The Ballot Box occupied a large, glass-fronted room spanning two buildings. As you entered the front door, along the left side were booths and along the back and right was the bar itself. Down the center were columns holding up the buildings and the jukebox sat against one of those columns.
The smell of specially-seasoned hamburgers cooking on the grill was irresistible. You simply had to order one. And the owner always made them right to your liking. The bartender did the same with your drinks.
This bar catered to a slightly older crowd (20's-40's) and the crowd was mostly regulars, in contrast to other downtown gay spots where the thrill of seeing a new face was the draw. You dressed as if you were straight. None of those 1960's British Carnaby Street clothes here. The same can't be said for colognes however. The popular ones at the time were Canoe and English Leather. Butch-looking men reeking of these scents provided ample competition for the hamburgers.
Popular tunes on the jukebox were "The Stripper" (1963-Jerry Goldsmith) and "I Am the Walrus" (1967-The Beatles). When the chorus to this Lennon/McCartney tune would come on, the bar would collectively chant "goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob." A regular character at the Ballot Box was an older guy named Norm (see Club Ki-Yo for Norm's story).
The Ballot Box closed in 1969. Over the next two decades the building stood vacant and was finally demolished in 1990 for construction of a Journey's End Hotel. Today that building is a Radisson Suites Hotel.
Blackstone Grill - 140 Allen Street (1968-1970)
Originally a biker bar, in the late 1960's gays began to patronize this place. It was an odd combination, but up to that time there were few other gay bars close by. The Blackstone was Allen Street's first gay bar.
Generally the bikers partied in the front room where the actual bar was located and the gays stayed in the back (billiards) room. Soon the bar became completely gay and the bartenders would keep the lights off in the back, which then became a "fool-around" room.
At present, the building is occupied by a restaurant called Frizzy's.
Buddies - 31 North Johnson Park (1989-2005)
Buddies hosted many Buffalo political meetings and fundraisers. It also was popular with gay hockey and football fans, organizing many bus trips to Buffalo games.
Just inside the front window was a store that sold adult gay merchandise. Behind that was the main room with a U-shaped bar, pool table, dart board, and jukebox.
Further back was the disco room. The DJ's booth was the cab of a real fire engine. The dance floor was surrounded by brass poles, up and down which "disco boys" would slither. There was a second bar in the disco room and a back porch accommodated smokers.
Bulldog Lil's (1st) - 452-454 Pearl Street (1990-1992)
Bulldog Lil's was on two levels. As you entered on the front right, a bar ran along the left wall from the front windows to the rear. Halfway back, several steps took you up to a second level where there were tables and chairs, a second bar, and a dance floor.
Mounted high up on the walls were a dozen life-sized white plaster casts of men's torsos, giving the place a feeling of Ancient Greece.
The bar was located behind the Main Place Theater District and became popular with the downtown theater crowd.
Club Ki-Yo - 172 East North Street (1964-1967)
A corner bar filled with gay white kids in the midst of a black neighborhood was certainly strange in 1964. Located behind what was then the employee parking lot for Buffalo General Hospital, Club Ki-Yo had a special magic. The name of the bar was a play on K-Y Jelly, the first water-soluble lubricant to replace Crisco and Vaseline as a sex aid for gay men. Though definitely a men's bar during the week, on weekends both gays and lesbians flocked there. Like the Red Spot years later, the patrons at the Ki-Yo were unusually warm and friendly to each other. A Saturday night just wasn't complete without a drink at Club Ki-Yo.
Though the place wasn't large, somehow everyone found their spot. Along one wall was a row of coat-pegs and the coats would sometimes be 3 and 4 deep. When you came to Club Ki-Yo you came to party. Sloe Gin and Squirt (a lemon-lime soft drink unique to Buffalo) was a popular order. Ultraviolet lights in bars had just become the rage and this cocktail glowed in a weird shade of pink. A giant bottle of pickled eggs and sausage was a permanent fixture on the back counter, though not many customers had the courage to sample any.
Behind the horseshoe-shaped bar was a small doorway covered by a kaki army blanket. Couples would slip behind the bar, then duck through the doorway into a high-ceilinged backroom. Originally beer and liquor cases were stored in this room with easy access for the bartender. Now it served as a secret dance floor and make-out room.
On the ceiling of the backroom was a small, red light bulb and an ultraviolet tube. Sometimes one was lit, sometimes the other, and sometimes there were no lights at all. But if the lights began blinking, it meant the cops were coming and everyone scurried for the front room. In most instances, the bar got tipped-off that a raid was about to occur.
Slow dancing was still in fashion (but illegal for gays) and one of the more popular songs was an oldie "The Twelfth of Never" (1957-Johnny Mathis). Other popular songs on the jukebox were Mama Cass singing "Words of Love" and The Four Tops doing their version of "Reach Out, I'll Be There."
One of the characters at Club Ki-Yo was a guy named Norm. An older man, he always wore a suit and didn't talk much. He'd lean against the side of the jukebox for hours reading a folded-up copy of the Courier Express, all the while cupping his hand over his ear as if he was listening to a small transistor radio. Today we'd wonder if he was using a cellphone. Norm was also a regular at the Ballot Box where he behaved the same way.
The building occupied by Club Ki-Yo was built in 1860 specifically for a tavern called Guenther's. Guenther's became famous as Mayor Grover Cleveland's favorite place to play cribbage with local politicians and his personal friends. The bar was equipped with specially built tables that had drink holders and a pegboard for keeping cribbage scores. On its 75th anniversary in 1935, Guenther's was hailed as the town's oldest tavern.
Despite the anniversary hoopla, Guenther's went out of business 4 years later. It was replaced by a German restaurant named Duch's which lasted until 1963. The next year Club Ki-Yo opened. Right from the beginning there were fistfights, name-calling, and other problems with the surrounding neighborhood. This all ended tragically when Club Ki-Yo became one of the first buildings torched in the "race riots" that swept Buffalo during the summer of 1967. Currently the site is an urban-redevelopment housing project called Woodson Gardens.
Crescendo - 166 South Elmwood Avenue (1969-1973)
Originally patronized by lesbians, gay men began to invade the Crescendo after the demise of T&T's Western Paradise on Niagara Street. The male clientele was primarily a college-age crowd, including many gay men who enjoyed going to straight bars such as Brink's, Cole's, and the Rendezvous. Some nights the bar would be so crowded that it was almost impossible to walk across the room with your drinks.
Jerry Rothlein, the eccentric Chairman of the Fine Arts Department at Buffalo State College, regularly "held court" at the Crescendo. His quick wit, immense fund of knowledge, and biting tongue made him a bar favorite. Being skewered by this learned professor became a rite of passage. He lived on Allen Street across from the Blackstone and was a well-known Buffalo character in both straight and gay social circles.
The Crescendo operated at a time when many well-educated and well-employed gay men regularly patronized the Buffalo gay bars, mixing with other gay people from all social classes. Although the Crescendo had become a men's bar, many women continued to go there. One of the most popular songs on the jukebox was "Lay Lady Lay" (1969-Bob Dylan).
Dominique's Supper Club - 20 Allen Street (1972-1983)
The bar offered a hard-to-resist invitation to Buffalo's gays "Come in and meet a nice guy."
As for nice bartenders, among the favorites were Chris, Bernie, Joey, Mike and "Mickey Mouse."
Downs' - 684-686 Michigan Avenue (1935-1938)
Ralph Martin's was already in business and Galante's was out of business by the time Down's started serving gay customers in 1935. Down's catered to a less flamboyant crowd than Ralph's and it provided another opportunity to discover the extent of Buffalo's gay community.
Down's was a pioneer bar in the neighborhood surrounding Genesee and Ellicott Streets, a neighborhood that was to become the center of Buffalo gay life in the 1950's and early 1960's.
Finley's - 2359 Bailey Avenue (1997-1998)
Finley's was one of Buffalo's short-duration businesses, operating as a gay bar for less than six months. Despite its brief existence and its non-downtown location, the bar is remembered as a great place to drink and to make new friends.
Located five blocks south of the UB City Campus at the corner of Bailey and Dartmouth, the bar showcased a wonderful mix of activities ranging from AIDS fundraisers and drag shows to Sunday evening jazz performances, which even brought in some straight customers. The bar offered several video games, a pool table, and a dance floor. Perhaps most appreciated of all, a nice clean bathroom.
Finley's was popular with Buffalo's African-American gay community and was patronized by both gay men and lesbians. Drag queens felt comfortable going there and they helped to enhance the party atmosphere. Most of the patrons were in their twenties and thirties. Finley's was a great bar for cruising and many men connected up. The bar always had a big supply of free condoms, no matter how large a size you needed.
Finley's sported a modern interior, tables and chairs, and air conditioning. Happy hours and parties were well attended and cover charges on weekends kept the crowds manageable. Previous to becoming a gay bar, the place was known as Jimmy J's Drinkery and Munchie House. The room was quite large and could hold around 150 people.
The two men who owned the bar (one named Finley) were gay and they helped with bar-keeping chores. The bar employed women bartenders as well as men. The owners liked socializing with the patrons and frequently drank alongside them at the bar. The long L-shaped bar encouraged conversation and it was common for patrons to buy drink rounds for everyone. The dance floor was elevated above the main floor and was best known for its mirrored wall, where you could watch yourself dance or cruise someone else's reflection.
The bar's support for the gay community was highlighted in early 1998. As part of Buffalo's "Cause for Celebration" AIDS fund raiser, Finley's hosted a huge party and rented a bus to transport its patrons and their families to the downtown site. Arriving as a group, the Finley contingent visibly underscored the Black gay community's commitment to ending AIDS. The bar and its patrons were justifiably proud that day.
Heartbreakingly the owners' future plans for this promising bar were shattered when a fire broke out just five months after they opened for business. The damage was extensive and the bar closed down for good. The building was eventually demolished and the site is now a small public park across the street from the United Memorial Funeral Home.
Galante's - 109 Wilkeson Street (1930-1935)
This was Buffalo's first gay bar. Joseph Galante and his family originally lived at 109 Wilkeson Street. In 1930 they moved next door to 107, where Joseph opened a grocery store on the ground floor and lived above the store with his wife Josephine and his two children, Salvatore and Sarah. The children worked as clerks in the grocery. Joseph continued to own 109 Wilkeson, which he turned into a speakeasy catering to Buffalo's gay and lesbian underground.
Except for private house parties, where you had to know the right people to get invited, Buffalo's gay men and women lacked an organized way to find each other. In fact, at the time it was difficult to even get a sense of how many other gays lived in the Buffalo area. Although the bar was located behind Buffalo's newly-completed City Hall, in a rough waterfront area near the former Erie Canal (Wilkeson Street ran alongside Wilkeson Slip), the opportunity to meet gay men was irresistible and many found their way to Galante's.
Selling alcohol during Prohibition was a dangerous business. Speakeasy operators who distilled their own hard liquor risked getting busted by the mob. On the legal side, if you operated a still during the winter months in Buffalo you risked being raided by Treasury agents who would notice that the snow melted off your roof too soon. So Joseph confined his beverages to homebrewed beers and wines that didn't require distillation and that allowed him to keep a low business profile. Men and women had separate bars at Galante's, with the men's bar downstairs and the women's upstairs. It's not known if Joseph wanted separate bars or it just spontaneously happened that way.
The Constitutional Amendment imposing Prohibition was repealed just before Christmas in 1933, and by the spring of 1934
Buffalo's first openly-gay bar, Ralph Martin's, began a legal business on Ellicott Street. Galante's speakeasy continued to operate, but Joseph was increasingly harassed
by the police for not paying sufficient bribes. Eventually the illegal business was closed down by the authorities and the building was demolished in 1936.
The former site of this pioneering bar is now home to Buffalo's Waterfront Elementary School #95. Please note that the original Wilkeson Street no longer exists and another street near the Erie Basin Marina now bears that name (In the 1820's Wilkeson fought to have the Erie Canal terminate in Buffalo, not in Tonawanda as first proposed).
Mean Alice's - 727-729 Main Street (1978-1981)
In a building that previously held a spacious, downtown Italian restaurant famous for it's pizzas, Mean Alice's became Buffalo's first centrally-air-conditioned gay bar. Air conditioning was surely needed on Alice's massive, elevated dance floor, crammed nightly with buff men gyrating to a driving disco beat. Tight pants and lewd baskets were in fashion and the sexual energy was sizzling.
It's difficult for present-day gays to imagine those years between Stonewall and AIDS, when the gay bars were packed with gorgeous, seductively-attired men. Gays of all ages would bar-hop just to savor the eye candy. Mean Alice's was the last Buffalo bar to enjoy that halcyon time.
Legal obstacles had to be overcome before this dance club could open. In the 1970's, it was still illegal in New York State for men to dance together and it was illegal for a bar to have couches. Sex could take place on couches, so they were considered prostitution equipment. The bar owners hired Paul Cambria, a prominent Buffalo attorney, in their successful fight with the State Liquor Authority. Their success however enraged City Hall and Major James Griffin launched a harassment campaign against the bar.
The size of the bar, it's in-your-face location, and the sexuality of the patrons offended conservative Buffalo values. Police raids at the bar became commonplace, ostensibly to find under-age drinkers. Every customer was required to show ID, even when they clearly weren't young. Outside the bar, patrons were ticketed for the slightest traffic or parking violations. Sobriety checks were used to publicly treat gays in a disrespectful and demeaning manner. Police recorded the license plates of cars in the back parking lot.
Mayor Griffin tried every way to hurt the bar and in the process enlarged his political base, but Buffalo's gays wouldn't cower. Disco music was in its heyday and Buffalo men love to dance. Every weekend the bar was jammed and each encounter with the cops was a whiff of Stonewall. Mean Alice's heralded a new era in Buffalo's gay nightlife. Gay dance clubs, big and bold on Main Street, are now an accepted fixture of the Buffalo gay scene. These dance clubs are often showcased by City boosters as an indicator of what a "hip town" Buffalo has become.
Ralph Martin's - 58 Ellicott Street (1934-1951)
The end of Prohibition in December 1933 set the stage for the first legally run bar to welcome Buffalo's gays. During the 1920's Buffalo was famous for three things: gambling, bootlegging, and boxing. Across the country, Americans huddled around their parlor radios eager to hear boxing matches broadcast from Buffalo. A champion boxer named Ralph Martin was a local favorite. Many officials in City Hall had won money betting on Ralph and he was well known throughout the town..
On the southwest corner of Seneca and Ellicott Streets was a cigar emporium. In this large room gentlemen purchased expensive cigars, then sat down in cozy chairs to smoke them - an early version of today's cigar bars. Ralph Martin purchased the building in 1932 and converted it into a restaurant-bar named after himself. The bar opened in 1934 and it was an instant hit both with Buffalo's gays and with Buffalo's thriving prostitution industry.
This mix of gays and whores created an outrageous party atmosphere. Straight "johns" who came to Ralph's in search of hookers were hit-on by the gays testing their luck, by the lesbians flirting for free drinks, and by the prostitutes themselves anxious to turn a trick. Every kind of action could be found at Ralph's.
Ralph Martin's bar was a Godsend for Buffalo's early gay and lesbian community. No longer dependent on the grapevine to locate private parties or on the criminal underground exploiting them at speakeasies, Buffalo's gays and lesbians came out in force. Ralph Martin's was neither a men's bar nor was it a women's bar. Instead it was a magical place where gays and lesbians partied together as one.
At Ralph's, the stars of the evening were the drag queens. Taking their inspiration from the Cotton Club and the Busby Berkley musicals, Ralph Martin's drag queens were over the top. No second-hand clothes for these girls, they made their fabulous costumes from scratch, including the giant headdresses that became their trademark.
Every Saturday night Duisenbergs, Lincolns, Packards, and other luxury cars would negotiate the corner of Seneca and Ellicott, then come to a dramatic stop. The car doors would slowly open and out would step the flamboyantly attired queens. For special events, searchlights would streak into the night sky. Crowds of straight people would congregate on the sidewalks to watch and cheer the ongoing spectacle.
Inside the bar it was an evening of grand entrances. Each diva had her own supporters. Dishing contests kept the crowds in stitches. Every night at Ralph's was a night to remember. If you couldn't make it to the bar, you begged your friends the next morning to tell you every last detail.
Ralph Martin knew how to do it big and Buffalo had never seen anything like it. In the darkest days of the Depression, this extravaganza was just what the City needed. Ralph never revealed why he was so willing to welcome gays and lesbians to his bar, but certainly the goodwill he earned during his boxing days caused City Hall and the cops to look the other way. To satisfy the demands of certain morality groups, token police raids occasionally took place, but they were always conducted with a wink.
Ralph Martin's bar happened at a time when society wasn't as obsessed as now with keeping children permanently naive. Despite the gay clientele, neighborhood kids were constantly running in and out playing hide-and-seek, pumping the player piano, or plying the customers to buy a shoeshine. If a boy or girl needed an alibi for being late to dinner, Ralph was always willing to say they were helping him clean up the backroom.
A series of interviews with one of these former shoeshine boys provided the details for this story. In fact, Ralph Martin and his wife took such a liking to this Alabama Street lad that he was made the bar's official shoeshine boy. When other boys would try to encroach on his territory they'd be chased away. As a present for his thirteenth birthday, he lost his virginity to one of the resident prostitutes. And when he was a few years older, Ralph hired both him and his best friend as the official bar bouncers. Today he and his wife live in a beautiful home in downtown Buffalo and one of their children recently became a doctor.
Ralph Martin found practical ways to be supportive of that early gay community. He quietly loaned money to gays down on their luck, found them housing when their families threw them out, and telephoned influential people to resolve problems. In return, the gay and lesbian community loved Ralph with a passion and made his bar the number one place to go for 17 years running. Ralph Martin's was the gay bar that carried Buffalo through World War II.
Ralph Martin died November 7, 1951, and with him passed a fabulous era in Buffalo's gay-bar history. By 1956, the home of Buffalo's first legal and publicly-known gay bar had became the Erie County Pest Control Agency. Today the site is the pitcher's mound at the Dunn Tire Baseball Park built in 1988.
Red Spot - Lackawanna (1975-1975)
Buffalo's steel-making heritage forms the backdrop to this out-of-town adventure. Making a left turn at Gate #3 of the Bethlehem Steel Mill brought you to a old neighborhood tavern. Across the street was the Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, its yard also serving as the neighborhood playground, and behind the bar were trailer-type homes of blue-collar steelworkers.
The Red Spot came onto the scene when Buffalo's gays were overdue for a new place to go. The original Villa Capri, Big Daddy's, and Stage Pigalle had all run their course, with Mean Alice's and the second Villa yet to come. Surely folks would be willing to drive 10 miles to Lackawanna. It was a field trip! Both gays and lesbians made the pilgrimage to the Red Spot.
Perhaps unconscientiously-knowing that they were on borrowed time, Buffalo's gays and lesbians made the most of it, turning the Red Spot into one of the most fondly-remembered bars of all. It's rare to find anyone with a bad word to say. A fabulous dance floor, outrageous drag shows, great bartenders, and a rarely-achieved congeniality amongst the patrons left everyone with glowing memories of the Red Spot.
Surrounded by a social class that disapproved of gays, the Red Spot was pushing its luck. One warm evening three months after it opened, the bar stools filled with customers, a bullet shattered through the front window. Luckily no one was injured, but the Red Spot was dead. The steel mills left town and the site of this hate-crime is now an empty lot. The shooter was never found.
"Where Only the Shadow Knows and Goes" was not a secret to Buffalo gays. The Shadows was a popular basement bar located on a posh block of Delaware Avenue.
Sunday cocktail hour drinks were priced at 75¢ and bartender Diane kept things lively. Other popular bartenders included Billy, Dodo, Lenny, and Tony.
An surprisingly public spat broke out between the owner and his new 50% partner early in 1974. Just as they were closing the deal, a rumor circulated that younger gays in Buffalo didn't like the new guy and would boycott the bar if he became manager. The new partner was previously associated with another gay bar called the Windjammer Club on Pearl Street. The Shadows owner started to get cold feet and their squabble was the talk of the town. The deal eventually was finalized and the boycotts turned out to be just malicious rumors.
Tragically everyone's hopes were shattered on an early Sunday morning in June 1974 when the bar mysteriously caught fire. A man was seen running from the building moments before and the smell of gasoline engulfed the area. Arson investigators found a broken key in the door lock. The damage to the bar and building were assessed at $107,000.
The owners decided not to rebuild. A brief effort by members of the gay community to raise funds for reconstruction was not successful. The location is now a parking lot at the corner of Virginia and Delaware Avenues, best known for a large, faded wall mureal of a British lion.
Quadraphonic Sound was cutting edge technology in 1973 and the Stage Pigalle spared no expense. Their motto was "The Stage - Where Big Things Are Always Happening."
The Sunday afternoon buffet would set you back 50¢ and bartender Gary was a favorite.
A country-western bar before it turned gay, T&T's had a huge back room which originally hosted square dances. This bar could accommodate more patrons than any other Buffalo gay bar in the 1960's.
The owner built a stage and runway for some of the best drag shows Buffalo has ever seen. The principal drag queens at that time collectively called themselves The Buffalo Funny Girls. Such honored names as Gary Anderson, Jimmy Bates, Lenny Castelone, Sammy Fiorello, Paul Jablonski, Larry Paulson, Bill Schroeder, and Guy Vullo are still fondly remembered.
Even though business was good, the owner always seemed to be short of cash. In spite of that, the bar regularly held drag contests with cash prizes in the hundreds of dollars for the winner. A persistent rumor was that the contests were rigged and only drag queens who secretly agreed to return the prize money ever won. The rumor was never proved.
Slow dancing was still in style and the dance floor with it's revolving mirror globe was filled nightly with embracing couples. Though located on an industrial stretch of Niagara Street near the bridge to Squaw Island, both gays and lesbians felt safe going to T&T's, even late at night.
Matrimonial and financial problems caused the owner to close the bar just before Christmas 1969. It went on to become Compton's After Dark, an extremely popular lesbian bar in the 1980's and 90's.
Tiki Restaurant and Tavern - 330 Franklin Street (1968-1970)
Polynesian was the theme - for the decorations, not the men. By the time this bar went gay, the palm leaves had accumulated years of dust. But the owner was friendly, the drinks were strong, and nobody seemed to notice the faded decor. The Tiki was located diagonally across Tupper Street from Laughlin's (a cruisey straight bar in those days) and functioned as a neighborhood tavern for the Allentown gay crowd in the late 1960's.
The Tiki had two rooms and two entrances. If you entered from Franklin Street you came into the actual bar. If you entered from Tupper you were in the dining room, which also served as a dance floor and a drag-show stage.
One of the Tiki's most memorable events was "Bruce Brown's Birthday Party." Bruce was a well-to-do Buffalonian who threw himself a lavish birthday party at the Tiki on the same night in 1969 that the Astronauts first landed on the moon. Throughout the warm summer evening, drag queens huddled around black-and-white TV's watching the blurry pictures being beamed to earth. Outside the bar, cars on Franklin and Tupper Streets honked their horns in celebration. People everywhere were in a joyous mood and the open bar serving Bruce's party just couldn't keep up. The sun had already risen when the last revelers staggered out the door. Gays talked about the party for months.
Villa Capri (2nd) - 926 Main Street (1978-1989)
Sunday tea dances were well attended
Favorite mixed drinks were ice picks and screwdrivers