click here for more posts from “the herstory issue” // “the way we were”
The website Lost Womyn’s Space is devoted to honoring both ancient and modern womyn’s spaces that have been lost — “anything from lost women’s colleges and schools, to lesbian bars and clubs. And everything sacred and profane in between” — and it’s a website I’d recommend becoming obsessed with, as I am. Silverside, the captain of Lost Womyn’s Space, has done serious research to unearth the stories of more lesbian bars than probably currently exist in the world. All the information in this post, unless otherwise noted, was garnered from that blog.
15 Awesomely Named Yet Totally Closed Lesbian Bars Of America
+
1. Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness (2900 E.Broadway Blvd, Tucson, AZ) 1994-2011
I feel like the idea here is that if your homophobic mother asks you where you’re going, you can say “ain’t nobody’s bizness.”
This hotspot, located in a shopping plaza, began as a lesbian bar and eventually evolved to attract a “mixed-gender” crowd and closed shortly thereafter because MEN RUIN EVERYTHING. Just kidding (kinda), I don’t know why it closed, do you?
When it snagged the 1999 Best Lesbian Bar Award from The Tucson Weekly, the Weekly professed: “The Biz is Tucson’s lesbian Cheers, but with hip music, a good dance floor and an Amazon attitude.”
+
2. Volli-Bal (2124 North Clark St, Chicago, IL) 1950s-60s
This bar had a very strict butch/femme culture and often found itself subject to random police raids — both common situations at the time. More importantly, the creators of this bar discovered a new way to spell “volleyball,” a sport beloved by lesbians because volleyball players tend to wear tiny outfits and have strong fists!
+
3. Our Hideaway (Chicopee, MA) 1949 -1999
I like to imagine this name came from the secret name for a private tree fort where the bar’s owner used to meet her romantic friend for cuddling after school. Yannow?
Anyhow, Our Hideaway was once the oldest women’s bar on the east coast, frequented both by college kids new to the area and locals who’d been partrons for 25 years!
+
4. Kooky’s Cocktail Lounge (W. 14th Street, New York, NY) 1960s to early 1970s
One of only two lesbian bars in the city at that time, it seems like everybody who went to Kooky’s mostly hated it. Karla Jay, in her book The Lavender Menace: A Memoir of Liberation, tells tales of a hostile owner dressed in complicated pastel prom gowns who would harass clientele into buying more drinks (eventually turning everybody into an alcoholic), a bathroom guard who parceled out three squares of toilet paper to each guest while ensuring no couples snuck in and an intimidating entrance/carding procedure administered by male doormen. (The toilet paper situation wasn’t unique to this bar, however, this was a common strategy.)
“The bar lesbians were in no position to rebel against Kooky’s dictatorship,” Jay writes. “Instead, they put their energy into creating a network of friends and allies within the bar.”
+
5. Never Never Land (1920 Market Street, Shreveport, Louisiana) 2005 to 2010
Inspired, undoubtedly, by how cute Mary Martin was when she played Peter Pan in the 1956 live action film “Peter Pan,” this girlbar dive with noted karaoke promised its customers: “Come with me now to a far off land across a briny sea, to a place where you can laugh and play and fly your heart so free.”
+
6. Meow Mix (269 East Houston, New York, NY) 1996 to 2004
“Meow Mix with its never-got-over-riot-grrrl-grunge is hot nearly every night of the week. Lipstick lesbians and butch drag queens swarm the dance floor or rock as live acts perform.”
Firstly, this name sounds like cat food. Secondly, perhaps the saddest introduction to my budding bisexual lifestyle came on a warm Pride Sunday in 2004, when I nervously tagged along to Meow Mix with a group of lesbians I’d met up with earlier ’cause one of them had been my roommate in boarding school. I was debating the whole way if I would actually go into the bar or not, but alas, my debating was all for naught — the place was closed like a book. Everyone was so confused and sad. Little did I know that later in life, as a lesbian, the experience of walking 16 blocks to a gay bar that turned out to be closed was par for the course. Apparently there were problems with “flooding, city harassment, and a shift in the neighborhood demographics.” The bar also played a cameo in Chasing Amy.
+
7. Tink’s Pub (22 South Preston Street, Louisville, KY) 2001- 2012
I imagine some of you have visited Tink’s Pub and can verify whether or not it’s owned by my pet dog, Tinkerbell, who has always dreamed of starting her very own Pub. Regardless, Tink’s boasted karaoke, drag shows, pool, video poker, darts and a jukebox, and had its closing night party on New Year’s Eve 2011.
+
8. Hot Legs (814 South Second Street, Milwaukee, WI) 1984-1987
I imagine the name “Hot Legs” was inspired by a naked girl with nice legs. “For a time Hot Legs was THE lesbian bar in Milwaukee,” says the Wisconsin GLBT History Project. Indeed, Hot Legs was well ahead of its time when it began offering those always-tantalizing wet t-shirt contests!
+
10. Huddle Tavern (219 Cumberland Ave, Knoxville, TN) 1940-1981
1. Rhymes with CUDDLE!
2. Cormac McCarthy “immortalized” this bar, which was located in a basement, by writing about it in his novel Sutree. He cited patrons coming “down the street and turning in two by two” and spotting “a group of dubious gender” drinking in a corner. The place served beer in a fishbowl and whiskey in a jelly jar! Neat-o!
+
11. The Kitty Kat Club (St.Louis, MO) 1960s-1970s
This bar name is genius for marrying the memory of Kit Porter to the sexiness of the Kit-Kat Girls from “Cabaret” to the cuteness of actual kittens (lesbians love cats: fact). That’s just about all we know, and I just made that up, so.
+
12. Plush Pony (Los Angeles, CA) 1960s–> 2009
photo by laura aguilar
A hotspot for “Chicana dykes” and “lesbian Latinas” is cited in Gay L.A. as one of many “working class gay girl beer-and-pool-table bars” that popped up around the city in 1960s. The amazing lesbian photographer Laura Aguilar did a series in back of the bar, creating “an amazing document of working-class Chicana lesbian culture, a group whose existence is relegated to the margins of both Chicana and lesbian social formations.” The photo above is from that series. Seriously I love Laura Aguilar so much.
+
13. Howdy Club (47 West Third Street, New York, NY) – 1930s -1940s
Lisa E. Davis says: “The Howdy Club is the earliest club we know about that hired lesbians as entertainers — strippers, singers like Blackie Dennis, and chorus boys who might serve the first round of drinks, then join the floorshow.” The Howdy Club closed because of “morals changes,” a/k/a excessive police harassment in the mid-to-late 40’s. They also had a football team (pictured, above).
+
14. The Sea Colony (52 West 8th, New York, NY) 1950s-1960s
I feel like this’d also be a good name for a restaurant in Disneyworld with singing little mermaids. But it’s not a restaurant in Disneyworld, it was a mega-popular often-working-class lesbian bar patronized by ladies like Joan Nestle and even Audre Lorde. Patrons could dance in the back room, where a red light started flashing to indicate a police raid in the works.
+
15. Mother’s Brew (Louisville, KY) 1975-1976
Honestly when I go to gay bars the last thing I want to think about is my mother, especially since she started going to gay bars before I did, but this lesbian separatist hangout rocked the hell out of that brew, just like your mom does. Started by the Lesbian Feminist Union collective, Mother’s Brew was a bar but also a meeting space AND a venue for lectures and women’s music AND a shelter for battered women AND a feminist library AND an art gallery. Alix Dobkin, Holly Near and Cris Williamson performed here, amongst others. The no-men-allowed thing was very serious here.
Amazing Defunct Lesbian Bar Names Honorable Mentions:
MoDiggity’s Pub (Salt Lake City, Utah) – 2000s
Cowgirl’s Oasis (Fort Worth, Texas) – 1995-96
Billie Jean’s (Kansas City, MO) – 1980s
Tiny & Ruby’s Gay Spot (Chicago, IL) – 1950s
Bonnie & Clyde’s (New York, NY) – 1970s/80s
Attitudes (St.Louis, MO) – 1988-2012
Pandora’s Box (Detroit, MI) – 2005-2008
Bad Dolly’s (Reno, NV) – 1990s
Madison Flame (Memphis, TN) -1990s – 2007
What are your favorite lesbian bar names?
Riese, #11 was hilarious. Thanks for the giggles.
But seriously, this article was awesome.
Hi Everyone! I am a male who actually worked at the Sea Colony Bar in New York City way back when. Had a fantastic time and this website is great! Wish I could do it all again! I love all you guys!! Thanks for the Memories. Feel free to email me at: [email protected] Thanks
According to #11’s logo, it would’ve also been “The KKK”. So there’s that.
Also, “Amazon attitude” is going to me my new descriptor for SO MANY THINGS. Thanks Tucson!
BRING BACK ALL OF THESE PLACES
This article was so, so excellent. I’m deeply saddened by the fact that I’ll never drink a beer at MoDiggity’s Pub.
Not a bar, per se, but I have to give a shout out to the Clit Club. Being a big theater nerd, I heard about it from RENT and tried to go once but we were sadly underage and they wouldn’t let us in.
Yes!
“I didn’t stay and dance at the Clit Club that night, cause YOU wanted to go home!”
The first bar I was thrown out of for being too young.
http://lostwomynsspace.blogspot.com/2011/03/mauds.html
Sister’s Edge II – Austin, TX 2009-2010
no idea we even had a 1, at some point…
Mable Peabody’s Beauty Parlor and Chainsaw Repair (Denton, Tx)
As far as I can tell, Mabel’s is still open.
How did I not know this place existed until just now – WTF Denton.
This was wins. Oh god, Chainsaw Repairs, really??
I miss bar names like Attitudes, Secrets and Don’t Tell Mama’s. There seemed to be one in every suburb on the east coast. What about Indigo in Boston? Actually, it was Cambridge and my friend T was the bartender who looked like k.d.lang. What was the smaller bar across the street from Indigo? Wow… I’m not THAT old, but I went “Awwww! Meow Mix,” when I saw that pic. I’ve been to way too many lezzie bars, but damn, they were fun! I’m sure I could add 10 more to this list if I could remember! Oh! How could we forget Little Freida’s in LA?! I lived at Freida’s when I was in WeHo! And WOW Bar in NYC?? And Starlight?!! This was BFB of course…Before Facebook.
I will honor them all at Pride tomorrow. *sigh*
STARLIGHT WAS THE BOMB
It makes me sad when I walk by it and it’s a straight bar on a Sunday night. Thankfully, Maggie & Danielle are the new Wanda. Remember when Wanda and my friend Sera started Showstoppers at Crash Mansion? It filled the Starlette void a little.
Attitudes in STL is still alive and kicking, although it’s not exclusively a lesbian bar anymore!
Remember the randolph country club?
Gertrude’s was near Indigo…loved that spot. Indigo was definitely my favorite. I could go alone at 10p and dance until closing and I haven’t found anything like it since.
Alibis, or Partners in Oklahoma City.
Alibi’s is still open!
I love that bar!! I was there last night!! It is one of my favorite places to go hang out with people, or to just get away and have a drink by myself!!
dear god, please help me find a good dyke bar.
Amen,
Lauren
Seriously! However, for *some* reason, tiny towns in North Idaho don’t seem to be so much for those. Or even mixed queer bars. Alas.
RF lounge in NYC was the first lesbian Bar I ever went to and its now defunct. Sadness.
Pouring some beer on the ground for all these dead places.
Remember their ‘celebrity patrons’ wall? Even when it was re-named RF Lounge, we all still called it Rubyfruit. At least Cubbyhole is still there!! Thank god.
Rubyfruit was my first lesbian bar experience too! I was so freakin’ terrfied (alone in NY/America for the first time) that I let them think I was some straight tourist. I then kissed the hell out of the pretty girl I left with in the taxi back home though, so I think that misconception was cleared up.
Cubbyhole rocked my world. So glad to hear it’s still going.
Cubby is still the best for pre-game, or post-game for that matter. The crowd literally changes every hour…old school gals early, then happy hour career gals on their way to dinner, then young fun drunk girls, then boys with their girl posse. It never gets old. It has always been my ‘Gay Cheers’. I love it!
I think Rubyfruit was the first lesbian bar I ever went to as well, but I was maybe 18 and we didn’t stay long. Starlight was the first lesbian bar I ever really went to, like for the night.
In 2004 I worked at a (now-defunct) restaurant next door to Rubyfruit mostly staffed by gay guys, and the Rubyfruit lesbian owners would get to work in the afternoon and sit outside and smoke and stuff before opening, and the gay guys I worked with would make derogatory jokes about butch lesbians which’s one of many reasons why i never told them i was queer, which is kinda fucked, right? i mean, you wish the boys would be on your side. but alas.
Anyhow, I also went to Rubyfruit with my Mom and Alex when my mom came to visit me in ’08 or whatever, which was shortly before it shut down and turned into RF Lounge.
Gay men and their particular brand of misogyny… *sigh*
The Biz!!! I went once before it closed. There was some nasty dancing happening in that place on the 18+ night.
i love this list!
always seemed like The Hershee Bar in norfolk, va had the best most ridic name.
Oh my god, I forgot about Hershee!
Norfolk also has The Wave, which is where sketchy goes to party. I remember getting into that bar and getting my chocolate martini on long before I was of age. At one point, someone hid me in a stall in the men’s bathroom and handed me a beverage so I could drink. That was my first gay bar and I’ll love it FOREVER.
best tagline ever: “where sketchy goes to party”
Pope Joan in Toronto – I got my driver’s license to go drinking there. Memories! Fond yet blurry memories of ghastly/wonderful places.
I’m surprised to see Kentucky on here twice! And so very sad they’ve closed!
I’m so glad y’all featured TWO bars from Louisville KY!!!!! Tink’s has now been reopened as Purr-Sway-tions, by the way. Which may take the cake when it comes to awesome names.
omg, Purr-Sway-tions FTW
Alas, I haven’t seen Tinkerbell.
Yet.
A recently closed-down lesbian bar in Lille (France) was called “Miss Marple”. Looks like someone thought the old lady didn’t tell everything that went down in St Mary’s Mead!
Is La Scandaleuse still in Paris?
What about Barbie Deinhoff’s (Berlin)
Oh, and Le Drugstore (Montreal), and See you next Tuesday (women’s night on Castro Street SF)
“Little did I know that later in life, as a lesbian, the experience of walking 16 blocks to a gay bar that turned out to be closed was par for the course.”
This happens to me ALL THE TIME, especially when trying to go to Cubbyhole and then finding out there’s a giant line outside and all the people you’re with are like “let’s just go to Art Bar” and you’re like “THAT IS NOT THE SAME”.
Seriously though, when I moved to NYC I saw all these websites talking about how awesome Meow Mix was, only to find out later that it had been closed for years. SADFACE.
The Hung Jury in Washington, D.C., which worked on several levels for our town and our people.
I went there!
When I was 20 and hadn’t figured out I was queer, I was in some midwestern city for a rugby tournament and we went to a bar after our game. The name of the bar was RU12. I sat on a bar stool drinking a beer and looking at the neon sign sounding out every possibility for about 15 minutes because – yes – I was clueless in many areas of life. Finally, this older butch dyke (older being probably 30 at the time) came over and asked what I was thinking about. I said, “Rue 12. I don’t get it.” She laughed, put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Are you one too?” She lifted an eyebrow and waited and I was like, “OHHHHHHH!”
Do you remember the name of the city?
I spent my 21st birthday at Meow Mix.
LESBIAN HERSTORY, y’all!
DUDE MEOW MIX WAS AWESOME OKAY OH GOD LET ME SHARE MY BABY DYKE MEMORIES
I used to go there all the time for Xena Night and it was a mixed crowd but 99% queermos, and even though I was underage they were all cool to me (I just couldn’t drink XD). It was amazingly fun and Lucy Lawless herself showed up one time, but that was in the early years before I went. I was voted Miss Callisto 2000 there! (of course I was the only Callisto but hush) And we used to march in Pride as the Marching Xenas…during the moment of silence we would all do a silent warrior salute. I would always be way hoarse by the end of the parade from doing the Xena yell so much but by god it was worth it. We always had a blast and people always went nuts when they saw us.
Oh dang I’m so nostalgic, especially since it’s the day before NYC Pride. Gentrification is mostly what killed that place, like basically everywhere cool in this town. :(
Thanks so much for the shout out! Lots of new places to look up now.
My favourite has to be the legendarily named Boobsbourg in Paris. I swear to god that this is a genuine gay bar. When I was there, even though I knew it had closed I made my girlfriend come with me on a pilgrimage to see it. The sign is still there! We paid our respects and left.
In the mid-90’s I jumped the line to get into the Clit Club one Friday night, where I felt immediately like fresh meat and ended up dancing with a short Asian girl who gave me her number; after I met her for coffee later that weekend I found out the girl at the club was giving out her crazy friend’s number…..the best part was all the shirts came off after about 1 am….
Crud I’m about to be 21 I thought Never Never Land was still open. Now where am I suppose to go in Shreveport.
Central, if it’s still open? Off Lake St under the highway downtown…it’s mostly gay guys but they’re pretty welcoming to everyone.
I’m in utter shock that Arizona was mentioned. The only times I’ve ever seen the desert I live in mentioned on this website is if they’re talking about the bitch I didn’t vote for Jan Brewer. Any who, loved the post, lesbian bars are theeeeee cooooolest!
that’s funny because laneia (the executive editor / my second-in-command) lives in phoenix! i hear it’s very warm there
I haaaaate Jan Brewer.
I’m sad to say I didn’t make it to the only lesbian bar in my home city Vancouver, Canada called “Lick” so good….
I’m not into the bar scene myself, but where’s #9?!?! I’d love to see a bar named after this post (http://www.autostraddle.com/20-lesbian-slang-terms-youve-never-heard-before-129728/), or a combination there of, like Muffer’s Missionary Work.
‘Inspired, undoubtedly, by how cute Mary Martin was when she played Peter Pan in the 1956 live action film “Peter Pan”‘
…
Is the opening line of my coming out story.
Fact.
There is a place in Tokyo called Kuri to Risu, which is a play on words meaning Chestnut and Squirrel in Japanese but phonetically-speaking is meant to sound like “clitoris” (say kuritorisu quickly). Which gets my vote as best name ever.
thanks, took me few hours to know the meaning of it, kuritorisu. lol
Not only have I been to 2 of these – Ain’t Nobody’s Business and Meow Mix, I just found out my wife also went to the The Biz while visiting friends in Tucson years ago. At least this time we weren’t in attendance on the same day. The number of missed “almost meetings” we’ve reconstructed over time (OMG, I was at that concert, too! How on earth did we not meet 10 years earlier?) could fill a book.
And to add to the list – two early lesbian bars in Indianapolis, open in the 1960s – 1990s: Shirley’s One Way (because she only went one way) and The Labrys. The Labrys closed before I started my bar-going, but Shirley’s was still open, and one of the few reasons I didn’t get carded as an 19-year-old was because Shirley thought I was cute and enjoyed sending me free drinks. I think she may have been in her 50s or 60s at that point. This was when I started hanging out with gay women much older than me and they called me a “gold star” all the time because they thought it was adorable that I never slept with a guy.
“Little did I know that later in life, as a lesbian, the experience of walking 16 blocks to a gay bar that turned out to be closed was par for the course.”
GIRL, yes. there should be a course just on this which teaches the following:
1) how to stay motivated
2) how to somehow find some other gay or gay-friendly place to get inebriated
3) where exactly one should pee in the street in between all of those blocks
4) how to not feel all of the sads upon reaching closed queermo oasis
also, i REALLY miss Cattyshacks which was the best lesbo spot in all of new york to me.
rooftop smoke spot, middle floor gay boy dance music and bottom basement brooklyn hip hop all nite.
I was so glad to see Pandora’s Box mentioned! Unfortunately that was the one and only girl bar in Detroit, boo! C’mon, Detroit, quit being so straight for me! :)
Stilettos has always been like 99% lesbian (Okay, it’s in Inkster…)
Then there’s Rainbow Room… Which is like half lesbian, half drag queen.
Soho always has a lot of girls around.
But I guess, the big lesbian thing is Ladies night every first Wednesday at Rosie O’Grady’s in Ferndale.
This is the best.
Riese, do you know where I could find some of Laura Aguilar’s work online? I’m curious to see her photos.
I second this request.
Love the post. now how about a post n whats STILL open? seeing shuttered doors of places like meow mix just make me wish id moved to nyc earlier. and i HATE ramdomly picking a party/bar out of the back of GO! mag, then showing up to a dead/empty party.
What the FUCK is happening with that Kitty Kat logo, it is horrifying.
I loved this whole thing (for some reason Volli-Bal cracked me up most of all, god I wish it still existed in what is now like the very straightest part of town). There’s one in the south suburbs (never visited) called Dick’s R U Crazee? Punctuation and all.
There’s a new bar in Columbia, Tn called “The Muddy Beaver.” I’m not sure if it’s a lesbian watering hole or if two rednecks got drunk one night and thought those words sounded like a good business idea.
Lesbian bars/parties often have names that make me cringe/laugh. Moist and Snatch & Grab in Sydney, for example. Or G-Spot in London. So subtle.
OMG Bad Dolly’s makes me think of Drusilla. And also I wanna open a lesbibar and call it Dirty Ice, or Dirrrty Ice
it’s newish and still around but in toronto we have the henhouse, which i think is pretty clever
this post has given me an idea. one day i want to do a continent-wide road trip and write a book (/haha who am i kidding, it’s gonna be a blog) about all the lesbian bars in the land where i will rate them based on price of drinks, lineups, relative number of babes, proximity to late night snacks and include interesting facts/herstory on each place.
(oh, you mean rip off here/queer?)
(no, i just want an excuse to meet girls in far off lands.)
Wow. I practically grew up going to Madison Flame in Memphis. I started going the moment I turned 18 and went almost every weekend for years. This is such a great list. I wish I could have gone to more before they closed. I second the request for the best named still OPEN lesbian bars!
The cattyshack, now defunct, doesn’t even get a mention?
Sad!
I’ve been to 3 of those…
Ugh….Pride Hangover. I think this article pumped me up and I overdid it. I don’t need to go to a lesbian bar or party for a while (give it a week). Amazing time and I met Tegan & Sara. Yes, I bought 2 of the God Hates Bags bags. I love Revel & Riot!
Baltimore, Maryland: A Port In The Storm, The Shot Tower, Mitchell’s.
In Berlin there is the The Sharon Stonewall Bar.
http://www.sharonstonewall-gaybar.com/
Yup.
Dinah always welcome to lesbians and who want to do fun..Cheers
omg a friend and i were seriously joking about starting up a lesbian bookstore/club after seeing all these gross straight guys at the gay club in our city… i want mother’s brew to move here
There was a JUGS here in Dallas for several years. It was open long enough to have it’s lease run out and move three times.
HOW HAS NOBODY MENTIONED THE LEXINGTON? I know it’s not a great name, but seriously that is a serious San Francisco Dyke Bar Institution.
…Or come to think of it the Bearded Lady Cafe?
No mention of Chances (Houston), probably the biggest lesbian bar in the US. It was actually 3 separate bars that were connected.
I’m a guy and straight as well but was warmly accepted to join in the Wednesday night jam sessions they used to have.
Yep. I was just thinking of Chances. That was the first place I ever saw a drag king performance.
Also, My Sister’s Room in Atlanta. Somehow that one appears to be hangin’ around, somehow…
Thank you for sharing needful information to us. I am waiting for your next post.
Don’t see the long-lived Duchess on Grove St, NYC on the list–definitely alive from 70s through around 2005. May have been mafia dominated in early times, poured the worst wine I can recall but eventually grew into a fun place with good dance music.
Guy here–sorry to invade, please forgive me. I could not resist mentioning two great names from San Antonio, TX:
1. Petticoat Junction, used to be by San Antonio College and the famous Hogwild Records.
2. Bermuda Triangle, used to be near the airport, “Not responsible for stolen girlfriends.”
I walked into PJ, tired and thirsty, not knowing what it was; I got a LOT of unwelcome glares, but was served, undoubtedly thanks to my sheepish look.
I went to BT to meet up with friends, but just as I arrived, they called to cancel. Since I was there, I thought, why not go inside and have a drink? I was turned away at the door cuz I was not “accompanied by” any ladies. :/ I went to a gay bar down the road instead.
Thanks for reading! I’ll just…ya know…see myself out now…!
I wrote up a FB post for my work’s page about this!
https://www.facebook.com/Lowell.NPS/photos/pcb.10153930297419215/10153930296874215/?type=3&theater
There was a bar in Lowell, MA called Moody Gardens, which I think is a pretty delightful name — only by coincidence! The bar was located on Moody Street, haha.
It also wasn’t intentionally a ladygay bar either — before it was a lesbian bar it was a failing business. The competing bar across the street from it one night brought in a band of Western country women to perform one night, though, and lo – so many lesbians! So Moody Gardens capitalized on the crowd and brought in that band again. I love that the name is just so coincidental, though.
New York city had a great lesbian club in the ’50’s called Page Three. It was a showcase for girl singers of all kinds, from jazz thrushes to smoky balladeers. Sorry nobody remembers it.
Hey Don!
I am writing a book on the history of lesbian bars and cannot find anything about Page Three. Do you remember the address?
Thanks!
Not American, but La Mutinerie in Paris (near the Pompidou center) has one of the best names imo. It is very much NOT defunct, it is a beautiful, welcoming space geared towards people who are not cis men, and they sell cheap beer and dope tote bags. It’s Paris, so no one checks ID, and the door person is only there to make sure no one brings open containers outside. Their facebook page is also quality if you speak French. Worth a visit if you’re ever traveling.