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Denton’s only gay bar, Mable Peabody’s Beauty Parlor and Chainsaw Repair, closed in 2017.
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North Texas has seen its own share of closures. A 2020 report out of Oberlin College found as many as 37% of gay and lesbian bars in the U.S. That could spell trouble for establishments built for a bygone era. With dating moving online and bargoers feeling more comfortable outside of queer spaces, gay bars are facing stiffer competition. It really opened my eyes and made me feel relief and excited for my future.”Ĭultural mores are evolving though. I had grown up thinking I was the only one who felt this way.
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“I felt free and excited to be around so many people that were all just like me. “It was amazing,” said Darin Holland in the survey. The survey was shared via social media and 94% of respondents said they are part of the LGBTQ community. Nearly every respondent said their first time visiting a gay bar was an important milestone. More than 140 people responded to an informal online survey conducted by KERA and The Dallas Morning News about what these establishments have meant to them. The Stonewall Inn in 1969 famously helped usher in the gay liberation movement in the United States, but gay and lesbian bars closer to home have also served as the backdrop to the personal histories of queer North Texans. Watering holes like the 1851 Club have long been precious mainstays of queer life. “There was no question in my mind,” he said. Haynes, once a longtime customer, said he bought the Arlington bar in memory of her. Get in good with the staff now and, come Pride, you'll be in on the ground floor of one of the city's cheapest dance clubs.1851 Club owner Dalton Haynes next to the plaque honoring his grandmother. Then again, this early period in any bar's life is great for anyone wanting to establish themselves as regulars. On a recent Friday night visit, less than two dozen people were hanging out. But with no cover charge and wells at or below $2 each, you'd imagine the place would be packed with people headed to or from the arcade bar, the gay strip club or the scores of other party spots in the neighborhood.īut having just opened on Valentine's Day, Barbarella is still adjusting to Portland's gravity.
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Sure, the lack of specialty drinks feels like a missed opportunity, and even the bartender recommended against ordering food. On paper, Barbarella should be a sensation, particularly with central eastsiders who rarely deign to cross the river into the Old Town entertainment district.
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The only 21st-century features are the video projections and gently rippling rainbow LED lights behind the pre-existing sheet-metal grates.
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There are lava lamps, pinball machines and a loft decorated with gently damaged midcentury living room furniture and a staticky analog TV set that would seem more appropriate if the place were called Poltergeist. A painting of a topless woman and her flowing, glittery black hair sprawls across the wall of the elevated dance floor, joined by a pair of tributes to Barbarella herself, Jane Fonda-one on the main dance floor's sealed archway and the other by the second-floor restrooms. In some ways, it resembles next-door neighbor Ground Kontrol with the games removed. Part of a chain of clubs that first launched in Austin, Texas, a decade ago, Barbarella's aesthetic is as delightfully kitschy and low-budget as a bar named after a campy sci-fi cult classic should be. Now, for its third and easily weirdest act, the building has been transformed into Barbarella (125 NW 5th Ave., 50), a dance club with dirt-cheap drinks, themed parties running from the '50s through the '80s and an overall vibe best described as "a straight person's idea of a gay bar." After that, it was the Vegas-inspired Fifth Avenue Lounge. The space at Northwest 5th Avenue and Davis Street has lived many lives the past few years.įirst, it was the grimy music venue Someday Lounge. (Christine Dong) By Andrew Jankowski Maat 1:08 pm PDT