Gay entertainment centers were critical to the social fabric of gay Clevelanders. This was a pre-AIDS time of glitter rock and disco, when people dressed up, danced their cares away and had sex when they could, usually without condoms. There were a multitude of bars, clubs, and bathhouses in Cleveland and its inner ring suburbs. NIGHTLIFE. The 1970s gay bar and entertainment scene is often referred to as the “golden era” in American gay history. Individual gays in these enclaves were often involved in their respective neighborhood associations and contributed mightily and aesthetically to neighborhood projects. While not exclusively gay, these neighborhoods had the highest concentration of gays at the time. These included SHAKER SQUARE, OHIO CITY, COVENTRY in CLEVELAND HEIGHTS and the Gold Coast in LAKEWOOD. In the 1970s, though, there were four gay enclaves in and around the city. NEIGHBORHOODS. Unlike the Castro District in San Francisco or Boystown in Chicago, Cleveland never had one highly concentrated gay neighborhood.
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This article provides details on various aspects of the community in the critical decade following Stonewall. The 1970s marked an important period in the history of the Gay Community of Cleveland.
GAY BARS BOSTON 1980S MOVIE
The Intermission Lounge and the Scene movie theater in Boston’s Combat Zone, 1970s.GAY COMMUNITY IN THE 1970S. The owner of the Pilgrim Theater, Joe Savino in front of his beloved burlesque club in Boston’s Combat Zone, 1970s.īoston hardcore band SSD posing outside the Scene, a peepshow club in the Combat Zone, early 1980s. The State Theater, the Combat Zone, 1967.Ī theater marquee in the Combat Zone, 1967. The legendary Pilgrim Theater in the Combat Zone, 1970.Ī burlesque dancer outside of a club in the Combat Zone, 1970s. Many of the images from the show as well as others taken during the Zone’s heyday, follow. In 2010, an art exhibit at the Howard Yezerski Gallery showcased photos taken in the Combat Zone from 1969 - 1978. Which is in part why in 1976 The Wall Street Journal dubbed the area a “sexual Disneyland.” In other words, there was something for everyone in the Combat Zone. Specifically, thanks to its “relaxed” approach to adult oriented pursuits, the Combat Zone was also home to a wide variety of drag clubs and gay bars frequented by Boston’s LGBT community.
GAY BARS BOSTON 1980S FULL
Because what could go wrong when a blond teenage girl decides to run through the seediest part of town full of peep shows, dirty book stores, prostitutes and pimps?Īlthough widely considered a place of ill-repute, the Combat Zone’s history is important to Boston for many reasons. I remember one particular night when, after a couple of pots of cold tea, someone dared me to sprint through the Zone alone as fast as I could, which I did. Of course, after a night of youthful boozing, we would occasionally have enough “beer balls” to walk through the red light district of Boston that bordered Chinatown known as the Combat Zone.
GAY BARS BOSTON 1980S CODE
As far as you (and my parents) know, I (mostly) never did anything more than drink said stolen beer under train track bridges while underage.īut when it came to a right of passage in Boston, if you were a late teen or mostly of legal drinking age in the late 80s, you hit up Boston’s Chinatown after last call to eat food full of MSG and drink “cold tea.” In Boston, (and perhaps where you grew up, too), “cold tea” was code for “beer” (usually flat) that you could order slightly before or after closing time that was served up in white teapots in certain restaurants in Chinatown. I ran with a crowd that was comprised of teenage losers that enjoyed passing the time stealing beer from delivery trucks. And like pretty much like any other teenager, I worked quite hard at the craft of getting into trouble as often as possible.
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I grew up in a small town just outside of Boston called Somerville. The Naked i Cabaret in Boston’s old “Combat Zone.”