The Boy Bar, Splash, Rage — oh, the wonderful world of gay bar names. These three in particular happen to be the scenes of three celebrities’ very first gay bar experiences.
And you never forget your first. When you’re jaded, a bar’s sticky floor might be the feature you remember most, but walking into a gay bar for the first time is a rite of passage, usually marked with conflicting emotions of anxiety, liberation, excitement and perhaps nausea.
Related: Queer Celebs Reveal Their First Gay Bar Experience; So Many Fake I.D.’s
For instance, Andy Cohen‘s first bar for dudes who like dudes was Chaps in Boston. Don Lemon‘s was the Bengal in Baton Rouge. Who knew?!
When Queerty’s Rob Smith was on the red carpet at Logo’s Trailblazers Honors last weekend, he didn’t pass up the opportunity to ask some of the celebrities walking the red carpet about their entry point into the world of gay bars.
Watch below to hear what Carson Kressley, Alex Newell, Candis Cayne, Omar Sharif, Jr., Michael Musto, Joel Grey, and Harvey Fierstein had to say:
He BGB
Mine was the Sweetgum Head in Atlanta at 17 years old, a drag bar that closed many years ago. Then we went to the Cove, which was one tiny room like standing in a trailer. Then Atlanta went through a booming gay bar scene, then AIDS, then the yuppies moved in and they all closed. The hay day was Backstreet, Hollywood Hots, Miss Ps, Bulldogs, Stephens, Texas Drilling Company, Animals, Magic Garden (now Jungle), the Onyx, Mothers, god, so many I can’t remember all the names. My favorite bar in Chicago was Manhandler (is it still there?god they put up with so much crap from me and always welcomed me back) and in San Francisco was that black and white men bar on 18th and Castro, and Los Angles didn’t really have a favorite hangout. I didnt go for the hot guys but for tge friendly bartenders and patrons. My bar days are over thank god
He BGB
Not to mention Cross Keys in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Lady Bunny’s first gay bar experience if I remember correctly.
ErikO
@He BGB: Who cares about Lady Bunny? He/She is the world’s biggest narcissistic. I know this first hand since I met him/her in a club in NYC and she/he got mad when people stopped paying attention to him/her.
Sluggo2007
I had just turned 21 and went to The Pub, a very well known gay bar in New Haven (now gone). I remember being terrified to look from side to side because I didn’t know how to act or what to expect. You have to understand, this was in 1970 and people were still very unaccepting of us way back then, even though it was a year after Stonewall. I stayed for one drink. I was very careful slipping in and out of the bar because I didn’t want to run into anyone I knew.