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Your favorite gay or gay friendly restaurant hangouts

Just read this article that mentioned The Melrose Diner in Chicago....I remember that, Nookies and Clarke's from my Chicago days (mid 90s).

Thought it would be fun to hear your favorite diners/after bar hangouts, whether it's from a small town or from a big city like NYC. Could be a local place or some Denny's that the gurlinas commandeered after the clubs closed.......

I have fond memories of those hangouts with friends almost as much as I have fond memories of the actual clubs and bars themselves, so would love to hear about them - where, when, and who!

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by Anonymousreply 21June 7, 2025 12:01 PM

Big Cup…before 8th Avenue had a nervous breakdown

by Anonymousreply 1June 3, 2025 9:07 PM

I hope they mentioned dear Dottie at The Melrose from the late 1980s and earlier. A real doll, and camp as Christmas to go with her ornament earrings and Kiss My Grits attitude. An original fag hag and a friend to all the queens during the dark times in a gay ghetto.

by Anonymousreply 2June 3, 2025 9:45 PM

The Golden Bull on Channel in Santa Monica.

by Anonymousreply 3June 3, 2025 9:46 PM

Ocean Diner —as gay as you can be, in HB

by Anonymousreply 4June 3, 2025 9:49 PM

Is the Melrose still around? Do they still give you a banana with your meal?

by Anonymousreply 5June 3, 2025 9:49 PM

Erik P, the author of this book, is very very handsome. Happy for his success.

by Anonymousreply 6June 3, 2025 9:54 PM

Also, Park Pantry, in the Long Beach gayborhood.

by Anonymousreply 7June 3, 2025 9:55 PM

R3 My parents loved The Golden Bull. It was one of their favorite places to go "on a date" - minus us kids. I think I only got to go there with them a couple of times when I was an older teenager. A few years later one of my boyfriends would like to stop in at the adjacent gay bar, the S.S. Friendship, which was basically a pickup bar for gay guys who lived in the Canyon and weekend beachgoers at "Ginger Rogers Beach" (Will Rogers State Beach). The Golden Bull still exists. The S.S. Friendship was eventually sold and reopened as Shore Bar, but I guess the owners are gay-friendly enough to rent the place out for gay events with the S.S. Friendship moniker used.

by Anonymousreply 8June 3, 2025 10:16 PM

Before Boston’s South End gentrified, there was Tremont Ice Cream. You’d get to see who wound up with whom on Sunday morning.

by Anonymousreply 9June 3, 2025 10:24 PM

Café de Flore and Le Petit Zinc in the 1980s.

by Anonymousreply 10June 3, 2025 10:31 PM

Speaking of Cleveland (where the author is from) there was an old diner somewhere near Detroit Ave on the West Side, where a lot of the gay bars were, going out towards Lakewood....? But I don't remember the name.

When I lived in Erie there was Taki's, a terrible place that was open only overnights, and we'd fill that up after the club closed, or the Perkins near one of the bars. I still remember a lesbian and a straight guy getting into an argument, whereupon the lesbian got on the table, rolled up her jeans, and said, "You want to talk about a hairy lesbian? Here's your hairy lesbian!"

R5 Sadly the Melrose closed in 2017. In fact, I think Clarkes and Nookies are closed too (not sure). Boystown became Stroller City around that time.

by Anonymousreply 11June 3, 2025 10:39 PM

[quote]Is the Melrose still around?

Nope. Closed almost 8 years ago. It's now Shitified and fancier under a new name and owner.

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by Anonymousreply 12June 5, 2025 3:04 PM

OP, you use of the term "gurlina" is not attractive.

by Anonymousreply 13June 6, 2025 9:47 PM

The "Big Egg", R11?

by Anonymousreply 14June 6, 2025 9:49 PM

In the 70’s in Boston we always either went to Ken’s or the pizza parlor down from Sporters

by Anonymousreply 15June 6, 2025 9:53 PM

Mel's Diner, in Phoenix, AZ. I went there regularly from 1976 -85, so I hope it's still standing. The owner / cook, Mel, was a gruff bear of a man, but had a dainty blonde with big boobs for a girlfriend named 'Marie'.

A cute twink named Tawmy was always hanging around the diner, slyly trying to score guys. Rumor has it he's a pass-around bottom who's usually hanging out near the men's room.

Tawmy's mother, Alice, is the 'star' of the diner. She's rather exhausting, and loves the LGBTQ+ crowd. But sometimes she sporadically sings off-key, so avoid her section.

Vera was a lovable ditz of a waitress. She's a nervous wreck, and rather neurotic, but she loves her gays and gives out extra straws when you order your beverages.

And then there's Flo...or Belle...or Jolene. They keep quitting because they don't get along with Alice. She thinks they're upstaging her - winning more customers to their section. Flo is a sassy Texan hoot who looks like a 70s drag queen, while Jolene (I'm convinced) is indeed a 70s drag queen. Belle looks like the mother of a drag queen.

by Anonymousreply 16June 6, 2025 10:31 PM

Fedora, West Fourth Street, NYC

It will never be the same.

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by Anonymousreply 17June 6, 2025 10:46 PM

In the early 80s we used to go Moon Villa a Chinese place after a night of dancing at the original Buddies. If you tipped the host and ordered cold tea you got beer in the teapots.

by Anonymousreply 18June 7, 2025 2:51 AM

Boston early 80s

by Anonymousreply 19June 7, 2025 2:52 AM

And sit there and drink your “tea” next to a couple of cops drinking their “tea” at 3 am, R18/R19

by Anonymousreply 20June 7, 2025 11:27 AM

r16, don't quit your day job...

by Anonymousreply 21June 7, 2025 12:01 PM
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