Your favorite gay or gay friendly restaurant hangouts

Big Cup…before 8th Avenue had a nervous breakdown

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.

The Golden Bull on Channel in Santa Monica.

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

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

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

Also, Park Pantry, in the Long Beach gayborhood.

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.

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

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

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.

[quote]Is the Melrose still around?

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

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

The "Big Egg", R11?

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

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.

Fedora, West Fourth Street, NYC

It will never be the same.

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.

Boston early 80s

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

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