Attention Southern Californians
Please ping me with any Southern California related articles. Thank you!
If you want on or off this ping list, please FReepmail me.
Posted on 01/11/2018 3:11:19 PM PST by EveningStar
It was bingo night at Main Street Bar & Cabaret, Laguna Beach’s last gay club. Techno music chugged; strobe lights blinked. The game’s caller – a redhead drag queen named Endora – fussed softly over the prizes, like an ikebana master arranging her flowers. But half an hour past the scheduled start time, patrons had yet to arrive. Endora sat at the bar and ordered a cocktail.
In walked Craig Cooley, the bar manager for more than a year. “Where is everybody?” he asked, collapsing on a stool next to Endora. As usual, he seemed out of breath. Little wonder.
Gay bars around the nation have been disappearing, a trend attributed to greater social acceptance of gays, changing economic forces and evolving technology. Laguna Beach, in particular, has had many obituaries written for its once-thriving gay scene. Iconic establishments closed. Skyrocketing real estate prices have kept young gays out of the city and led a number of established gay residents to cash out and move to other cities, such as Palm Springs.
Against such odds, Cooley has made it his mission to revive this tiny dive bar off Coast Highway. He removed the privacy blinds on the windows. Pulled up the carpet coated in decades of spilled drinks. Installed a new sound system. Brought back dancing, karaoke and drag queen bingo nights.
All that hustling to breathe life into Main Street may have been the easy part. Now Cooley has to see whether these improvements will pay off – whether gays still want a place to call their own. Whether a tiny gay bar in Laguna Beach can still thrive.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Please ping me with any Southern California related articles. Thank you!
If you want on or off this ping list, please FReepmail me.
The whole world has become their gay pickup area with the new gay “dating” apps.
Now its easier to catch HIV than ever.
Why would young homos be deterred by expense from city living any more than young normal people?
it’s not, but in California, between airbnb, nimbyism choking housing supply, families deciding to stay in urban areas to raise their kids vs. move to the suburbs, and the tech boom, most young people are getting squeezed out of urban areas they would have moved to 20 or 30 years ago.
Not to mention the control of education by screaming Leftists. The consequent impact on education is to drive white pupils out of the too dangerous schools.
With all the talk of the danger of “bullying” lets see those concerned take on the ultimate bullies-the gangs. No chance of that.
Is there anything sadder than an old queen calling out bingo numbers in an empty homosexual bar?
Yes: any atheist.
And other fluids, no doubt.
maybe it was better when Laguna was overrun by the Hare Krishnas
way back when
The pick-up bars, and pick-up lines, have gone online. More to be had, and better pickings, and more diverse, and done “privately” when all parties agree. And, less expensive.
Pulled up the carpet coated in decades of spilled drinks.
= = =
Don’t turn them over to Abby.
It’s funny. They used their media and judges to bully their way into forcing their agenda on people, and now apparently long for the old struggles. Nobody cares and nobody pays attention.
My dad was called back into the Marines...to train Marines going to Korea...
My parents loved that Apt....
My screen name,which I've had since just after a key Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling,is a play on the state's official nickname "The Bay State".I first heard it on the Howie Carr Show,Howie being a great Boston columnist and talk host.
Howie is one of the good ones. Nice play on words for screen names!
Hey, why are those bar stools upside-down in that picture?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.