Four years later, Annette Strauss ran for mayor of Dallas, actively courting the gay community she won. Taking a page from Harvey Milk’s playbook, community activist Bill Nelson ran for Dallas city council in 1985 in an open seat, advertising his candidacy in the Voice. The street name, near the notorious Randol Mill Park where the city launched a crackdown on lewd behavior and indecent exposure, has made residents the butt of jokes, they said." "The Arlington City Council, bowing to pressure from red-faced residents of Gaywood Street, changed the street name to Garden Oaks Drive.Twenty-five years later, Club Dallas still advertises its gym and summer cookouts - also with sexy men. One of Dallas Voice’s first advertisers was Club Dallas (then known as Club Body Center Dallas), which used sexy, shirtless men to promote its gym and Sunday barbecue. … Gay clubs, from Cedar Springs to Mockingbird Lane to Fort Worth, include the Snake Pit, Bentley’s, Tarrant County Mining Company, High Country, Contemporary Country, 4001, The Unicorn, Tex’s Ranch and Lifter’s. "Phyllis Diller at the Majestic" is the cover story.Advertisers in the first issue include Club Dallas, the Hidden Door, the Hideaway (which celebrates its one-year anniversary), Throckmorton Mining Company, Crews Inn and the Turtle Creek Chorale moustaches abound.
GAY BARS DALLAS TEXAS FULL
On the following Friday, May 11, Dallas Voice begins full publication of its newspaper out of offices on Oak Lawn early on, the paper is folded and released in two sections.
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Here is a snapshot, year by year, of the lifestyles stories - of the images and subjects and even advertisements - that the Dallas Voice has reported on, or which have been contained within the pages of the paper for 25 years. Still, there have been many constants over the years: Bars that have survived everything from the AIDS crisis to the smoking ban groups that have continued to perform (like the Turtle Creek Chorale) that contrast with those that haven’t (Theatre Gemini) local notables who have aged and grown with the city. When the newspaper was started, tentpoles of the culture that made up most of the advertising were "the Three Bs: Bars, baths and bookstores." You didn’t see ads for car dealerships, straight political candidates or Frito-Lay.įrom the names of the clubs to the people and groups that entertained us and the institutions that provided the support, comfort and social background for our lives, Dallas has been a lively and tranformative city. While I might be out of my personal element, on a Monday night, with Dallas playing the Saints, my two visits were very good, and OH, those Popcorn Shrimp.Dallas’ gay culture - and the cultural life of gay Dallas - has evolved over the years as much as the Dallas Voice itself. My bartender from my first visit, was not on duty the second day, but passed through the restaurant, and stopped to check on me, and to tell the bartender on-duty, that I was a “troublesome customer.” LOL. My service was very good, and very friendly. Lots of sports memorabilia (all relating to Dallas, if I saw everything), but that is to be expected. I can imagine what it must be like, with some important game on the various TV’s scattered about the entire restaurant. Now, Draft, as per its name (double meaning, as in “draft beer,” but also “sports team draft”), wine is not the strength.īoth of my visits were during lunch, and Draft was relatively quite.
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The shrimp, however were, and on my second visit, I went with the “Popcorn Shrimp,” which were excellent.
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They were OK, but the sauce was not to my liking. I was quickly served, and looked over the bar-bites menu, settling on the Shrimp Tacos. I was familiar with most of the offerings, and especially as I had already spent time at another lobby bar, at the opposite end of the property. I found the wine list, and read over that – it did not take long. I passed it by, at that moment, but returned a bit later, and then returned the next day.ĭraft is a largish space, with a full bar at one end, with seating, then two not quite separate seating areas, and then another small bar, which I did not see operational. As soon as I walked past Draft Media Sports Lounge (known simply as Draft), in the lobby of the Dallas Sheraton hotel, just as the doors were opened, I knew that it was a “sports bar.” If all of the TV’s had not told the tale, the sports memorabilia adorning almost all the wall space did.