In New York, the Jewish deli - a staple of the city's identity - has all but vanished.
As gay bars vanish, so go bookstores, diners, and all kinds of spaces that once allowed "blissful public congregation," as sociologist Ray Oldenburg described their function in his 1989 book "The Great Good Place." The disappearance of places like Buddies and Chaps may sound like a problem limited to gay men, but it is part of a much larger trend reshaping American cities. (Lesbian bars were never numerous to begin with.) The gay population may have political clout and the right to marry in Massachusetts, but it has fewer and fewer public spaces to call its own. None of the bars I've mentioned are still in business, and most of the city's seven remaining gay-every-night bars have sparse customers for most of the week. Today, that number has been cut to less than half. In all, there were 16 gay bars in Boston and Cambridge, according to Pink Pages directories from 19. In other parts of town, there were Sporters, a friendly Beacon Hill dive, and Playland, a Combat Zone bar known for its sketchy clientele, banged-up piano, and year-round Christmas lights. A few blocks away, Luxor was a video bar for younger guys nearby were Buddies (all ages) and Chaps, a dance club where dressing conservatively meant keeping your shirt on.
The Napoleon Club was a piano bar near Park Square that attracted theater students and older men who left big tips on small glasses of red wine. Some of us needed to walk around the block four or five times before finally pushing open a dimly lit, unmarked door.Īt the time, there were plenty of dimly lit doors in Boston. This was not so unusual in the early 1990s, when few gay men identified as such before they left high school. caviar service) to the simple (spicy chili potato chips).THE FIRST THING I ever did to identify myself as a gay man - before coming out to a friend or relative, before putting a rainbow-flag pin on my jacket - was to walk into a gay bar. Either way, guests can sip their way through their experience alongside a number of tasty bar snacks, ranging from the sophisticated (i.e. Meanwhile, more experienced connoisseurs can dive even deeper into the sake realm and splurge on a bottle from Koji’s reserve list. Novices can dip their toes into this Far Eastern drink category by asking any of the enthusiastic staff members for guidance or by attending one of its ticketed tastings on Sundays. The bar features a menu filled with dozens of types of sake spanning the entirety of this rice-based beverage genre either by the glass, cup or variously sized bottles. Opening its doors at the Charles River Speedway in February 2022, this joint is dedicated to introducing the wide-and, at times, elusive-world of sake to Boston consumers in an approachable manner, allowing them to embrace and celebrate this lesser-known Japanese spirit in a safe learning environment. What started as a virtual tasting experience, The Koji Club has since blossomed into a full-fledged sake bar in Brighton.