She attributes Sue Ellen’s enduring popularity to its unique role within the neighborhood. Jack has been at the helm since the bar opened 32 years ago. It made my heart very happy to see that many people wanting to get back in here.” “What we got was a line around the block. “We expected maybe 200 or 250 people to walk through the doors,” Jack said. Kathy Jack, the bar’s longtime manager, swung the doors open again in June. Sue Ellen’s closed during the pandemic, along with most of Oak Lawn. Kathy Jack, Sue Ellen’s longtime manager, said the Dallas bar is like a second home.Īcross the corner from that string of bars on Cedar Springs Road is Dallas’ only lesbian bar, one of about two dozen left in the country. If you just want to have a beer on the patio, there’s the Cedar Springs Taphouse or TMC.” “It’s hard to beat the drag shows at Round-Up because of the huge variety of cast members,” said Dennis Jansen, an Oak Lawn resident and LGBTQ nightlife blogger. Long the center of LGBTQ life in Dallas, the “Gayborhood” is home to the city’s most popular gay bars. “Knew everybody here by name and was always forever asking about everybody.”īargoers will find this sense of kinship in gay and lesbian bars all over North Texas, but nowhere is it as deeply rooted as it is in Oak Lawn. “She really got enveloped in the community,” he said.
He said her death from breast cancer in December was felt deeply by patrons. Haynes and his grandmother played poker at 1851 every Monday. “Grandma would have been devastated if she knew that this place was closing.” “That actually signified the last place that she and I ever sat down and played a hand of poker together,” Haynes said. And a glittering chandelier in the corner of the bar commemorates the woman who inspired Haynes to buy the club in February. A new lighting rig is a welcome change for the drag queens who perform here on the weekends. There’s fresh, charcoal-colored paint and glowing neon signs on the walls of 1851 Club. Haynes has spent the better half of 2021 renovating his piece of Arlington’s LGBTQ history. “They have a lot of work to do before trans people and people of color feel safe and included,” said Katie Hicken Langlinais in her survey response.ĭespite evidence suggesting gay and lesbian bars are becoming outdated, the operators and patrons of establishments in North Texas say they remain vital hubs of community and culture. Several survey respondents said gay bars, which have historically catered to white and cisgender gay men, need to draw in a more diverse audience in order to survive. Now Texas, along with the rest of the country, is dealing with another frightening coronavirus surge due to the delta variant. Mainstays in Dallas like Zippers shuttered permanently in May 2020, a few months after COVID-19 shut down businesses nationwide. Denton’s only gay bar, Mable Peabody’s Beauty Parlor and Chainsaw Repair, closed in 2017. North Texas has seen its own share of closures. A 2020 report out of Oberlin College found as many as 37% of gay and lesbian bars in the U.S.
That could spell trouble for establishments built for a bygone era. With dating moving online and bargoers feeling more comfortable outside of queer spaces, gay bars are facing stiffer competition. It really opened my eyes and made me feel relief and excited for my future.”Ĭultural mores are evolving though. I had grown up thinking I was the only one who felt this way.
“I felt free and excited to be around so many people that were all just like me. “It was amazing,” said Darin Holland in the survey. The survey was shared via social media and 94% of respondents said they are part of the LGBTQ community. Nearly every respondent said their first time visiting a gay bar was an important milestone.
More than 140 people responded to an informal online survey conducted by KERA and The Dallas Morning News about what these establishments have meant to them. The Stonewall Inn in 1969 famously helped usher in the gay liberation movement in the United States, but gay and lesbian bars closer to home have also served as the backdrop to the personal histories of queer North Texans. Watering holes like the 1851 Club have long been precious mainstays of queer life. “There was no question in my mind,” he said. Haynes, once a longtime customer, said he bought the Arlington bar in memory of her. 1851 Club owner Dalton Haynes next to the plaque honoring his grandmother.