It’s a moving moment to stand drinking here and realize this single bar’s role in helping bring LGBTQ+ people, and their rights, into the mainstream. Since we only have two gay bars there are other places that the queer community congregates around town. Most of the staffers are old hands-if they weren’t working here in 1969, they have the affable world-weariness that suggests it. The gay bars in Memphis are cozy and close-knit. For the past few years, local craft producer The Brooklyn Brewery has donated a portion of the profits from the Stonewall Inn IPA served here to the bar’s charitable arm. The Manor, a restaurant, ultra lounge and nightclub, is one of the top stops for those seeking a classy gay club.
There’s a mix of longtime locals sipping cheap beer and pilgrimaging tourists, keen to see this iconic site for themselves.ĭrinks are unfussy and mainstream-order a vodka-soda to sound like a regular. Crocker Bar 2312 Crocker St Houston, TX 77006 (713) 529-3355 Visit Website Crocker Bar is a dark, loud, but inviting little bar that serves as the perfect place to grab a drink before venturing out. Though the site is a designated national monument, the Stonewall Inn operating now has no connection with the previous, namesake tenant that shuttered not long after the riots the current iteration, which retains the same façade, opened in 1990. Those riots kickstarted the LGBTQ+ rights movement in America, and beyond. The most famous gay bar in the world, Stonewall gave its name to the riots in June 1969, which took place just outside this nondescript drinking den after it was raided by the police in the early hours of the morning.
What do I need to know before I even walk in?