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. 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.
