Lucas Hilderbrand offers a panoramic history of gay bars in the United States, demonstrating the central roles that bars have played in queer public life across the country.

Preface. Drunk History, or I Just Wanna Hear a Good Beat  xiii
Acknowledgments. I Feel Love/Can’t Get You Out of My Head  xxi
Introduction. We Were Never Being Boring  1
Part I. Cultures
1. Nights in Black Leather: Inventing a Bar Culture in Chicago  37
Interlude 1. Triangle Lounge in Denver  62
2. Show Me Love: Female Impersonation and Drag in Kansas City  68
Interlude 2. Safe Spaces in Detroit  94
Part II. Politics
3. Somewhere There’s a Place for Us: Urban Renewal, Gentrification, and Class Conflicts in Boston  101
Interlude 3. Seattle Counseling Service  124
4. Midtown Goddam: Discrimination, Coalition, and Community in Atlanta  127
Interlude 4. Gay Switchboard in Philadelphia  151
Part III. Institutions
5. Welcome to the Pleasuredome: Legends of Sex and Dancing in New York  157
Interlude 5. The Saloon in Minneapolis  192
6. Proud Mary’s: An Institution in Houston  198
Interlude 6. The Main Club in Superior, WI  220
Part IV. Reinventions
7. Further Tales of the City: Queer Parties in Post-disco San Francisco  227
Interlude 7. The Casa Nova in Somerset County, PA  255
8. Donde Todo es Diferente: Queer Latinx Nightlife in Los Angeles / Researched and Written with Dan Bustillo  260
Interlude 8. Mable Peabody’s Beauty Parlor and Chainsaw Repair in Denton, TX  289
Epilogue. After Hours: Pulse in Orlando  294
Appendix 1. Selected Bars and Clubs  303
Appendix 2. LGBTQ+ Periodicals  313
Notes  317
Bibliography  395
Index  425