There has been a lot of talk and criticism of gay bars having straight nights. In particular, I'm talking about Menjo's and Backstreet. Certain bars have their busy nights. Thursday at Menjo's has been a busy night for decades. Backstreet has always had Saturdays. Both bars, under various owners have tried to get a second busy gay night without much success. With the internet, Gindr, exodus of gay people from Detroit, the gay bar business is tough.
I hear people complaining that "Oh my gosh, they have a straight night" on a night when no gay people were going to that bar anyway. People expect these bars to just sit empty six nights a week? You can't pay the bills on one busy night. I love both of these bars and want to continue to go to my fun Thursdays at Menjo's and my fun Saturdays at Backstreet. The simple fact is, neither bar can serve us on our favorite nights without having some other business on nights when we are not there. This will be true no matter who owns or manages them now or in the future.
If you owned either one of these bars would you let them sit empty six nights a week? Necto has had a mix of gay/straight nights for decades and nobody complains about that. I remember when Temple in Ferndale which was owned by the boys from Pronto had a straight night, some people got all in a tissy and swore they would stop going there. We are not Chicago, we are Detroit, the gay community is just not large enough right now to keep gay bars busy seven nights a week. I love both of these bars, they hold many fond memories for me and I want to see them both continue and thrive. There has been a lot of drama regarding Backstreet in the last few days, hopefully they can settle their differences in court and not in public.
I like a good dance bar, both are good dance bars. If we begrudge either one for having straight nights when we are not there anyway, they both would go out of business and we would have no place to go to.
People say "Detroit sucks, I'm moving away" or "The scene in Detroit sucks, I'm staying home" You want Detroit to be fun like Chicago? Stop staying home and go out! If people stopped complaining and went out, the bars would be a lot more fun. Turn your damn Grindr off with the fake blurry picture and meet humans in the flesh. As far as the bars go, they need to give us a reason to go, like good dance music which both bars had a long history of. Something that has been lacking at both bars in my humble opinion. You are welcome to disagree with me, comment away....
Sunday, April 22, 2012
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Nice blog, where are your pics from Menjo's last Thursday (4-19-12)?!!!! I'm one of those "straight girls" you talked to and you mentioned the pics would be here. No rush, just reminding you since you took the only decent photo and my gays were just not up to par with the photography. Best of luck to you!!!
ReplyDeletejust a quick word from here in Chicago:
ReplyDeletethe grass isn't always greener on the other side.
also, the comparison is kind of unfair; it's apples and cinder blocks.
on one hand; you have a shell of a city, with sprawl akin to that of Texas, sky high unemployment, rampant crime and, frankly, not a whole lot of quality choices as far as bars (or anything else) go.
on the other, you have city of a few million people. surrounded by a metropolitan area of several million more, much of it affluent, all of it easily accessible by commuter or light rail. also factor in the fact that within the city of Chicago, you can find several dozen colleges and universities (just a few: UofC, NU, UIC, NEIU, SAIC, Columbia), which means that there are hundreds of thousands of college kids, essentially making Chicago a college town that just happens to have the tallest buildings in the hemisphere. in addition, Chicago is a globally-renown tourist destination (and a gay hotspot), Detroit... is decidedly not.
We have Grindr, too.. and it's taken its toll on the bars here. Such is life. And, really, Gaga and Madonna hardly qualify as good dance music... that was the case LONG before I was legal to go out. ;)
Chicago's not perfect-- by any stretch of the imagination-- but if it's not the law enforcement making it a hassle to go out, nor criminals, it's actually the bars themselves that carry much of the burden on their own shoulders. what with the continuous change-ups, infighting and some places just offering a crap product, why wouldn't someone want to stay home curled up next to their grindr or gtfo of the city?
just my .02
-cr
I personally don't think it matters if a bar has gay or straight nights. We don't have gay gas stations or gay grocery stores.. or gay malls... why should a bar, which, inevitably, is a business, that only caters to one demographic? People have to make money.
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to point out that I read someone else's post earlier about this, and they said something along the lines of, FUCK NECTO and BACKSTREET for being STRAIGHT OWNED MAKING A DIME OFF THE GAYS.
I just want to point out that Necto is actually gay owned. The owner loves the gay community and could FOR SURE make more money having the club straight on fridays. He doesn't because he wants to give back to the community.
And if you think he is still making a "pretty dime" off the gay population, why don't you research their yearly contributions to gay charities and student groups at UM? Oh-- and their sponsorship for Equality Michigan and Pride... If I remember correctly, the only BAR sponsors for Pride last year (and every year) were Necto and Gigis.
All of your "precious gay owned bars" who made 1000s of dollars off of pride every year in ferndale never gave one fucking dime to the "community." They don't sponsor ruth ellis events, affirmations, gay charities. They take your money and waste it.
And lastly, to answer another comment I read about "gay bars" not hiring "gay employees..."
We have been trying to FIGHT sexual orientation discrimination for YEARS. How the fuck can we say, "don't discriminate against me because i'm gay, but gay bars can't hire straight workers." Are you serious?
That particular post was directed at Necto. Well guess what. I am about 99% sure that the DJs are gay, and there are three gay bartenders (cuties i might add), and the fucking owner is gay.
You can't have your cake and eat it too people. If you want to talk about who "gives back" to the gay community, then maybe you should stop supporting gay businesses who are there to make money off of you and start supporting some that give back to the community. Shit, you're better off going to a STRAIGHT OWNED business that gives back to our community, because God knows Ice, Backstreet, Menjos, Soho, Pronto, Outpost, Metra, Flame, Hott... all have never given a fucking penny back to anyone. They make money. Off you. The gays.
nicely put.
DeleteI'm sorry, but there is a need for gay bars or gay nights at bars. There is not a gay gas station because I do not need gay gas to make my car run. There is not a gay grocery store because I do not go shopping for gay food. But when I go to a gay bar, I am going to meet a gay man or to meet gay friends. We are a small percentage of the population and so the gay bar does the filtering for you. Try telling a man at a straight bar you think he is attractive and if he is interested in getting together for a date and sooner or later you are going to find yourself in trouble. Gay bars did not come about because of our prejudice towards straight people, but to find a safe zone because of the prejudice towards gay people and despite coming a long ways, much of that bigotry still exists.
DeleteNow, that is not to say a bar must be gay every night of the week. We just have to face the fact we are too small of a population and don't go out enough to support a large club 7 nights a week.
Hi to the guy right above me. I 100% agree and that's what I tried to convey in my post above. I just didn't do it clear enough :)
DeleteI admit I had to leave Detroit, after 20 years, working and a home, lost everything. No one here is addressing the fact that perhaps gay folks like everyone else are staying home because they just cannot afford it. just that simple?
DeleteOr maybe they want to do something else with their money hmmm like pay rent, groceries, oh and Gas for cars to get to said job?
I would have to do more research about the bars you say have given nothing back to the community, but I'm pretty sure Pronto has done a lot for the AIDS walk and other stuff.
ReplyDeleteChris-- I was unable to find non profit records for AIDS walk detroit, so you could be correct. I looked up the Equality Michigan and Motor City Pride ones along with Affirmations and Ruth Ellis. I apologize for not communicating that, and in this case, I would love to be proven wrong.
Delete