As I remember there was a few rather small Black Gay Bars pre-disco but I don't recall their names."
Off 8th!!!!! Often the Key Club to hear Jazz, Jimmy Scott, Sarah Vaughan etc. The Four Leaf Deli and Bar, a small bar just off the 100 block of South 8th St., also on Central Ave. There was a very comfortable mixing of gay and straight Jersey folk. There was plenty of activity going on in Newark, but you know people were just hiding out even from each other." Appears to have changed name to Gemini Lounge, as listed in 1968 Damron Guide disappears from 1971 guide.įour Leaf Deli and Bar: writes Archbishop Carl Bean, Prelate-Unity Fellowship Church Movement and singer of the 1977 disco hit "I Was Born This Way": "My history in Newark as an Alex Bradford Singer and openly gay man is: Alex hung out in neighborhood bars and therefore so did we. And there wasn't much activity that I was seeing, it was mostly people sitting there having a drink. It was like, the activity took place around the bar.
And all I remember about it was that when you walked in, the bar took up the whole place.
It was on the other side of Broad Street from Washington Park and Military Park … There was a little side, a smaller back street … And it was downtown. Skippy's Hideaway, 97 Edison Place: Arnie Kantrowitz recalls visiting around 1961: "I don't remember the name of the street. The Jewel Box Revue returns periodically to Newark, and a 1968 "unlimited engagement" is held at RKO Proctor's Theatre downtown.īoston Plaza: in mid-1940s vocalist and female impersonator Willie Dukes is a top draw here, on Boston Street.īlack's Tavern, "Where Old Timers Meet" according to ad in April 1951 Hours After is this the same Phil Black who identified as a female impersonator in his business card that can be seen here? Mosque Theater: straight club, but occasional host to the Jewel Box Revue, traveling troupe of female impersonators that began in 1939. It also mentions he performed at every top club in the east. According to Reese LaRue's obituary, August 8, 1985, in the New Jersey Afro American, he had "exciting solo dance routines at the Kinney Club, Villa Maurice, Dodgers Grill, Pasadena Club and many others." The October 1949 After Hours mentions that LaRue's career began when he won an amateur contest at the Rivoli Theatre at the age of fourteen. Kinney Club was "the hub of Newark's sporting life," with racially mixed audience, pimps, prostitutes, gamblers, etc. Kinney Club, where "exotic dancer" Reese LaRue performed such shows as Gay Paree. We would love further input-if you have updates, photographs, corrections, are willing to be interviewed, or have any information whatsoever to share, please contact Whitney Strub ( and/or Beryl Satter ( This project depends on community input, and ANY suggestions will be very appreciated! PLEASE NOTE: This is a provisional working document. Preliminary Timeline: History of Queer Club Spaces in Newark (PDF)