Gay bars no one knows about in iowa
The PS Lounge and The Blue Goose
Des Moines Forgotten
By Kristian Day
11/30/2022The second Blue Goose owned by Mel Greenway and Marlus Watson. Photo taken in 1983 by JD Larson
I love the history of gay bars. One of my favorite films is âCruising,â directed by William Friedkin, based on the book by Gerald Walker. Seedy gay bars in the New York Metropolis Underground blasted funk, disco and punk rock until the early hours in the morning. The uniform was Wranglers or Levis topped with leather or flannel. Blue-collar dudes worked hard during the afternoon and then headed out on their motorcycles into the night. Sounds almost romantic.
Des Moines isnât Fresh York City or San Francisco. So, when it comes to our cityâs gay bar history, we often hear only about Blazing Saddles, and rightfully so. The Saddle is a beautiful place with a story that couldnât be 100% told before tomorrowâs sunrise. It opened in 1983 and spent the next four decades becoming the legend that it is today. But there were others before it.
Two bars that not many will remember were The PS Lounge (Peggyâs and Shirleyâs), located on Second Avenue, where the fountain for the Nature Food Prize building
The history of Iowa’s oldest gay bar has been made into a documentary. Here's how to watch
On a standard Friday night at the Blazing Saddle in Des Moines’ East Village, tightly packed bodies crowd around the bar’s main stage, hands poking out from the throng to present cash tips to performersdressed in drag. It’s the Saddle Gurls & Friends show, and once the artists take their ultimate bow (or more commonly, dip into their most impressive split), the spotlights cut and the melody bumps. Bargoers turn the stage into a technicolor dance floor, strong drinks in hand, staying genuine to the bar's motto: "Always a double, never a cover."
The Blazing Saddle is Iowa's oldest operating gay bar. It just celebrated its 40th anniversary. Opened in 1983 by Bob “Mongo” Eikleberry, it’s been referred to as the “Gay Cheers” and has seen Iowa — and the nation — through decades of modify for the LGBTQ population: from the beginning — and end — of Don't Ask, Don't Explain , to the outbreak of the AIDs epidemic, to the legalization of same-sex attracted marriage and the more recent passing and signing of anti-LGBTQ laws in the state.
That history will soon be mutual in the form of a six-episode docuseries, &l
With drag shows every Friday and Saturday, Big Wigs draws big crowds, queer and straight
Big Wigs, Ames’ only gay bar, has been staging drag shows every Friday and Saturday night to large crowds since it opened in October.
Also Ames’ only prevent to cater to the 18 and older crowd – you have to be 21 to drink alcohol, of course – this weekend Big Wigs is celebrating the birthday of its owner Rusty Brammer, whose stage name is Vanessa Taylor.
The drag show starts at 10:30 p.m. Saturday and will feature Iowa's most award-winning showcast, Taylor said. With performers prefer Dominique Cass, Synitha DeMornay-Sanchez, JV Monroe and Lieza Diamond, Big Wigs proposals a lineup every weekend that reflects Taylor’s longevity in the industry and the connections she’s made in the past 20 years.
The venue at 6008 W. Lincoln Way was the location of the Cornucopia and prior to that The Broiler. Taylor took us on a tour of the building earlier this month.
Read about Cornucopia owner's new biz: Marmalade Moon ice cream shop brings unique flavor to Ames' Main StreetThe main bar is in the former retail area of restaurant and present shop of Cornucopia.
“When The Broiler was here, this was the main dining
Opinion: Finding a sheltered queer environment for all of Iowa City
The alley that twists from Dubuque Street past a tall mural of rainbow paint strokes leads to two popular Iowa Capital bars that the local LGBTQ people calls their own: Studio 13 and Gabe’s.
All throughout my college life, this alley has been something like a night portal for me. Studio and Gabe’s were the first bars in Iowa City I found myself in, sipping on drinks and inhaling the energy of students and townies drunk off of song, each other’s body heat, and a messy sense of freedom.
I was uncover about my sexuality as a pansexual woman for the first time in my life. These two bars welcomed me — not only into these corners of the Iowa City evening scene but to Iowa City itself. While both welcomed me as a young queer person, Gabe’s is the place I perceive most comfortable.
To launch, these two bars have completely other origins. Studio has been an established gay night club for those ages 19 and older with the glamor and noise of drag shows, dancing, and celebrating Self-acceptance for more than 10 years. Gabe’s has been a gruff, red-tinted music-scene bar since the ‘70s, with a damp beer garden tucked between aged brick walls i
This article is part one in a three-part series from Adria Carpenter exploring the history of HIV/AIDS activism in Iowa City. Part two and three will be published in the weeks to come.
In the early 1980s, Rev. John Harper was a fresh-faced graduate student at the University of Iowa and a semi-active member of the Gay People’s Union.
He’d heard about some disease affecting lgbtq+ men in Modern York and San Francisco. He started being more alert, though he doubted whatever it was would spread as far as Iowa.
But by June 1983, Iowa’s first case of HIV/AIDS was reported in Des Moines, and when it finally strike Iowa City, the disease multiplied fast.
“There was a period of time when probably a dozen or more people I knew in Iowa City died pretty quickly,” Harper said.
This article is the first in a three-part series that will document how AIDS changed the LGBTQ group in Iowa Capital. The second and third parts will be published online in the lead-up to Pride Month, June 2023.
This first installment will cover the ’60s and ’70s, focusing on the gay and lesbian communities, and their occasionally competing interests.
The second article will show the beginnings of HIV/AIDS in the