Boyztown 12:35 a.m. • Saturday, Oct. 19
e Just as Sophie Harlow is getting a birthday lap dance from one of the hunky dancers, Nic Redavid, a friend from Fort Collins, walks through the front door at Boyztown. He, his fiancée and friends were supposed to see Pink in concert. The pop singer might have canceled on Denver, but Redavid and Co. didn’t. “The atmosphere in Denver is more of a production,” Redavid said, comparing the metropolitan scene to that of his rural college town. “I feel more judged in Denver.” Not that it ever stopped him from tearing up either town in his early 20s. (He’s on a first name basis with the bartender at Boyztown.) I first met Redavid when we were both 21. We shared the same social circle along the Front Range. Now approaching 30, Redavid is spending more time in Fort Collins. “Fort Collins is becoming more accepting,” he said. “Society is changing. We don’t need to segregate ourselves anymore. They’re getting used to seeing me and Adam together.” Earlier in the evening, Boyztown proprietor Randy Long took a deep breath before we began chatting. “I see it,” he said, discussing the sea change in attitudes toward the LGBT community and the potential impact on his business and that of his colleagues. But the tide hasn’t come in all the way. “We can pass all the laws we want, but we can’t pass laws to change people’s minds.” He cites an article he found online about major brands that have donated to anti-LGBT causes and are far from inclusive in their own corporate policies. He, too, references the recent Denver man who was a victim of a hate crime during the Labor Day Weekend. “He was leaving a straight establishment,” Long emphasizes. Of all the managers and owners I interviewed, Long is the most stead-
fast and sure of his business. While he concedes a little ground, he believes most of the gay bars which have closed in the past decade have either been due to poor management or due to the natural order of business. “Sometimes we try to make our business model more complicated,” Long said. His recipe is the same today as it was when he opened in 2005: a safe, welcoming and respectful place for all walks of life. “Gay bars will always be around,” he said. “We might have the freedom to go where we want, but not the freedom to act gay.” Inside I meet a tourist from Austin, Texas. He won’t share his real name because he’s in the “public eye.” But it’s his eyes that won’t stop looking at the man ripping his clothes off on stage. “When you do this, here (at a gay bar), it’s for real. Online is bullshit.”
Li’l Devils 10:45 p.m. • Friday, Oct. 18
e Tony Fleith, owner and manager of Li’l Devils, is behind the bar fixing cocktails when I arrive. One of Denver’s newest gay bars, it opened in the South Broadway space vacated by The Barker Lounge, another gay bar that relocated to Santa Fe Drive, Dec. 28, 2012. Fleith is no stranger to the bar business — gay or straight. He has a following 20 years in making. He’s tended bar at some of the aforementioned establishments, in LoDo and at hotels across the city. “I don’t know if there is enough of the right type of gay bar,” Fleith said. Like many of the other managers I spoke with, Fleith is trying to figure out the right formula. But for now, he’s seeing success in what he calls an upscale neighborhood bar. “We’re heading in the right direction,” he said. Knowledgeable bartenders, a
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NOVEMBER 6, 2013
COVER STORY
Boyztown “The scene is changing,” Conerly friendly staff and an open atmosphere is part of Fleith’s business. said. “It’s more accepting, there’s And while Fleith hopes to capi- more mixing.” He’s talking about gays and talize on his location — south of Downtown and north of Interstate straights co-mingling, as much as he is talking about sub25 — he’s also open identities of the exto considering his pansive LGBT combar, and other gay “The gay bars munity inhabiting bars, as destina(of the past) ran their the same space. tions rather than course. Those bars did There are fewer regular haunts. not provide what the niche gay bars then “The gay bars (of gay community wants. before, he said. the past) ran their Only a decade course. Those bars We have to give the gay person a reason ago the city’s social did not provide to come back.” scene was divided what the gay comamong bars for munity wants. We particular types have to give the gay of men and women based on aesperson a reason to come back.” Li’l Devils served both functions thetic and personal tastes. Jr.’s was this evening — convenience and for the professionals. The leather destination — for Ben Slingsby, crowd cruised at The Triangle. Drag who lives near the Tech Center. He queens dominated the stage at BJ’s. and a friend stopped in for a drink But all three are gone now, closed upon managements’ request. after a visit to a haunted house. As for Rodriguez, who has spent more time traveling the world Black Crown than he has in Denver, there aren’t 10:05 p.m. • Friday, Oct. 18 enough options to exercise his social e Less than 24 hours earlier, skills. He believes as Denver continBlack Crown patrons Drew Conerly ues to grow — its becoming one of and Yulio Rodriguez had been the most popular cities among milsurrounded by men in revealing lennials — there will be a greater jock straps and the most fashion- demand for trendy gay bars. “I’d like to see another bar able underwear of the day at The Eagle for underwear night. Tonight similar to X Bar,” he said in his partthey’re surrounded by an equally Cuban, part-British accent. striking — yet startlingly different — ambiance. Owned and operated Blush & Blu by Mark Cameron, a fixture in gay 9:33 p.m. • Friday, Oct. 18 Denver’s social scene for decades, Black Crown is not your grand- e As far as location goes, there was father’s piano bar. Right at home only one option for Miriam Hegler’s among shops in the South Broadway to celebrate her birthday: the bar District, Black Crown serves a clien- at Colfax Avenue and Franklin. tele equal parts gay, straight and Blush & Blu was the only option, antique collector. not because there is no other bar Conerly and Rodriguez are there that specializes in accommodating for a friend’s going away party. In lesbians in Denver, but because for another room is a jazz band. Sitting Hegler and her partner Adriana next to the ensemble is a pair of Feil, Blush is their “Cheers.” transgender women. Upstairs a “I’m most comfortable here,” party of eight — we assume het- Hegler tells me as Feil fawns over erosexual — is celebrating a gothic the last minute details of the party. birthday fit for a zombie. e Continued on Page 20
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