Larry Gray, the Turf Club’s longtime owner, has said Hayward’s gay bar scene was founded by closeted gay sailors from Alameda Naval Base looking for a safe place to meet other men. The owners who sold Club Rumor to Pepperell were unable to be located for comment. No one has easy answers to why Hayward’s once-thriving gay bar scene slowly dropped off into oblivion. “Business has picked up over here,” said David Munoz, a Turf Club bartender for 10 years. Others have merely migrated across the street to the Turf Club, the only gay bar left downtown. “What I hear is a lot of the gay clientele is going to (San Francisco). Pepperell, who was formerly Uncle Roy’s head bartender, said she is not sure where people are going now. When the Spoiled Brat closed, local customers still had about a half-dozen other downtown gay bars to frequent. Though under different management, the bar still sports his name. In turn, gays left the club, jocks and police officers moved in and it became better known as a “cop bar” until Tamez stopped working there about six years ago. “Uncle Roy may be happy, but he’s not gay,” Tamez declared in December 1993.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |