Tim Retzloff in his research document, “Historical directory of gay & lesbian bars in metro Detroit. Find gay bars from Gay Clubs Michigan including Detroit and nearby cities. The above map was created by data compiled by historian Dr. Gay Clubs Detroit, Gay Bars Detroit, Gay Bar Detroit, Gay Events Detroit. And Menjo’s Manager Tim McKee says he’s recently noticed a few new businesses and street lights on Six Mile Road. The future of the neighborhood obviously remains to be seen, but as WDET’s Pat Batcheller reported last year, Palmer Park residents are beginning to “see the light.” The actions of a neighborhood group helped bring new street lights on Woodward Avenue and Ponchartrain Boulevard. “I believe that once I live next to my neighbor, and my neighbor is different than I am, I think that’s when walls can be torn down,” says Lipscomb. He recognizes the significance of the area, but says he isn’t actually convinced gay neighborhoods facilitate progress. Curtis Lipscomb is the executive director of LGBT Detroit, the agency that hosts the event. “In some respects there’s still a strong gay presence in Palmer Park, it’s now just an African-American gay presence and not a White gay presence.”įor the past 20 years, the Black gay pride celebration “ Hotter than July” has hosted its annual picnic in Palmer Park. Tim Retzloff, a historian who has tracked the gay migration in Metro Detroit. “I think it would be a mistake to say that Palmer Park is no longer a gay neighborhood,” says Dr. Photo: Menjo’s Complex near Palmer Park on a Thursday afternoon. Although Palmer Park has changed, its remained an active spot for some LGBT activity. He remarks that Madonna, who at one time lived locally, used to dance under it. “This was the actual disco ball that hung in the club when we opened,” says Menjo’s Manager Tim McKee. On the dance floor, between a rainbow flag and a larger-than-life representation of a male organ, there hangs a tattered disco ball. on a recent Thursday, a small crowd has already gathered at Menjos, an iconic gay club that’s been on Six Mile Road near Woodward since the early 1970’s. They moved northward, he says, mostly to Ferndale. “I just turned around one day and it was like everybody was gone, all my friends were gone,” says Piazza. But eventually, he felt the neighborhood change. Piazza remembers eight bars, two gay-friendly bookstores and two restaurants.
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“You took your latest friend, your bathing suit… On a day like today there would be 40 people.” “It was where you went to show off for the season,” Piazza says. Photo: Two men on the “Green Beach” in Palmer Park in the summer of 1980.