Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Barrel Bar (Gay Bar)

Barrel Bar was located on Monroe St in Detroit. Ca. 1950's. Share you stories about this place in the comments section. *See Credits.

2 comments:

  1. Are you talking about the Famous Barrel bar? It was on the Monroe block (Monroe between Woodward and Farmer) of Civil War era buildings that were torn down by the city in 1990. It was patronized almost entirely by men, but it wasn't a gay bar to my knowledge, although it was near the gay center of Detroit in the '50s and '60s at Farmer & Bates. I was in there a couple of times in the '70s and it was an alky/derelict/drug addict bar by then. Beautiful old fixtures in a huge room populated with men who ranged from pathetic to terrifying.

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  2. The Barrel was the place to find rough men. A lot a former prison inmates hung out here. In the 70's, it was the "place" to get Black Macho Men. Hard lookin' drag queens hung out there, also.

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