Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The Eagle Bar - Detroit, Michigan (Gay Bar)

 
The Eagle (Still open) is located at 1501 Holden in Detroit. The Eagle is a leather/fetish bar. I'm not sure what year it opened? I did go there once in the 80's and it wasn't my thing! I did go back once in 2008 and it was a slow night. If you have any stories about the Eagle, please post them!

http://www.detroiteagle.com/
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Posted by Chris H at 3:43 AM

13 comments:

  1. NoelinmichSeptember 18, 2009 at 3:34 PM

    Well, before the place was the Eagle, it was called the Interchange. That was a fun place too. What is now the coat check and exit to the patio used to be the "Girl's Room" aka the back room. History was made there several times.

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  2. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2010 at 6:53 PM

    What is now the upstairs bar used to be a club room for the various leather clubs that met there when it was called the Interchange. I remember a fire pole that ran from the club room upstairs to the dance floor downstairs. I also have some vivid memories of the infamous "back room", long before the AIDS epidemic hit. It was definitely a by-product of the sexual freedom that we had at that time. Back then, about the worst thing you had to worry about was a case of the crabs - so much has changed since. I think back to all of the men that hung out there in the late 70's - early 80's and wonder how many are now gone :( It was a different time & place!

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  3. AnonymousMarch 9, 2010 at 2:37 PM

    The Eagle used to a hot gathering spot on Saturday nights up until just a few years ago. The last time I went there were maybe 10 people there on a Saturday. Another casualty of the internet meeting venue, I guess. How boring.

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  4. AnonymousJuly 10, 2010 at 4:33 AM

    Yes,the Interchange in the 1980's was the place to go. There was "Turner" who would go around the bar on roller skates and take drink orders. Turner was not his real name, but that was the name on the front of the hard hat that he wore. Then, of course, Irene would come in on occasion dripping in leather with her boa constrictor snake wrapped around her shoulders. It was also the home bar for several clubs, including Tribe which would do a fantastic Do-A-Fool event there, and their Sunday brunch at the end of the run was just over-the-top. The Roadmasters bike club also hung their colors there. Sad to say they have since disappeared.

    Some may also remember that prior to the Interchange, the leather crowd hung out for a while downstairs at Gigis.

    Yes, those were the fun days.

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  5. AnonymousJuly 10, 2010 at 4:50 AM

    The big special events at the Interchange in the 1970's and early 1980's were truly memorable. My favorite was the Slave Auction held around Thanksgiving every year. It ran for several years until some do-gooders likened it to real slave auctions of the 1800's and it had to be shut down.

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  6. AnonymousJuly 10, 2010 at 5:06 AM

    The Interchange was so popular in the 1970's and early 1980's that we seldom referred to it as the Interchange...prefering the shorter "IC" reference.

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  7. AnonymousJuly 12, 2010 at 11:03 AM

    Sad to inform that The Detroit Eagle closed it's doors on July 10, 2010 after a VERY sucessful last night. Many people came out to say goodbye to a place which held so many lasting memories.

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  8. AnonymousOctober 8, 2010 at 2:46 PM

    I am so sad to hear of the Eagle closing. It really is a shame how Detroit Gay Community has really gone downhill! I remember walking down Woodward and hitting several bars and being totally intoxicated by the time we hit the 3rd! Wow..It really is a shame that the younger generation can't experience the FUN we had many years ago!

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  9. AnonymousMay 15, 2011 at 6:24 PM

    I agree it is sad the Eagle has closed. My husbear and I met there in 1984 when it was the IC. He walked up to me and asked If I wanted to go home and F--K. I said sure. Been together since.

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  10. AnonymousFebruary 9, 2012 at 7:51 PM

    My story starts in the early 80's. I met a guy at the Terrace Bar. After a few drinks we wound up in the rest room. Just them some guy said he was a cop and wanted to arrest us. I pushed my date out of the rest room to freedom & I stayed to face the music. Nothing happened. Years later I saw my date at the Eagle. Before I could say anything he said he had a lover. I respect lovers but I should have asked for his number as a friend. Dear date are you still out there?

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  11. David Van NolfAugust 23, 2019 at 11:54 PM

    One night I was at the Interchange with a friend when the Bar closed we were the last to leave . We got out the door and my friend Jimmy was shot 3 times and Died just outside the door and I was shot Twice . It was always a great place .

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  12. Concrete FiremanMay 9, 2021 at 5:29 PM

    WOW!!! What could I say about The Eagle!! I went through a metamorphosis back in the mid 80’s. Started off as a vanilla Twink after coming out around age 20 in 1983 frequenting the big Detroit gay dance clubs. I started finding myself when I was about 22 and my niche where I fit in the gay community. I lived in Ann Arbor and drove to Detroit twice every weekend to go to the bars. I heard about The Eagle and the type of crowd which greatly intrigued me. I remember dressing in Levis 501s, a flannel shirt and work boots going alone for the first time. I was the fresh meat on the rack!! but I never felt so welcomed. It was a totally different genre of men and not the club twinks I was so accustomed too from the Backstreet and Menjos crowd. This was Men!! that were nice, enjoyed conversation and knew what they wanted and how to get it. The whole leather scene spoke a new language to me that I totally understood, gravitated too and was SO ME!! I found myself. I was particularly attracted to military uniforms. I had met a super hot guy that was into military, dated him awhile and I was hooked. I soon found myself going to The Eagle in full battle dress camoflouge gear in the late 80’s... 87-89. I had quickly made many friends and many of the older leathermen took me under their wings teaching me “The Old Guard” within the leather community. I did buy and wear my share of leather too. Some friends wanted me to compete for Detroit Drummer but I chickened out last minute. I soon became the dominant top dropping guys to do pushups on the dance floor or side area behind the bar. There was an upstairs that overlooked the bar but in them days there was no back rooms anymore. The AIDS epidemic was rampant, people were scared and the bar made sure everyone “behaved” themselves. “Put it away boys!!!” I often would hear being barked out from somebody working there. I met a real military guy there down from Selfridge dressed in full military garb as I. We hit it off and became lovers until I myself joined the military and became the real deal in late 89. I often came home on leave to Detroit in the early to mid 90’s and would always hit up The Eagle dressed in my full USMC attire. So influential The Eagle was on shaping the rest of my life. I never went back to Detroit after leaving the military in 96. I headed for the warm sunny tropics of South Florida and been here since working as a firefighter now in my late 50’s The Eagle will always hold a special place in my heart for all the fun times, wonderful people I met and friends I made there. I truly found myself and fit in. Not to mention the hottest guys would go there and I never had a shortage of fulfilling my voracious sexual appetite. I do remember one time taking a guy home that was visiting some relatives. He had never been to Detroit before. He was HOT. He got stranded apparently so I did the good samaritan thing and took him home. The Eagle was even open after hours for a time. They would just cover all the liquor bottles with sheets. So taking this guy home I was driving through the worst part of Detroit about 4 a.m., I was fearless in them days. I wasn’t stopping for red lights, just slowing down to make sure coast was clear. Guy was freaking out I was blowing the red lights. I told him this is Cass Corridor worst part of Detroit.. you don’t stop for red lights unless you want to get your ass jacked up. Cops won’t even pull you over for blowing a red light. Wound up taking him to this house and I went inside with him where we had a quickie.

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