The Necto (Still open) is located at 516 E Liberty in Ann Arbor. It used to be called The Nectarine Ballroom. The name was shorted to just Necto. It has been open since at least the 70's. It is only gay on Tuesday and Friday nights, but does get quite crowded. A lot of bands used to play there in the 70's including Bob Segar.
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Necto website
Divine did at least one concert I saw, there.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/d/divine/divine.htm
An okay place if you're 22 and beautiful, I guess. Unfortunately the sad part of being gay is that you get older and therefore no longer desirable in their eyes...sad.
ReplyDeleteSome of the best space in the Detroit area, in my opinion. It's in a nice area, so you don't have to worry about your car being messed with or getting mugged walking in/out like most clubs in Detroit. There's two dance floors (larger one upstairs, small one downstairs) playing different types of music. The downstairs one tends to get packed and hot. Nice patio area to chill when the weather's nice.
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned, the crowd is mostly younger (college age), but not entirely so. Good owners who keep the place up and actually spend money improving it and bringing in guest DJs.
does anyone remember the Roubyot?
ReplyDeletei remember the roubyot and the flame back in 1975 1976...
Deletewe used to call it the vaseline butt room, instead of the nectorine ballroom
ReplyDeleteOh yeah--remember the Rubyot and one other place in between the Rubyot and the Nectarine. Can't remember the name of it. Kinda of a friendly open place and not too dark. Hmm?
ReplyDeleteI used to love this bar back around 1986 when I came out. This bar was not open in the 70's per se, it was called the "Second Chance" up until about 1985 I think. The Second Chance was a punk/new wave straight bar that was mostly all painted black inside. When it turned to the Nectarine Ballroom it was still straight but had 3 gay nights a week (I think they were Tues, Fri and Sun?). It was 2 floors (I don't think the basement part was open at that point) and you could hang out in the balcony (where the DJ was) and look down onto the dance floor. This was the first bar I ever went to. I remember there was a cute blond "sufer" looking bartender that usually worked upstairs that I always made a point to visit when I needed a drink. I think he name was Paul. As a side note the Rubiate (sp?) was closed by 1986.
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ReplyDeleteI lived and worked in Ann Arbor and The Necto or The Nectarine Ballroom as it was called back in the 80’s opened in September 1985 and originally was only gay on Tuesday nights. Rest of the nights catered to the str8 crowd. Prior to this it was formerly The Second Chance and before that “The Conservatory” The Nectarine as we called it for short was THE PLACE to go on Tuesday nights. This drew the Detroit crowd all the way to Ann Arbor and the place would be packed!!! Roger L... a good friend of mine was the DJ and he cranked out all the popular 80’s dance, Hi NRG, Even some house. The Nectarine was HUGE then comprising of 2 floors and 2 bar areas. Main floor was the huge dance floor and then a step down area to the main bar. Several staircases led to the upstairs one being a metal spiral staircase that was fun to navigate when you had more than a few too many.. LOL. Upstairs was primarily a mezzanine with cocktail tables that overlooked the dance floor below. DJ booth was located up there and there also was a 2nd bar a few steps up from the mezzanine behind the DJ booth. There was even another tier.. not quite a floor that had more bistro style table and chairs. A big stair case on the west wall led back downstairs to just off the dance floor. It was a jumpin place on Tuesdays and the dazzling lights high above and the industrial style cage that glowed various colored lights s on both sides of a giant projection screen TV on the wall gave it almost a Studio 54 vibe. It was a great place to meet people anywhere from the U of M college crowd, Detroiters and guys coming in all the way from Flint, Lansing and Toledo to go to The Nectarine. I left Ann Arbor for the military in late 1989 and when I come back in 92 on leave they had Friday nights gay now and the bar and dance floor was just upstairs. Downstairs was converted into shops I believe. Place was still packing them in and that was the last time I was at The Nectarine. Ann Arbor didn’t have much of a gay bar scene. The Rubaiyat was another popular gay bar in Ann Arbor often called “The Rube” pulling in nice crowds on Friday, Saturday and Wednesday nights. The Rubaiyat closed in the summer of 86 rather suddenly and we was left with just The Flame... a locals, campy, dive hangout with a jukebox and The Nectarine on Tuesdays was it in Ann Arbor for quite sometime I believe.
ReplyDeleteI lived and worked in Ann Arbor and The Necto or The Nectarine Ballroom as it was called back in the 80’s opened in September 1985 and originally was only gay on Tuesday nights. Rest of the nights catered to the str8 crowd. Prior to this it was formerly The Second Chance and before that “The Conservatory” The Nectarine as we called it for short was THE PLACE to go on Tuesday nights. This drew the Detroit crowd all the way to Ann Arbor and the place would be packed!!! Roger L... a good friend of mine was the DJ and he cranked out all the popular 80’s dance, Hi NRG, Even some house. The Nectarine was HUGE then comprising of 2 floors and 2 bar areas. Main floor was the huge dance floor and then a step down area to the main bar. Several staircases led to the upstairs one being a metal spiral staircase that was fun to navigate when you had more than a few too many.. LOL. Upstairs was primarily a mezzanine with cocktail tables that overlooked the dance floor below. DJ booth was located up there and there also was a 2nd bar a few steps up from the mezzanine behind the DJ booth. There was even another tier.. not quite a floor that had more bistro style table and chairs. A big stair case on the west wall led back downstairs to just off the dance floor. It was a jumpin place on Tuesdays and the dazzling lights high above and the industrial style cage that glowed various colored lights s on both sides of a giant projection screen TV on the wall gave it almost a Studio 54 vibe. It was a great place to meet people anywhere from the U of M college crowd, Detroiters and guys coming in all the way from Flint, Lansing and Toledo to go to The Nectarine. I left Ann Arbor for the military in late 1989 and when I come back in 92 on leave they had Friday nights gay now and the bar and dance floor was just upstairs. Downstairs was converted into shops I believe. Place was still packing them in and that was the last time I was at The Nectarine. Ann Arbor didn’t have much of a gay bar scene. The Rubaiyat was another popular gay bar in Ann Arbor often called “The Rube” pulling in nice crowds on Friday, Saturday and Wednesday nights. The Rubaiyat closed in the summer of 86 rather suddenly and we was left with just The Flame... a locals, campy, dive hangout with a jukebox and The Nectarine on Tuesdays was it in Ann Arbor for quite sometime I believe.
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