Space (Now closed) was located downtown. I can't remember the exact address. It was a truely huge bar. It was only open as a gay bar for about a year. The guy who opened it (He did not own the bar) is known for opening gay bars and then changing them into straight bars later.
It was an amazing place: every night was a show, often ending with a finale and fireworks. It was a first of its kind, and ONLY in Detroit.
ReplyDeleteIt was not turned into a straight club overnight--- people just figured out where the pretty people were.
miss it!
The building is on Congress in the same block with St. Andrews Hall.
ReplyDeleteBackstreet moved to this space for a few months. I went during fall 2000/winter 2001 -- it rivals the biggest gay club parties i've seen here in NYC.
ReplyDeleteThe reason it never worked as Backstreet is because gays can be very fickle; it just wasn't Backstreet as we knew it. For one thing, it was overkill (waaaaaaay too big). It was like a Labyrinth, and gay people like to be in close-knit spaces with each other (we might miss something!). Backstreet has (and always will be) at Joy & Greenfield.
ReplyDeleteOne of Murray Hodgson's ingenious ideas to start gay then convert to straight after he raped the gay community of all he could. He recently did it again with Ice in Hamtramck a year or so ago
ReplyDeleteThis place was amazing when it was open. As stated above, it rivaled clubs in much larger cities. The location was great as The Works was down the road, 5 minutes away.
ReplyDeleteI think what ultimately caused this place to fail was the cost. I seem to remember dropping $20+ for both parking and cover. Not a ton of money, but a lot for Detroit.
Fantastic while it lasted.
When it was opened it was only gay nights on Friday and Saturday were straight. The place got so popular that Murray converted it to both nights. Tiesto DJ there, foam parties and celebrities would come in there! Club owners from New York, California and Vegas would come in to check it out. Brutal Betty beating people, dancers on hi rises, chick's with dicks dancing, midgets riding tricycles the list goes on. It was out version of Studio 54
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