Petrelis Files

(An art opening last November for Alex Lati at the soon to close Tel Aviv cafe. Photo Credit: Alex Lati.)

Israeli Gay Cafe Closing; Texas Gay Bar Reopening

The death of another gay commercial gathering is being reported, this time in Tel Aviv, and a local news story on the pending closure of the cafe makes note of similar ends to gay bars in other major world cities, according to a story in the daily Haaretz paper this week. An excerpt from the article:

Last month, the owners of the Cedamus Amori bar in Nahalat Binyamin in Tel Aviv announced its closing after a year and a half. Cedamus was one of the few places of entertainment in the city serving the gay-lesbian community. Previously the Minerva and Carpe Diem bars, which catered to the community, also closed. A few years ago there were about seven "pick-up" bars and places of entertainment for the gay community; now only Evita on Yavne Street remains, along with parties in various bars and nightclubs, which cater to members of the gay-lesbian community.

The closing of entertainment spots for gays in Tel Aviv is part of an overall trend in big cities the world over . . .

(The owner of the Denton gay bar after it was damaged and closed. Photo credit: Dallas Voice.)

Meanwhile, back in Denton, Texas, a gay bar that closed after a robbery and fire brought the establishment to ruin last year, is about to reopen, reports the Dallas Voice, a gay weekly that extensively covers the LGBT politics and social lives down in the Lone Star state. Here's the gist of the story:

More than a year after a fire set during a burglary destroyed Mabel Peabody’s Beauty Shop and Chainsaw Repair in March 2007, Denton’s only LGBT bar is just weeks away from reopening.

That’s a promise the former patrons have heard over and over again since shortly after the bar was destroyed — but this time it’s for real, according to owner Kelly Sanders.

“This is so funny because I’ve been saying four to six weeks for eight months, so I don’t know,” Sanders said. “But now I really can’t imagine it would be any longer than that.”

The difference now that makes Sanders so sure? Permits to finish renovating a new location came through June 27 after more than a year of delays . . .

International news reports on the demise of gay bar culture are greatly exaggerated, in my opinion. And let me remind folks that a new gay leather watering hole opened for business on San Francisco's Folsom Street in April, Chaps II, and from all accounts is doing boffo business. Not only that, but the Hole in the Wall saloon, which used to be on 8th Street, has successfully relocated on the famed leather strip. That makes three thriving gay leather S/M bars on a two-block radius of Folsom Street, the third being the Powerhouse.

If I were a drinking man, I'd visit these local places, just to see what gay bar life is like today in San Francisco.