The gallery gay bar baltimore
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The owner, Tom Mathison, told me he's considering selling the bar to developers who would raze it and replace it with a block of town homes.
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The bar has a great digital jukebox, hosts drag shows, and has a skee-ball machine! Sadly, The Quest might be gone after the summer season. The spacious bar attracts a small crowd of long-time regulars, some younger Canton newcomers, and pretty much all of the dozen or so gays who live in Dundalk. The Eastern Avenue corridor used to have quite the reputation for queer sleaze, rough trade, and public cruising. (3607 Fleet St.) is a hidden gem of cheap, fun bars (my vodka soda was $3). Plus, the bar has off-street parking (a sought-after rarity in the neighborhood) and is pretty easy to get to via bus or circulator. It's the perfect place to spend the day getting hammered if you have an obnoxious Saturday night obligation in Federal Hill, like a boring high school friend's bachelorette party or work function at a bro bar. EJ the bartender recommends coming on a Saturday, when beer and wine are on sale from noon to 10 p.m., followed by karaoke. My favorite drag queen in Baltimore, Shawna Alexander, hosts monthly drag shows on first Sundays.
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Another former sign in the bathroom summed it up best: "An evening in the Rowan Tree = An evening in a John Waters movie." The vibe is always friendly, the drinks are reasonably priced (my rail vodka soda was $5), and you can bring take-out food or get delivery from nearby eateries. On a typical weeknight, this shotgun-style corner bar might have a couple younger gay guys playing pool in the back, half a dozen older men staring into their buckets of beer, and an assortment of neighborhood women who pop in and out between shots and cigarettes, complaining to other regulars about their husbands and checking on their kids outside. The Rowan Tree is a bar for everyone!" Indeed, this is part of its people-watching appeal. There used to be a sign in the bathroom here that said something to the effect of, "Patrons always ask if this is a gay bar or a straight bar. It's always fun to give friends directions to meet me and hear their shock that the city continues south of American Apparel, into the hazy borderlands between gentrified Federal Hill and old-school South Baltimore. I'm a big fan of reminding myself that Baltimore is a much bigger city than it feels, and going on an MTA adventure to outlying gay dive bars is the perfect way to meet new people and score some cheap booze. Today, there are just a handful of neighborhood gay bars that hold down the fort outside of the increasingly homogenous center. Mount Vernon may feel like the definitive gayborhood, but decades ago there were thriving queer enclaves scattered across the city, from Waverly to the west side of downtown and even Southeast Baltimore. In recent years, the city's rowdy lesbian bars have been hit even harder: Gallagher's, Coconuts, and Port in a Storm have all shuttered, seemingly reducing lesbian nightlife in Baltimore to an occasional potluck somewhere in Lauraville. In 2012, The Baltimore Eagle, the legendary leather bar where S&M daddies and trans sex workers rubbed shoulders (and other body parts), sold to a developer and has been "closed for renovations" ever since, with no set reopening date. In 2011, we lost the Phoenix, that cheap, dirty little spot on Biddle Street where K-pop dance parties and down-low pool sharks coexisted in drunken bliss.
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Worse, the number of weird little gay dive bars that feel both idiosyncratic and quintessentially Baltimore dwindles every year. Many think our options are limited to a handful of uptight Mount Vernon clubs, which seem to cater more and more to weekend warriors who wear T-shirts emblazoned with the name of the store where they were purchased.