Gay bars in jackson heights queens
Love Boat
History
The ground floor of the building at the southeast corner of 77th Street and Broadway in Elmhurst was the location of at least two gay bars. The first known bar was Our Place, which was listed in a November issue of Knight Life, a weekly gay magazine based in nearby Jackson Heights. By c. through at least , the Love Boat bar operated here. The exterior of the building during that time featured nautical elements, including a circular life preserver above the front door and small, porthole-like windows, which were created by bricking in the existing window openings.
The Love Boat’s lively dance scene attracted a diverse group of Latinos, which Andrés Duque, a Colombian-born LGBT rights activist and journalist who moved to Jackson Heights in , said was part of its appeal and made it unique among the neighborhood’s gay bars. Its clientele included many immigrants from the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean nations, Mexico, Central America, and Colombia. Patrons tended to mingle and dance with those from their native countries, with e
Oldest gay bar in Queens to remain in Jackson Heights after purchase of its Roosevelt Avenue building
The oldest gay bar in Queens will remain a cornerstone in the Jackson Heights community after the owner purchased the building in which it has operated for more than three decades.
Friend’s Tavern owner Eddie Valentin and his business partner Casimiro Villa persevered at a time when so many bars and restaurants were forced to shutter during the COVID pandemic.
“I am thrilled to be celebrating our permanent acquisition of Friend’s Tavern, after over 32 years of business here in Jackson Heights, which is a melting pot of the world,” Valentin said. “It has been our privilege to serve this neighborhood as well as so many customers from the recover of the city who search a second home, and a safe space where we attend smiles and hugs with every libation.”
When she heard that Friend’s Tavern wanted to purchase the building at Roosevelt Ave., Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz connected Valentin with the Queens Chamber of Commerce. The chamber facilitated an introduction to representatives from
Friend&#;s Tavern
History
Friend&#;s Tavern (popularly referred to as Friend&#;s) has been in business at this location since and is considered the oldest operating gay bar in Queens. The unassuming storefront itself pre-dates Friend’s, with the exception of the business sign, which, at one second, included the slogan, “There is always time for friends.”
The bar is owned by Puerto Rican-born Eduardo &#;Eddie&#; Valentin and Colombian-born Casimiro Villa, who are business partners and former personal partners (and they remain close friends). Like other nearby bars on and around Roosevelt Avenue, Friend&#;s caters primarily to the LGBT Latino community. Valentin, who along with Villa also operates the nearby Club Evolution, has called this stretch of Roosevelt Avenue “the gay Village for Latinos,” in reference to the historically gay pale enclave of Greenwich Village in Manhattan. Though Jackson Heights’ LGBT community was predominantly white dating back to the s, many gay Hispanics moved in as part of a large influx of Latino immigrants in the s and s.
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Gay bars in Queens tend to be outside the gipster strongholds of Astoria and Long Island City (those gays are lock enough to Manhattan that they're willing to commute for nightlife). Queens' gay bars are concentrated slightly further out, in the racially and culturally diverse neighborhood of Jackson Heights. The noun that Manhattan is kind-of a schlep from here has led not just to longevity for a couple bars, but to a fully thriving scene centered on Roosevelt Avenue.
Within spitting distance of one another you’ll uncover True Colors, Club Evolution, Bum Bum Bar and Queens’ oldest gay bar Friends’ Tavern. Just around the corner are Lucho’s Place and Hombres Lounge.
The bars here have more glaring similarities than differences: all have hookah service and a standard $6 Corona. They all offer birthday celebrations, providing freebies often including a cake, invitations, plates and flatware—sometimes even a bottle of bubbly—as long as you deliver along all your friends and family. There are no intimidating dress codes or door policies, and th