Lost Spaces: Memories from Gay Bars, Lesbian Clubs, and LGBTQ+ Parties

So, I'm kinda fascinated with gay country and western bars, where people dress up in their finest cowperson garb, and square dance, two-step and mosey on down... This isn't something that I think is a thing in the UK, so it's just been a curiosity to me until now.  But, luckily for me, Dennis Hensley - writer, performer and host of the podcast 'Dennis Anyone?' took the time to tell me all about the etiquette, the ceremony, and the vibe that you'd find at Oil Can Harry's, a country and western bar in LA, which unfortunately closed during the pandemic.  Along the way Dennis tells me all about his experiences fumbling with men-folk, feeling lonely at the club,, and how it felt the first time he saw two men dancing cheek to cheek. Do you have any memories of Oil Can Harry's, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about Dennis and his podcast at http://www.dennisanyone.net/, or follow him on Twitter (https://twitter.com/HensleyDennis).

I got an e-mail from this week's guest saying that he'd like to be on the show. He pitched himself with something along the lines of 'I know you like talking about sex, so I think you'll be really interested in my stories!'. After feeling very judged and a smidgen shamed I responded immediately to book him! And, so that is how Dave Quantic came on to tell me all about lost LA spaces Spike and Cuffs. And he knows what he's talking about when it comes to sex and sexuality! Dave is the creator of Fruitbowl - an oral history podcast about queer sex and lives where he talks to people about their personal journeys.  We chat all about the magic of a scuzzy dive bar, the pains of removing body hair, and Dave tries to help me figure out what my kink should be....   Do you have any memories of Spike or Cuffs, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about the Fruitbowl Podcast at https://www.fruitbowlpodcast.com/, or follow on Twitter (https://twitter.com/fruitbowlpod) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/fruitbowlpodcast/)

It's the crossover episode that none of you asked for (but I promise you're going to love it!)! If you follow me on social media (and, if you don't, why not? @lostspacespod on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook), you will have seen earlier this week that I was a guest on the NotStalgia podcast. Now, this is a really cool show, where hosts Jess and Eric discuss an original film and then they discuss its remake, and contrast and compare the two... The episode that I was on was a discussion about 'Boys in the Band', that classic queer film that was recently remade for Netflix.  So, why am I telling you this when all you want to do is hear about a lost queer space? Well, today's episode return the favour! I was lucky enough to be joined by Eric La Febre, one of the hosts of the NotStalgia show, who came on to reminisce about the lost San Franciscan punk gay bar Lucky Thirteen.  Along the way I learn a lot about the fine art of cruising,  we talk all about sloppy snogging in nightclub toilets, and we have a really interesting conversation about the idea versus the reality of community.... Do you have any memories of the Lucky Thirteen, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Follow Eric on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/elafebre/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/ericthefever). Also, make sure to listen to NotStalgia wherever you find podcasts, and give them a wee follow on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/notstalgia.pod/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/NOTstalgia_pod) too (although, to be honest, they're a bit rubbish at keeping their twitter updated)!

Jeffrey Masters is the creator and host of the long-running interview podcast, LGBTQ&A (recommended by The New York Times!). Here he has interviewed such guests as John Cameron Mitchell, Laverne Cox, and Melissa Etheridge, and over 200 others.  Back when he was a baby-gay, and after an earlier three-month stint over summer holidays, he packed his bags and plonked himself down in LA, where he lived for several years. it was here that he was exposed to the magical world of West Hollywood, which is like a gay Disneyland (and, depending on who you are, you either got excited or winced at that description, which is pretty much the perfect response). We caught up to talk about the bar Eleven, the obliviousness of some human beings, and the shallowness of LA.  Do you have any memories of the West Hollywood, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Follow Jeffrey on Twitter as either his personal account www.twitter.com/jeffmasters1 or his podcast account www.twitter.com/lgbtqpod... and listen to the LGBTQ&A podcast wherever you stream podcasts!

This week we're welcoming back an old guest - Craig Law is a DJ and the host of the #InTheMix show on Gaydio, the world's biggest LGBT radio station.  The last time he was here he told me all about his early days of gay clubbing in his hometown Swansea, Wales. This time around we're visiting Manchester's gay village and the lost club Kiki, whose tagline was "A grown-up club for those who grew up clubbing"  Now, if you've ever listened to this show before you know that we do tend to sometimes maybe occasionally perhaps veer off topic, and this week I fear we may have outdone ourselves... So, as well as me learning about Craig's days drowning in paperwork as a defence paralegal, and how DJ-ing and the queer scene saved him, we also discuss... in no particular order....  the logistics of hooking up with strangers when you're staying in a hotel with key cards and security guards, getting your friends to set you up with their friends, bottom-shaming, the concept of camp, and my new business idea for pee-shyness coaching... Do you have any memories of Kiki, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) And, whilst you're at it - go and give Craig some love. You can listen to his mixes (www.mixcloud.com/djcraiglaw) and follow him on twitter (www.twitter.com/djcraiglaw)

This week I am talking to Seth... no last name, just Seth... who is the former co-host of the Thanks for Coming! podcast, which recapped episodes of RuPaul's Drag Race whilst also covering queer pop culture. Alas, the show ended earlier in 2022.  Having lived in LA for a few years, Seth moved back to his college town of Bloomington, Indiana (where he had that weird experience of everything being exactly the same but also kind of different) and took the time and space to figure out his next moves. It was at this time that the gay bar Uncle Elizabeth's became so important to him, and gave him the space to become more confident in his queerness.  For some reason I try to bully Seth in to becoming a drag queen AND have sex in public during this episode... I'm not really sure why i felt the need to do that, but... well.. yeah... I sure was determined...  Let's find out how successful I was! Do you have any memories of Uncle Elizabeth's, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Follow Seth on Twitter at https://twitter.com/homosethual, or listen to old episodes of Thanks for Coming wherever you listen to podcasts.

We’ve heard a few times on this show about the healing power of drag, and how important it has been on different guests journeys of self-discovery and recalibration... but that’s always been from the perspective of drag artists, and not the audience who find escape in their art.... Well, that's all about to change. On this week's episode we are talking to Jaimie Sherling, who has recently published her book 'From Queens to Queens: How the Madison Drag Community Saved My Life', which is all about her experience as a breast cancer survivor, and how the magic that she found in her local drag scene helped her to stay strong...  Jaimie tells me all about the drag scene in Wisconsin's capital Madison (which, much to my dismay, has nothing at all to do with the schlocky 90s romance The Bridges Over Madison County), and in particular Five Nightclub, a club that is still open and which Jaimie is a big fan of, and Prism/Plan B, a gay bar that closed in 2019, and which Jaimie is less keen on... We talk all about the magic of drag, relationship breakdown, and having sexy time with your AirBnB guest.... Do you have any memories of the Prism, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about Jaimie by following her on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/jaimiesherling/). You can also find her new book, From Queens to QUEENS, wherever you buy books online (more info here - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59001288-from-queens-to-queens)

The longer I do this podcast the more I'm learning about a real and very serious affliction on our community - and that is 'lesbian drama'... a few guests have now talked to me about this phenomenon, and at first I brushed it off, but the more I heard about it the more I wanted to know... Now, if you google 'lesbian drama' you'll probably find a list of films to watch on Netflix, but dig a little deeper and you'll find the Urbandictionary.com (ah, Urbandictionary!) definition, which is: "Drama caused by lesbians in their community because they don't know how to behave like adults" Now, it's probably a little more nuanced than that, but that gives us a bit of a flavour of what we'll be covering in today's episode! I'm delighted to be joined by the TV presenter, actor and media personality Sade Giliberti, who is taking Lost Spaces on its very first trip to South Africa.  We caught up to talk all about the Johannnesburg bar Ramp Divas, and, in the course of our conversation, I got to find out all about Sade's past life as a child beauty queen, what it felt like to be outed in the press, and, of course, navigating that tricky, tricky lesbian drama....  Do you have any memories of the Ramp Divas, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Follow Sade on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sadegiliberti) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/sadegiliberti).

Lee Sean Huang is Taiwanese American designer, educator and podcaster. He grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and had what he describes as a typical middle American upbringing.  In the late 90s, as a teenager, he spent two summers in Paris, France on a study abroad programme. It was here that he got an opportunity to explore his identity and figure out who he was.  And one of the gay bars where he got to do that? The wonderfully named Le Queen.   We talk all about being relegated to sidekick role by a boy you fancy, random encounters with men whose language you don't speak, and kinda accidentally taking part in a foursome...   Do you have any memories of Le Queen, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about Lee-Sean by following him on Instagram (www.instagram.com/leesean) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/leesean), and find his podcast, AIGA Design Podcasts, on all good podcast catchers. 

Amelia is the co-host of the podcast Pitney and Amelia's Bitchen Boutique - they may be awful, but they’re right!  (Actually, i don’t know if i agree that they are awful or right, bit it’s how they describe themselves on their show so we’re just gonna go with it....) We caught up to talk about the Austin, Texas club The Crossing.  Now, this is one of those situations where, because the club existed before the internet did, there is NOTHING about this venue online. Which is kind of weird when you think about all the crap that IS online, but also a bit of a reminder of the importance of this project to document our memories...  We talk about letting go of toxic friends, the flouncing, bouncing flaccid dick dance of male strippers, and - one of my all-time favourite subjects - the universal appeal of scuzzy, grotty, dirty nightclubs....  Do you have any memories of The Crossing, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod) Listen to Pitney and Amelia's Bitchen Boutique wherever you find podcasts, and follow them on Twitter (https://twitter.com/bitchenboutique) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/pitneyandamelia/)