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

Actor Kevin Steinberg moved to San Francisco in the mid-90s after a particularly memorable trip to Burning Man festival (I'll let him tell you all about that), and quickly built a life for himself working as a living sculpture and a go-go dancer. And it was at Club Universe, a queer nightclub in SoMa that was open from 1994 to 2002, where he first donned his skimpy shorts and worked the podium. Do you have any memories from Club Universe, or 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, Instagram and Twitter as @lostspacespod Kevin is about to launch his own podcast, Frankly Kev, so make sure you keep your ears pricked for that. And, in the meantime follow him on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kevinpsteinberg/ 

This week we are catching up with Pandora Boxx, drag queen superstar and contestant on Ru Paul's Drag Race Season 2, as well as All Stars 1 and 6. And we are going to find out all about her early days in drag. Back in the 90s she was one of the top performers at Club Marcella, a drag bar in Rochester, NY, that rode on the crest of the wave of that decades drag explosion (think Ru Paul's 'Supermodel of the World' and 'The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert') and courted a mostly straight clientele. We talk about falling in love with straight men, embracing her inner slut, and the pettiest fight that she ever got in to with a fellow queen... Do you have any memories from Club Marcella, or 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, Instagram and Twitter as @lostspacespod For more on Pandora check out her website https://pandoraboxx.com/ (with two x's!), and follow her on Instagram as @pandoraboxx and on Twitter as @thepandoraboxx

What is it about the punk and the goth scenes that is so appealing to queer kids? This week I caught up with author, podcaster, and entrepreneur Demi Wylde to help explore that very question.  I got to find out all about his teen years growing up in the southern California city Riverside, and the refuge that he found at the Showcase Theatre, an alternative rock club in the neighbouring city of Corona which was once described as 'the CBGBs of the west coast', which was open between 1993 and 2008.  We talk all about the thrill of being chaperoned to the club by your mum, finding your voice, and I discover the difference between mosh pits and skank pits. Do you have any memories from the mosh pit, or 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, Instagram and Twitter as @lostspacespod For more on Demi: - visit his website - https://demitriwylde.wixsite.com/  - follow him on twitter - @demitriwylde  - discover his poetry book “All Was Nothing in the Time of Champions”, his two blogs “Hookup Horror Stories” & “A Deviant’s Guide to Sex”, and listen to his podcast: “A Cosmic Journey with Demi & J” by following this convenient link - https://linktr.ee/demitriwylde

When most people think of G-A-Y, the iconic club night that has hosted performances from such superstars as Kylie Minogue, Spice Girls, Madonna, and my personal favourites Daphne & Celeste, they think of The Astoria, the central London music venue that hosted the night from when it started in the 90s up until the late 00s. The Astoria was the victim of Crossrail, a railway construction project that started in 2009 and completely changed London's queer scene, resulting in the demolition of the Astoria, as well as other queer venues Ghetto and First Out Cafe. I caught up with Jeremy Joseph, the owner of the G-A-Y nightclub chain, to find out about the early days of the club, working with the mafia, who was responsible for the worst performance in the history of G-A-Y, and why the Astoria was such a special place. Do you have any memories of The Astoria or 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, Instagram and Twitter as @lostspacespod For more on Jeremy follow him on twitter - @jeremyjoseph

Seren Oakley is a multi-disciplinary artist and events organiser whose work is based on queer spaces and elevation of others, which includes marginalised groups like asylum seekers. Currently based in Leeds, England, she grew up in Swansea, Wales, where she found solace and community at a venue called The Scene, which hosted gigs for under 18s in the early 2010s. In this episode we talk all about making out in the car park, hosting your own events, breaking boys' hearts, and how the internet has helped queer people find community throughout the pandemic. For more on Seren check out pulpquality.com, and: Facebook: @serenoakleyartspace Instagram: @pulpquality  Seren is also the host of her own show, The Be Nice Podcast, and if you check it out you might discover that a certain someone has been a guest on a previous episode (It's me. The someone is me if i wasn't painfully obvious about it). Do you have any memories of 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, Instagram and Twitter as @lostspacespod

Gay Sydney in the 90s was a magical time according to today's guest, chef, youtuber and podcaster Andrew Prior, who lived very close to the city's main gay hub, Oxford Street, in the early 90s.  Our conversation focusses on this area, which Andred dubs the 'gay ghetto', at two periods of his life - the early 90s, when he was a teenager, living away from home for the first time, and the late 90s, when he was a little older (and, maybe perhaps wiser?).  We talk all about the impact the massive success of the drag film 'The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' had on Sydney's scene, hen parties, body image, and Andrew's lost space, The Midnight Shift.  Do you have any memories of Sydney's 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, Instagram and Twitter as @lostspacespod For more on Andrew check out Cooking Fabulously on YouTube and the Fabulously Delicious podcast, which are all about French food and the fabulous people that make it. You can also find him via his website, https://www.andrewpriorfabulously.com 

Today we are catching up with Conor Collins, a Visual Artist based in Manchester, England, who is known for making artworks using unconventional materials such as diamond dust, blood, and hate speech found on social media. He first moved to Manchester to study, and it was here that he found Poptastic, a club night targeted mainly at students that played an eclectic mix of music.  We caught up to discuss getting comfortable with rejection, sleeping with your school bully, and pee-shyness (which seems to be a recurring theme on this show!).  Did you ever go to Poptastic, or have any memories of Manchester's Canal Street 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, Instagram and Twitter - @lostspacespod And, whilst you're at it - go give Conor some love - his website can be found at https://www.conartworks.com/, and he is on Instagram and Twitter @conartworks.

This week we are talking to David Paisley, a Scottish actor known for roles in soap operas Holby City, and River City. He is also a tireless LGBTQ campaigner, recently being acknowledged with an Attitude Pride Award for his  campaigning against the trans-exclusionary agenda of the LGB Alliance. He first moved to London when he got the role as midwife Ben Saunders in Holby City, and hated it. It wasn't until the second time around that the city's charms started to show themselves, and he had fun exploring the sticky dancefloors and sweaty bars of Soho.  We originally caught up to talk about Ghetto, that beloved icon of the mid-00s queer scene, but, as is usual on this show, went on the scenic route, which took in other clubs such as Popstarz and Trash Palace, and some entirely unrelated conversations about funeral songs, Spice Girls, and the anxiety of controlling the playlist at a house party.  Did you ever go to Ghetto, Trash Palace or Popstarz? Well, if you have, and you have stories to share 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, Instagram and Twitter as @lostspacespod And, whilst you're at it - go give David some love on Twitter - his username is, conveniently, @davidpaisley David is also one of the people behind LGBT Glitterati, who are selling all kind of queer t-shirts, caps, vests and face masks, with all profits going to the Transgender Defence Fund - go top up your summer wardrobe at www.lgbtglitterati.com 

This week we are talking to Tim Lagman, a certified sex educator and pleasure advocate based in Toronto, Canada.  He is also the host of the 'Sex Ed with Tim' podcast, where he interviews sluts (his word, not mine!) from all walks of life and delves into the good, the bad, and the stinky sides of love, sex, sexuality, relationships, and more. And where did he get so damn knowledgeable about all of these things?  Well, it was out in the club, and he credits Fly 2.0, which was in the heart of Toronto's gay village and was open between 1999-2019, as a place where he learnt the most about himself and his community. Find out more about Tim at his website https://www.sexedwithtim.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/sexedwithtim Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sexedwithtim/ And go have a listen to the 'Sex Ed With Tim' Podcast, and, if you're so inclined, support the show by becoming a patron at https://patreon.com/sexedwithtim

In ye olden days (ok, like 20 years ago) London used to be full of small neighbourhood queer bars that had more of a community feel than the bigger, anonymous drinking establishments in the West End. And, if it was a lesbian bar you were after then your best bet would be to head to Stoke Newington in the north east of London, which has been described by today's guest as a 'lesbian mecca'.  And, who is today's guest? Well, it's none other than lesbian romance novelist Clare Lydon, whose London Romance series has been described as “The L Word, set in London.", so she knows what she's talking about when it comes to London and lesbians.  We caught up to talk about her time living in Stoke Newington, her beloved lost space, Blush Bar, which was open from 1997-2015, and why pool is the sport of choice for so many lesbians.  Do you have any memories of Blush Bar of fighting over a pool table that you want to share? Well, if you do please get in touch - you can contact me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as @lostspacespod, or you can go to my website www.lostspacespodcast.com and leave a comment there.  To find out more about Clare visit her website http://www.clarelydon.co.uk where you can download some free stories, and mark your calendar, as Clare's next book, Big London Dreams, is out on July 28th.