Columbia gay bars
“Grandma” comes everyday for cheerful hour, sitting with other old-timers. When he can, he stays late to watch the drag shows and the younger crowds they bring.
“Grandma” is otherwise known as Bill Skipper. The 74 year ancient is the president of The Capital Club and one of its founding members. He has been president since the year it opened in 1980. He likes to narrate younger people about The Capital Club’s early days, a very different — and fraught — hour to be in a gay bar in South Carolina.
“The kids now, I love the freedom they feel. I love it,” he said. “We’d possess loved to have had that (freedom), but we all drink from wells we didn’t dig.”
The Capital Club, or simply “Capital,” as patrons call it, is the oldest operating gay bar in Columbia, and according to its website, in the Southeast. Just around the corner is PT’s 1109, the city’s other gay lock, which opened in 2000.
Through discussions with bar owners and patrons and evaluating records from Historic Columbia, The Carolina News and Reporter uncovered a strange statistic: Columbia, in 2022, has only those two gay bars, the lowest number in the capital since 1960. The number peak
Under the Rainbow
Unlike Dorian Gray, whose portrait festered in an attic, the photograph of Stephen Donaldson languishes underground, framed yet unhung, placed unceremoniously on a tile floor and shoved uncelebrated next to a bookcase in a basement room of Furnald Hall, a century-old dorm on the Columbia campus. Sunshine-yellow walls and Caribbean-blue support beams brighten the room, known for twenty years as the Stephen Donaldson Lounge. Little happens here until Sunday afternoons, when the students of the Columbia Queer Alliance meet. They “vaguely” comprehend about Donaldson. “He started the precursor of our group,” said one, which is true. And he “looks jaunty in his portrait,” which he does — half-Italian, young, grinning and buoyant, his dim curly hair topped by a sailor hat.
The lgbtq+ lounge, in a delicious historical paradox, actually functioned as a closet for quite some years, a place for the building’s janitors to stash supplies. When the room was posthumously dedicated to Donaldson in November of 1996, its namesake had largely been forgotten. Donaldson surely would have hated that. “He was very self-promoting,” said Wayne Dynes, a friend and former Columbia profe
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This corner spot in Columbia Heights was once the site of Nob Hill, a popular African American gay bar. Nob Hill operated from 1957 to 2004, and, according to the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), which documented the site in 2016, this longevity made it "the oldest continuously-operating LGBTQ nightlife establishments in the District and one of the oldest gay bars in the country." Thus, Nob Hill has been called the "granddaddy of black gay clubs."
The 1920s era building housed a dry cleaner/laundry prior to Nob Hill opening. Despite formally opening as a bar in 1957, Nob Hill initially served as a private social club starting in about 1953. The social club, love the bar, catered to gay African American men. Many Howard University students would frequent Nob Hill, as the bar served an important function. At the time of its opening, the city was still very much racially segregated, and this extended to nightlife and amusement. Therefore, LGBTQ+ African Americans established their own social spaces, particulary along 7th and 14th streets NW near Howard University.
In addition to Nob Hill, there was The Cozy Corner at 708 Florida Road NW. Later on, in the 197
nightlife at columbia
NYJets191
<p>how is nightlife in the city? is columbia in close proximity to bars/clubs? are there parties?</p>
Columbia20022
<p>
how is nightlife in the city?
</p>
<p>Do you really acquire to ask what nightlife is favor in NYC?</p>
<p>
is columbia in close proximity to bars/clubs?
</p>
<p>There are bars on adorable much every block of NYC.</p>
<p>No, it’s not in “close proximity” to the clubs. 20-25 minute subway ride to them.</p>
<p>
are there parties?
</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
sAxsKy3
<p>It’s NYC . . . obviously its going to hold a great nightlife.</p>
Denzera4
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No, it’s not in “close proximity” to the clubs. 20-25 minute subway commute to them.
depends on your definition of club.</p>
<p>Nontraditional males may find that Suite on 109th & Amsterdam is right up their… alley.</p>
<p>Evelyn’s Lounge on 79th & Columbus is quite a hopping place on weekends.</p>
<p>There is dancing to be had outside the meatpacking district, and you don’t even have to clear a prolonged line
1109 Assembly Street, Columbia SC, 29203
Hours:
Sunday 6pm-2am
Monday 5pm-2am
Tuesday 5pm-2am
Wednesday 5pm-2am
Thursday 5pm-2am
Friday 5pm-2am
Saturday 5pm-2am
For over 20 years, PT’s 1109 has been one of the most distinct clubs and show venues in Columbia, SC. PT's has been Columbia's lengthy standing home for drag shows and live entertainment, offering unique nightly events as well as promotions that take our patrons an amazing and welcoming experience. With a long standing tradition of providing an amazing entertainment territory for our vibrant community, we propose unparalleled customer service and a substantial beer and liquor selection as adv as amazing hand crafted cocktails. We offer something for everyone so reach check us out and become part of the PT’s family.
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