Other gay oriented businesses are listed, including a few B&Bs, the only one of which still around is Bon Maison. Several gay owned / friendly restaurants are referenced as well: the Clover Grill, Quarter Scene (now Eat), Petunia’s, Tortilla Flats, the Golden Star, and Café Sbisa. Other bars may not be familiar to younger or newer residents: Le Roundup, Gregory’s (now the Double Play), Paw Paw’s (now the 700 Club), the Hairy Dog, Lucille’s, Changes, Hooters, Wolfendale’s (now Grand Pre’s), the Mint, Jewel’s Tavern, and Mississippi River Bottom (which is still around but no longer a gay bar). Several gay bars are mentioned, some of which will be familiar to current Quarterites (Café Lafitte in Exile, Corner Pocket, Golden Lantern, Bourbon Pub). The article, written by Timothy Dougal, is accompanied by a photograph of The Great American Refuge, a short -lived gay bar located at the corner of Royal and Ursulines Streets in the French Quarter.
I eagerly read the article and while it was mostly fluff, it did provide some insight into the gay social scene of the French Quarter in the late 1980s. A friend of mine recently dug out his April 1988 issue and showed me an article about New Orleans entitled “New Orleans: Last American Refuge.” From 1974 to 2007, this glossy magazine featured pictures and centerfolds of naked men. Ambush readers of a certain age may remember blueboy.
