Gay bar bronx ny
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Cover: No! Look: GLAM
The Warehouse
History
Bronx nightlife venues for LGBT people of color meet to at least the early post-Stonewall era, when the bars Apartment, at 508 Willis Street, and Faces, at 2003 Jerome Street, appeared in the 1973 Gayellow Pages. For six years beginning in 1994, Gay Men of the Bronx (GMoB) co-founder Charles Rice-González authored bi-monthly “Club Scene” reports in GMoB’s newsletter as part of the group’s mission to counter the isolation of gay men in the borough. Perhaps the most iconic of these clubs was the Warehouse in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx.
The idea for the Warehouse was conceived by Mike Stone, an leading club promoter at Manhattan venues such as Studio 54 and Bond International Casino. In preliminary 1997, Stone learned about the Bronx building, a warehouse a block off the Grand Concourse, from people he knew who were renting it as an event venue. Knowing that Ebony gay men in the city were in need of a large club space following the closures of the Paradise Garage (building demolished) and Improve Days (316 West 49th Street), in Manhattan, Stone asked long-time
From their friend Junior serving his hot pot meal in the lounge and outdoor patio to door host and head of security St. Lawrence welcoming guests on the door, the Warehouse was built around a sense of community. “That’s the family we had right there and the love we had for each other,” adds Kevin Omni. “We really extended ourselves as family. The Warehouse not only gave us the music, the crowd and the dancing – it gave us a feeling. And New York Municipality had lost that feeling that you had at places like Better Days. When the Warehouse opened I really thought of it as a Improve Days for the ’90s.”
The Warehouse also became the place to catch some of the superb DJs in a enormous room atmosphere. “We were one of the most powerful clubs in Brand-new York, and Mike and I thought we should invite guests to act so they could convey their following to mix with our crowd,” says Jackson. During its eight years many of Andre Collins’ own DJ idols appeared at the Warehouse. “I got to participate with Louie Vega, Kenny Carpenter, Teddy Douglas and Danny Krivit – there was a whole bunch of them,” recalls Collins. The club also welcomed many live acts onto its stage, including Colonel Abrams, Taana Gardner, Barbara
Closed: The gay nightlife scene in the Bronx goes out of business
Every Friday evening at the Bronx’s only gay bar, a queen of the night held court.
Specializing in Whitney Houston, Kelly KaBoom also keeps Beyoncé and Ariana Grande on heavy rotation. As Identity’s resident drag dancer, she danced and lip synced in 4-inch heels, shimmering costumes and wigs — “the bigger, the better.” Kelly KaBoom, also known as JyQuan Reede outside the club, did medleys, took requests and always staged “a reveal,” a dramatic costume adjust mid-set.
“The crowd that comes in — they’re recording, they’re screaming your name,” says Reede. “I love entertaining people; seeing people smile and have a wonderful time.”
But in mid-February, Reede learned there would be no more “Lit Fridays with Kelly Kaboom” at Identity in Woodlawn Heights. The bar closed permanently, exiting the Bronx with no LGBTQ nightlife space — again.
“We had so many LGBTQ places in New York, but most of them got shut down,” says Reede, a North Bronx resident who’s been doing drag for 20 years. “For us to have one that was local in the Bronx, it was great. When things start to change up, it’s just appreciate, ‘What i