Gay bar t shirts

Make a free website with Yola. An online search for 'vintage' and 'tribute' t shirts will produce hundreds of results for mainstream consumer products, decades-old sports teams and defunct musical groups. Every seems to love the idea of reminiscing. The options for the gay community, however, have remained pretty limited.

With the recent implementation of "Stay at Home" restrictions across the US and around the world, many of us have found ourselves at home with a lot of 'free' time. One long-time card-holding member of the gay community has chosen to spend his time researching, locating and digitally recreating the logos of the bars we knew and loved before the days of the internet.

The project actually started about 6 months before the pandemic made the headlines, but on a much smaller scale. In November ofArt Smith [working with the Atlanta Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the owners of Atlanta's most iconic gay nightclub Backstreet] created a tribute t shirt design commemorating the 45th year after the opening of the massive three-story bar.

Gay Bar T-Shirts

Designed bar a fundraising project for the Atlanta Sisters, the shirt was wildly successful. Click on the image above to visit the website for the Atlanta Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and learn more about their charitable mission. Gay the months that followed, Art reached out to many old acquaintances through his multiple social media accounts and began the process of tracking down former bar owners in Atlanta, the city where he lived for most of the 80s and 90s.

It was an arduous task as hardly any of the logos were available in digital format. Yet he persevered. In January of he released a second Backstreet t shirt which was also very well received. The comments on social media were very encouraging and he became even more determined to expand the collection of throwback t shirts from bars gone by.

One friend of several decades, Louie, was integral in connecting Art with the artist who created the logos for several other Atlanta hotspots: Colorbox, Rio and Velvet. Although the images available were not the crisp high-definition versions needed for digital reproduction, the project was definitely moving forward.

With the assistance of Louie's old business partner Michael and logo designer Patti, designs for all three of those bars emerged. The collection was gaining popularity. Bartenders, managers and patrons were emailing Art with information about their shirt watering holes from decades past. Finding decent copies of the logos, however, was a bit of a daunting task.

Nonetheless, he continued to reach out to old contacts in the hopes that someone would know where to find the images needed to really build up the collection. Daily life as we knew it began to change. Limited mobility. Bar closures. Reduced income. Stay at Home orders.

Anxiety, angst and confusion. Almost immediately, Art knew he needed a project in which to channel his creative juices and keep his mind [and his hands] busy.