Taylor michigan gay bar

The bar had an active dance floor, good music, and a party atmosphere, with occasional shows. It was during this period that the bar was most popular with a wide range of men. Many younger guys met up with friends or otherwise started the night at C'est La Vie for a few drinks and maybe a look at the strippers or the drag show before moving on the the dance clubs, primarily Circus-Circus or Cluband less frequently The Phoenix.

When there was a cover charge, it was modest compared to the cover charge of Cluband often included a drink in return- pretty much no cover if you had at least one drink. Throughtout, the bar was also known as a pickup place for young boys being sought by older men; and John's own prediliction of hiring the cutest and youngest men he could find certainly didn't detract from that reputation!

The upstairs of the bar was also available for lodging, and many the young man saw his start in the gay community in Milwaukee by taking a job at C'est la Vie and living immediately above the bar. Pool table, dancing, loud talk. Busy bar block.

Gay Bar in Taylor (Michigan)

The 's also saw the bar's owner Clarenece aka John Clayton become something of a gay mogul in the city: he leased a building just to the south of the bar to michigan the Cream City Foundation as a community center space, and to the In Step newspaper. Within a few years however, both of those businesses moved out, partly because of the poor gay of that building.

In the 's the bar went into something of a decline, mostly due to the neighborhood. The neighborhood also became gentrified, with condos and art galleries moving into the area; these detracted from the closed "gay neighborhood" feeling, and also greatly restricted availability bar parking.

To keep up, the bar became less of a mainstream bar and became a speciality bar: its shows were either drag shows or young-men almost boy strippers. In Septemberafter a short but serious illness, Clarence passed away. Shortly before his death, he had passed on management of the bar to Marty Martin Belkinwho pledged to keep the business going for at least another year.

But the Club had recently closed, and C'est la Vie was struggling; there were few customers, with about the only regulars being a few young gay black men who continued to put on occasional stripper shows. And the bar began to be closed without advance notice at unusual times and days. On April 1,Gay made the bar "no smoking"-- the ads announcing the change bar greeting by many as "probably a joke" given michigan date- April 1st April Fool's Day.

But Marty was serious, and the bar continued to operate as non-smoking. There were rumors throughout that the bar might soon close, but it was not until April that rumors began to be more credible. During the taylor 2 weeks of Aprilflyers and ads began to appear announcing the last show at the club, and it became known taylor Saturday, May 3, would be the last night the C'est La Vie was to be open.

In fact, the bar closed its doors several days earlier without fanfare supposedly because no one could reach agreement on how the final show would be run or castand C'est La Vie simply ceased to be. Recollections: The following are recollections of others who have been kind enough to submit their personal memories to the webmaster.

You are welcome to do the same! It was 90 cents. I drank that beer and due to money, ordered a tap. I think they were 40 cents. I drank two more and headed for the door. John Clayton was at the door and started talking to me.