With most being in the closet, local gay people frequented bars and discos to meet friends, make hook ups (consenting partners called “tricks”) and bask in an environment with others who were like them. Gay entertainment centers were critical to the social fabric of gay Clevelanders. This was a pre-AIDS time of glitter rock and disco, when people dressed up, danced their cares away and had sex when they could, usually without condoms. There were a multitude of bars, clubs, and bathhouses in Cleveland and its inner ring suburbs. NIGHTLIFE. The 1970s gay bar and entertainment scene is often referred to as the “golden era” in American gay history. Individual gays in these enclaves were often involved in their respective neighborhood associations and contributed mightily and aesthetically to neighborhood projects. While not exclusively gay, these neighborhoods had the highest concentration of gays at the time. These included SHAKER SQUARE, OHIO CITY, COVENTRY in CLEVELAND HEIGHTS and the Gold Coast in LAKEWOOD. In the 1970s, though, there were four gay enclaves in and around the city.

NEIGHBORHOODS. Unlike the Castro District in San Francisco or Boystown in Chicago, Cleveland never had one highly concentrated gay neighborhood. This article provides details on various aspects of the community in the critical decade following Stonewall. The 1970s marked an important period in the history of the Gay Community of Cleveland.