What is the oldest gay bar?

Answer 1

Very difficult to answer this question, as the Ancient Greeks and Romans didn't keep too many records. One of the most famous 'early' gay bars in the US was the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in New York City. It was famous because that's where gay people finally said to themselves, 'We're not going to take it any more!' and fought back against the police bullies. This was on June 28th, 1969 and the reason Pride Day is generally celebrated on or near that date.

This is accepted as a major flash point in the start of modern Gay Liberation, which succeeded in getting laws discriminating against gays changed in many countries. Other bars of lesser fame than the Stonewall Inn have existed in the decades prior to the 60's as well as outside the USA. Many otherwise "not gay" bars would cater to - or tolerate - a gay clientele so might not have been considered a "gay bar" precisely. It may be that a bar switched from a partly gay crowd to a mainly gay crowd, and you would have to decide at what point that bar had turned "gay".

But again, there were definitely establishments where gays congregated long before the 60's. Germany's Weimar Republic period (1919-1933), for example, had its fair share of edgy/artsy drinking establishments, as represented in film such as Cabaret, the 1972 musical based on the 1930's works of gay author Christopher Isherwood.

Answer 2

It should be understood all taverns and bars were shut-down during the years of Prohibition. Some ( converted) to dry restaurants. So there are no continuously running bars, from say l900 or so on- other than restaurants or night clubs. Prohibition was gradually phased out legally in about l933. There is or was- damaged by one of the more recent quakes- a Lesbian bar in San Francisco called ( Amelia"s) that was up and running prior to l937, the year of the Electra Project. it is not known if the namesake of the establishment ( she did not drink) had any direct connection with the establishment, this is like Uncle Miltie"s amusement park- at this stage ( they have been out of business since l973) not possible to state with accuracy whether they had any direct connection with television actor Milton Berle- who was known as Uncle Miltie on TV. Chances are, no.