GAYBORHOODS
In the 1990s the Manchester strip was a mile of boarded-up buildings climaxing with Attitudes, Novak’s and — who could forget — Grandma’s Rainbow’s End. Today, LGBTQ establishments in or immediately outside its borders include PrideCenter (the region’s LGBTQ center and home of Pride St. Louis), Attitudes, Just John, Rehab, the Monocle and the behemoth JJ’s Clubhouse. Many mainstream businesses and venues have also taken hold in the Grove, creating a vibrant, walkable mile illuminated by neon signs hanging over the street demarking the district’s entrances. In addition to the venues, the neighborhood hosts large street events including GroveFest and the World Naked Bike Ride. But there’s more than meets the eye to this festivity factory, especially at Just John. Pride St. Louis’s Todd Alan is among the many influential people who frequent Just John, sometimes even setting his laptop upon the bar and working there. He notes that Just John raises a tremendous amount of money for the community.
Called “The Island” by many of its cocktail-loving, golf-cart driving residents because of the way the river and highways cut it off from everywhere else, Soulard is the oldest intact neighborhood in the city, as well as St. Louis’ own French Quarter. The area has had a sizable LGBTQ population since at least the seventies, when several bars catering to our community opened up. At that time many of the historic brick homes were abandoned, and all were going cheap. Today, property values in Soulard are among the city’s highest. St. Louis is a drinking town, but nowhere is alcohol more central to the culture than in Soulard, with its countless corner taverns, tucked-away patios and of course its massive Mardi Gras celebration. Once, leaving brunch at Nadine’s, I saw three golf carts in a row and was trying to determine which one belonged to my friend. “This one must be it,” I proclaimed. “It has beer bottles in the cup holders.” We then discovered all three had beer bottles in the cup holders.
Founded in 1767 by French-speaking settlers, and annexed by St. Louis in 1870, Soulard’s scrappy and much more diverse down-river sister is seeing a resurgence with rehabbers drawn to the historic housing stock, some of which is among the oldest in the region but remains surprisingly affordable. From the workers in the industrial businesses along the riverfront to the homeowners restoring their domiciles brick by brick, this is a place where skilled people use their hands. The community’s roots in this area, at the southern tip of the city, run deep. Greg Yogi Thomas, whose family has resided in the neighborhood for generations, remembers a trans woman who lived openly on his block for much of the seventies.
