The bar has moved neighborhoods several times but is now back in Midtown, the neighborhood it originally opened in. Not only does this make My Sister’s Room one of the oldest lesbian bars in the country, but it is also one of the few left, making it an absolute must-visit on your trip to Atlanta. My Sister’s Room is the only lesbian bar in Atlanta, but it has been in operation for more than 200 years since it opened in 1996. Where: 1049 Juniper St NE My Sister’s Room The porch is lined with cheeky signs, such as “You can’t beat our meat” and “Eat and be Mary!” While the ambiance puts this venue on the map, it’s the burgers and wings that really seal the deal at this Atlanta staple. A favorite for the brunch crowd, Joes on Juniper has rainbow sets which lead up to a large porch, perfect for soaking up the warm Atlanta sun and watching the Midtown crowd go by. This article appears in our October 2020 issue.While many might call it more of a restaurant than a bar, Joes on Juniper is sure to delight, no matter the hour. Confident of the bar’s staying power, he says, “Pretty much everything closes, but Bulldogs doesn’t.” Rumors of closure have become as much a part of Bulldogs’s lore as its heavyweight drinks, which Thompson attributes to how frequently venues come and go in Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ nightlife. “I’m hopeful things will recover and we’ll weather the storm, but I can’t predict the future.” “Prior to the current conditions we’re all going through, I would have said there was no chance of us going anywhere at any time,” Cochran says. Having withstood gentrification, the emergence of online dating, and even the AIDS epidemic, Bulldogs now tries to survive another crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s never-ending,” Cochran says of the pressures the bar faces in an evolving Midtown. Bulldogs has outlasted other legendary gay clubs like Backstreet and the Armory, and it has stood its ground amid persistent threats from new neighbors and developers.
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Within a few years of Cochran starting to work as a doorman at Bulldogs in 1998, high-rise buildings were replacing gay bars and no-tell motels in Midtown, and the studio apartments and triplexes that attracted young queer people for decades were being phased out for single-family housing and condos. From young men dressed for the runway and others buff enough to be a UGA running back to older professionals who look like they just left the boardroom, the regulars at Bulldogs provide a snapshot of why Atlanta is considered a Black gay Mecca. on weekends offers a broader representation of Black gay men than media depicts. The line of folks who begin gathering along Peachtree Street around 11 p.m. “I think we would kind of be lost when it comes to nightlife without Bulldogs,” Thompson says of the bar that has been the only constant in a Black gay party scene which often feels transitional, with promoters renting venues across the city rather than hosting at a consistent location.Ītlanta would lose something if Bulldogs ever closed as well. Although Bulldogs is known for a mature crowd, it became Thompson’s favorite bar, and he considers it a guidepost for Black gay Atlanta, linking generations throughout decades of dynamic change-although it served a predominantly white clientele until the late 1980s. “We went over to Bulldogs after an event because I guess it was tradition,” says Thompson, owner of the clothing line 79th & Magallenes. Magellan Thompson was 22 years old when he arrived in Atlanta from Chicago during Black Pride weekend in 2012 and found himself at Bulldogs on his first day in town.
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“I’ve had people who would come here from Paris tell me they knew this was where you had to go.” “It’s not just a landmark in Atlanta it’s a landmark globally,” says Brent Cochran, operations manager at Bulldogs, which has been located in the heart of Midtown for 42 years. Just one story tall and tucked between 7th and 8th streets on Peachtree, a tiny gay bar has built a reputation that towers over many of the skyscrapers that surround it.