Things have been shifting over the past 6 months in Alberta’s night scene, and just about every bar or club has played some part in this shuffle. Many longstanding hangouts that have remained for the most part unchanged over the past decade, are now seeing new direction, new looks, and even new ownership. Although we have lost a few venues, we have also gained several back in their place.

We took the time over the past 2 months to catch up with owners of all 10 of Alberta’s current core LGBT haunts, to talk about what things have changed, and how they are working to improve themselves. For a few, this is our first official in-depth introduction in GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine.

A recurring theme from the interviews that we conducted was how much hard work it is to own and operate a bar or club. Some owners admitted that, if they could do it over, they might not have made the same decision to go into this industry. Nevertheless, the recession has motivated many owners to abandon autopilot and start making clever, business-minded decisions; ones that, as you will see, are geared to benefit their customers and the community in general.

The Backlot, Calgary

Earlier this year, owner Ken Schultz made the decision that it was time for him to retire after running the Backlot for over 13 years. He sold the business to two capable staff members, Mark Campbell, and Ward Sobry.

While Mark himself believes some may have had doubts about the “Backlot party boys” rising to the challenge, after several months he feels that he and Ward are getting the hang of it.

“Both of us love this place,” Mark told us. “We love how Ken started the place, and [want to] continue on with his legacy, having a neighbourhood pub where you can come and sit and talk to people; no pressures, everybody’s welcome.”

The two have already made significant improvements to the appearance of the bar. “We totally did-over the patio...inside we retiled the front entrance way, completely repainted upstairs and down.” But that’s not nearly the end of it.

“Just because we had the grand re-opening party doesn’t mean that’s the end of what we’re going to do. ... We’re going to start to redo the upstairs, we’re going to turn it into more of a comfort lounge area, maybe do Karaoke once a week. That’s going to be a ways down the road. God, we’ve got so much planned for this place it’s not even funny.”

He also addressed the popular club Vinyl down the street that can sometimes seem a little intimidating for customers coming to the Backlot. “If there’s ever an issue they’ve said call us over and their bouncers will take care of any issues.” And he attests that they have kept true to this promise. Furthermore, he tells of how, on busy nights, Vinyl customers have stopped in for a drink and been totally respectful to the establishment and clientele.

The recent Grand Re-opening party was overwhelmingly busy, which is quite encouraging. Mark begins to tear up when he talks about all the people that have supported them through this transition into being new fledged owners.

“We look forward to supporting the community and being here. We thank everyone for their support...I can’t thank everybody enough.”

The Calgary Eagle Inc., Calgary

There was a time when the Calgary Eagle’s leather and denim dress code was a hard rule, and drag queens were a huge no-no. But over their nearly 9 years of operation, that attitude has changed quite dramatically. For several years and until recently, the Calgary Eagle was the second largest LGBT bar in the city. This made many community groups naturally gravitate toward them.

“I think what we’ve done is we’ve managed to open up the bar - keeping leather, levis, and cowboys as the key focus (mostly leather) – but we’re inviting all the other groups. People are feeling much more welcome here,” says Johnathan Finlayson, who came onboard as an owner over 4 years ago.

“Our commitment to the community has grown,” he says, referring most prominently to their Social Sunday Dinners, a weekly fundraising event that rotates between community groups. “Where we’re going in the next little while, of course, is we’re doing a last D4 (Straight to Diva 4)...we are limiting our [special] charity fundraisers to 3 to 4 a year. We don’t want to saturate.”

Furthermore, Johnathan talks about future plans for the bar with something of a naughty grin. “We are going to be exploring some unique trends...our goal is to really start to push leather again, take it to the next level. We’re pushing Friday night as constant leather nights. ... We’re looking at little edgier things that are within the approval of the Liquor Control Board, so we’re working with them to some really unique, twisted things. [They’ll] be fun, I think everybody’s going to like them.”

The Calgary Eagle is also well known for their fetish nights, where patrons have an opportunity to wear their fetish gear outside of the house without feeling out of place. However, Johnathan has plans to up the ante – to have these nights function similarly to their “Dark Nights”.

“On a Dark Night, think of it like a dress code night. There’s a dress code to go on the one side [of the bar]. ...If you’re not comfortable with that, you can still stay on the other side of the bar. ...[So] if you are now coming for a jock night, it’s the same mentality; there’s a comfort zone on one side and if you’re not prepared to wear your jocks then you get to stay with the masses on the other side. So everyone is still invited, but we’re going to take those events from a theme to a higher energy.”

The Calgary Eagle closed down for a few days prior to their 8th Anniversary last February, in order to give the bar a makeover. “As we go along each year, we listen a little more, and we try to tweak the bar a little bit more for people. With the facelift, we wanted that to refresh the bar; we didn’t want to lose the element of the bar. We lost a little bit of that darker, edgier side with all the dark walls and all the military gear hanging. We didn’t change anything structurally other than getting rid of the jib rock and going down to the base brick. Our hope is to eventually take all of our walls down to the red brick. So we did a lot of painting, recreated our coat check. ...Changing our colour schemes, our artwork, moving it around, cleaning up the bar, thinning out the tables…”

He explains that they took specific community groups in mind while planning their changes. For instance, the Primetimers were considered when creating the new seating area at the front, with comfortable leather couches. Furthermore, he mentions that they have worked to enhance their sound and lighting systems to make the venue better for the ISCCA, who occasionally put on shows.

One major hurdle for Calgary Eagle customers has been the ceaseless construction in their area of town, due to the East Village revitalization project.

“Access has been awful for the last 2 years because of the infrastructure changes within the East Village. It changes weekly at times. So it’s really hard for people – I think it may have deterred some. ...What we’re endeavouring to do over the next little while is actually put a map (or an evolving map) onto the website, as well as use Facebook and my e-mail connections, and send all this information off to people.”

Despite this damper put on their business, Johnathan feels excited looking toward the future.

“At the end of the day it’s going to be fantastic. The front of the bar is going to be incredible; the facade of the building is going to be upgraded by the way. The lighting around the building is going to be better. It’s going to be a destination place within a year and a half. This whole neighbourhood is going to be alive, and we’re going to be a cornerstone for the gay community in it.”

Club Sapien, Calgary

The newest kid on Calgary’s block, so to speak, Club Sapien is a unique hybrid between restaurant and dance club. The high concentration of table and booth seating works well for serving food by day, and doubles as a place to relax and talk with friends at night (when not on the dancefloor, of course). It offers a clean and classy atmosphere, with a style of music that breaks tradition for Calgary gay clubs.

The club opened their doors at the end of July, only 2 blocks away from another LGBT business. To some this may seem a little cheeky, but owner Mike Gray’s vision for the bar seems to dispel any inkling of ill intention.

“What we wanted to do was add something different to our community. We took a look at the existing operations...we thought that there was an opportunity for a new style of venue. And that’s what we wanted to do, is open up something where more choice was offered for people in the community.”

Part of this is finding the way to revive the night club experience that was available to LGBT bar-goers in the past.

“I loved the Boyztown/[Detours] days. You know, the days where we got to march between the two and there was always a choice, you always had somewhere where you could go. I loved it! [There were], I don’t know how many nights where I went out, where I started at Boyztown and headed over to Detour, and headed back later on. And the next night, it was a different march.”

Another role they are filling is that of the high-end (yet still cost effective) LGBT restaurant. Since Victoria’s went out of business, Mike feels Calgary has lacked a comparable hangout. “[At Victoria’s] you could actually sit and talk...it was just such a nice environment to be in. I felt that has been missing from our community for a while. I’m glad we’re able to offer it again.”

The selection of dishes is something quite different from what you would expect to see as bar food. Samples were given out on opening night, demonstrating sophisticated flavours that wowed many customers.

“We picked a menu selection that let people have a relatively nice place to go out that was still very cost effective for them. Where they can come out, have food with their friends, and be very comfortable in their environment.”

One aspect that has caused friction with some, is that of cover charge. Mike explained to us how it is structured: on weekdays, cover is only charged after 11pm ($2-$4 depending on the night). On Friday and Saturday there is no cover before 9pm; after that it is $4 from 9pm-11pm, and $6 after 11pm.

“We definitely have that option for people who find cover to be something they’re not comfortable with. [The prices are] pretty standard for the industry. ...Having the different environment that takes a little bit more to operate, that’s usually how it goes. And honestly, what cover tends to do is make sure that the crowd that’s there, wants to be there.”

Now being in operation for just over 3 months, the club has been making inroads with community groups. Mike continues to encourage further collaborations.

“We think it’s very important that any group in our community that wants to get together, has a place to do it. ... If there’s a group that’s looking to have a celebration of some sort, and there’s a way we can accommodate that for them , we’d like to do that. Any of our non-profit and community support groups, we’d like to be doing what we can to thank them for their work, and the way to do that is to offer them space and to help them in planning events here.”

FAB, Calgary

Money Pennies was once considered Calgary’s one and only lesbian bar, however even before their retirement, owners Lorie and Michelle were working to be inclusive of everyone.

“Money-Pennies was always seen as a lesbian bar but the reality was, on some nights there were no women in here, and on other nights it was all women,” says Jason Wheeler, a former employee of Money Pennies who purchased the bar from the couple. “And we still have that same consistency. I don’t market the bar to any one gender or any one group – I target the nights toward groups and genders. So, some nights are still predominantly men, certain nights are predominantly women, and it will always be that way - it’s a people bar.”

Recently Jason made the decision to rebrand. “It had been three years that we owned the bar, and we just felt it was time to make it our own and identify it. So we did a contest and that was the name that was chosen by my family, friends, and regular customers. We wanted something short and easy to identify that was very brand-worthy, and that was synonymous with the gay community.”

The change of name has accompanied many other alterations. “A lot of it has been cosmetic. We just wanted to make it a nicer atmosphere.” The country-western feel that Money Pennies once had, has been gradually phased out for a cosier, classy décor - from dimmer and richer wall colours and large horizontal mirrors on the walls to open the space up, to hanging chandelier lighting.

Another exciting change has been their food. “I love my food!” Jason says playfully. “Since our issues with the health department last year, we’ve had 3 demerit-free health reports, expecting our fourth one any day. ...We’ve had to invest a lot financially, and manpower, into making sure that everything is kept up to a high standard.”

“Our menu has changed. It’s basic but good pub foods. In the kitchen we’ve got over 40 years of experience with our staff. We’ve recently opened up again at lunch – we have a 15-item [selection] under $5.99, available in 15 minutes or less.”

Over the three years that Jason has owned it, FAB has fallen into its own style of supporting the community. “We do a lot, sponsorship wise, for the non-profit groups here in this city. When we first took over we were really top-heavy for one of them, and now we spread our dollar much more wisely.” The bar regularly hosts smaller-scale fundraisers, such as their annual World AIDS Day fundraiser every December 1st. “It’s a cause that’s near to my heart.”

Initially the Wheeler family played a very prominent part in running the bar, but have reduced their roles as Jason became ready to take on more of the everyday responsibilities. “I’ve changed amazingly, personally. ...It’s been coming up 2 years that I can celebrate being clean, in January. My whole life has changed because of it. I’ve [also] had some health issues that I’ve had to challenge. ... So I’m not as naïve as I once was.”

The Texas Lounge, Calgary

The Texas Lounge, affectionately known as “The Bunker”, continues to hold the title of Calgary’s longest standing gay space. The bar shares the basement of 308 - 17th Avenue SW with Calgary’s only bathhouse, Goliaths. While separate establishments under different ownership (Andrew Brassard with Goliaths, and Allan Oen with Texas Lounge), the two businesses intertwine in many ways, working closely together and maintaining a symbiotic relationship.

This month the Texas Lounge and Goliaths celebrate their 23rd anniversary. After so many years, Andrew and Allan acknowledge that updates were in order, and have been taking steps toward that end.

“Essentially we’ve just done cosmetic things, with taking out those big pillars, putting a new bar counter in, redoing the bathrooms... Operationally we have run [about the same] for the past 23 years except we’ve made a big effort to get rid of some of the undesirables that hang out at the bar.” Its location in downtown Calgary can sometimes attract customers that, for whatever reason, have tended to be disrespectful to others. In saying this, Andrew refers to a shift in policy where the Texas Lounge no longer tolerates this behavior, so that customers can focus on enjoying themselves.

Meanwhile, the bar has distinguished itself as a powerhouse for community fundraising, sometimes producing totals comparable to bars twice (or more) their size. “We’ve become a lot more involved with [the ISCCA] in the past 5 years. Well really, anybody with a good community spirit, we’re open to doing any sort of fundraiser for them.” Beswick House, more or less the Texas Lounge’s charity of choice, frequently benefits from fundraising efforts at their venue.

In addition, Goliaths is also undergoing some changes, both cosmetically and in their adoption of special events. “For the baths side, we’ve put in glory holes and we’ve added the dance parties and the flashlight parties.” The dance parties feature a DJ with disco lights, where people can be fully clothed, in towels, or as naked as they want. Running from 12am to 8am, these events transform Goliaths into an after hours, private men’s club. While alcohol cannot be served in Goliaths – though they can provide non-alcoholic drinks and food - customers are welcome to pop over to the Texas Lounge until 2am for alcohol if they wish.

Going forward, Andrew tells us, “Our focus is going to be more on the bathhouse side in the next year...[it’s] going to get a big facelift. So essentially we’re going to modernize it.”

And regarding the Texas Lounge, “Anybody is welcome. Everybody checks their ego at the door – it’s a bar for everybody to come and enjoy each other’s company.”

The Twisted Element, Calgary

The Twisted Element, often simply called “Twisted”, is also turning 6 years old this month. The owners pride themselves in having proactively improved their club over these years. While they admit they’ve needed to rethink some of their ideas to suit the trends that they’ve seen in their customers, they seem to have reached, and continue to run with a winning formula.

“We’ve improved on the product upstairs, but downstairs has gone through a couple of transformations. The piano lounge never seemed to work very well. We had a piano player in, and then we had strippers down there and that didn’t seem to get enough attention to make it wise. And then we went and did the Mama Kim variety show,” says Cliff.

“The Mama Kim [Variety] Show has been the best,” adds RJ, and the concept has stuck to this day - the show can be caught every Saturday evening.

“But even from start to finish our concept has changed,” continues Cliff. “We used to do food when we first opened, and then somewhere along the line you have to decide what you’re going to be. You can’t be everything to everyone, it’s just not feasible.”

Other changes the owners mention are the washroom renovations, the VIP lounge area, and the two stages: downstairs for community events, and upstairs for their own Sunday drag shows and other in-house performances. RJ also boasts the sophistication of the club’s lighting and sound systems.

Cliff commented on how the club’s clientele has shifted over the years. “For the Mama Kim show we get more bachelorette/stag parties. We might have increased slightly on straight people coming in, but I think a lot of that is the word of mouth, if people want to go for a great dance. Because I’ve asked straight couples what brings them to us, and they say the music, sound, and everybody knows out in Calgary, if you want to go to a fun environment with no problems, you come to Twisted. Our reputation precedes us now.”

We asked RJ about the club’s strategy for giving back to the community. “Last figures that I’ve done through my accounting, we’re probably up to about $270,000 given back into the community [over the last six years], whether it’s been giving away Vespas and flat-screen TVs, iPods, iPhones, or charitable donations.“ Cliff clarifies that their donations totals do not include fundraising events at their establishment. “When we give out cash, it’s cash out of my pocket...it’s actually our bottom line,” RJ explains.

However they stress that their expectation is for most groups to earn these donations by offering something of interest or value to their customers. Thus, oftentimes the club will match the amount that groups are able to fundraise on their own. “I always said, you want something you’ve got to work for it. … when you don’t appreciate something, you take it for granted and it’s no longer there.

“At one time we did charge cover for straight women, because we were getting inundated, so we had to slow it down to protect the [environment] of the club,” admits Cliff. Otherwise they impose no cover charge unless a special event is happening – in which case, the cost is only for the expense of putting on the event. Furthermore, the Twisted Element boasts low drink prices. “We’ve been like that for six years, with or without competition,” says Cliff.

Buddys Niteclub, Edmonton

Through all of the recent ups and downs in Edmonton’s LGBT night scene, Buddys remains the longest still-standing Edmonton bar at just over 10 years. Through recent times they have remained fairly constant, but changes are afoot.

We spoke to Jim Brown, an owner of both Buddys Niteclub, and Woodys Pub upstairs. While reluctant to reveal his plans for updating the club, in part he admits because they are not fully complete, he commented first about what is already underway.

“We rerouted the entry a little bit, and the coat check so that there’s no longer any congestion. But we’re going to be redoing all of Buddys.” He also points out that another one of his immediate projects is to move the DJ booth. He states that the venue will remain open while under construction.

Buddys operates Tuesday to Sunday, from 9pm to close, and regularly produces a monthly events calendar poster (which is also placed on the website) for patrons to find out what is happening each month.

Woodys Pub, Edmonton

The more active project at the moment for Jim Brown has been that of Woodys. The venue has undergone some structural changes, which included moving the bathrooms and karaoke stage area. This has resulted in new seating arrangements for their lounge clientele.

Another big shift has been in their format. “We’ve changed it into a video bar,” explains Jim. Indeed, the multitude of television screens showing the music videos of the current song selection, is mesmerizing. Furthermore, “We added the kitchen. ... [We serve] bar food, like chicken club sandwiches, beef dip, and that sort of stuff.”

We asked Jim what he has noticed as a result of these alterations. “I’ve definitely noticed it’s brought in a younger crowd,” he says. “I think the Woodys renovations have really helped business, it’s definitely increased it without a doubt.”

FLASH Nightclub, Edmonton

The FLASH space became available due to an unfortunate incident in the prior straight incarnation of the venue, within a short time of its launch. Having been newly renovated, this made the space an attractive location to set up an LGBT nightclub, where such problems would be unlikely to occur again.

We spoke with manager Stephen Anderson, who told us a bit about the vision of the bar. “We’re catering to a diverse crowd, open to both gays and lesbians, as well as the alternative community. We want everyone to be able to come to FLASH and be themselves and express themselves the way that they think is right.”

It is a handsome venue with gray brick walls and gothic dragon statues in some of the corners. The main bar is adjacent to the dance floor, and elevated from that is booth seating along the back wall. While this set up may have worked well for a straight bar, it poses problems for some of the typical functions held at a gay bar.

Stephen acknowledges that plans are in the works regarding installing a new stage, possibly moving the DJ booth, upgrading he sound system, incorporating music videos, and possibly having go-go dancing cages. They plan to host regular drag shows on the first Sunday of every month, and with a full kitchen, he also hopes food will be an option in the near future.

Aside from changes to the venue, Anderson is also looking at diversifying FLASH’s clientele. “We want to be able to cater as well to the bear community and the lesbian community. We’re offering special nights for them. ...We are offering a college meets industry on Friday nights, catering to the U of A and Grant MacEwan students where they get in for no charge, as well as for people working in the industry. ... So ideally what we’re trying to do is bring two groups together – the students that are new to Edmonton, as well as the older clientele, so that everybody is under one roof.”

FLASH is open Thursdays from 10pm to 2am, and Fridays/Saturdays from 9pm to 3am. Booths and the VIP lounge can be booked for birthdays and other private parties.

The Junction

After the death of Boots and Saddles/Garage Burger owner Jim Shaffer, the business was left in the hands of Ross Correira who sadly was not up to the opportunity of taking the bar in a new direction. The business fell apart in a matter of months, and over 30 years of LGBT space was lost overnight.

In the months to follow, stories circulated about a number of groups and individuals who were looking at snapping up the space before it was lost to someone outside of the community. The owners of Prism, Edmonton’s self-professed “lesbo-centric” bar, were the ones to come out on top. This was an opportunity for Tracy Smith and Deborah Chymyshyn to bring the legacy of Prism (which they had bought from its original owner more than 2 years prior) to a close, and run with a brand new bar concept of their own.

We asked Deb, who has now been operating the Junction for 2 months, about the differences that she has noticed.

“It’s way bigger and it’s a lot more work, so there’s a lot more coordinating and managing. ... With Prism we could pretty much do it all: two of us and a bartender and a busser, we could run the show. Here we can’t. ... So we need help, and we have a great team. We have so much support from the community, which we had at Prism too, but it’s just in a bigger way - and now we have the men supporting us as well.”

With the owners of a lesbian bar taking over a space that was traditionally frequented by blue collar men, it was anyone’s guess what clientele would adopt the venue as their hangout.

“We have a very interesting mix, and it comes in waves. We have the men that come for happy hour, and then we have women on the pool league. ...On the weekends we have all the drag queens as well. We have all ages...here it’s like 18 to 80. … We ran Prism for 2 and a half years, and we are seeing people come to the Junction that we never saw at Prism. There are people that are coming here from the community, I don’t know where they were before but they are starting to come here, and it’s just delightful to see.”

Prior to opening their doors, much work was needed to undo the state of disrepair that the space was left in. “We’ve had to spend a lot more money than we’ve ever anticipated, so that the place is top notch. Our budget is pretty stretched so there are a lot of things on our wish list. So our intention is that every time we have a little bit extra, we do something. We couldn’t do it all at once, so we’re doing our best to be always improving.” Most repairs were things that people don’t see, such as equipment maintenance, rebuilding floors and drywall that had rotted, and the cleanup of 30 years of junk that had accumulated in storage spaces, while paying attention not to throw out things of historical value.

Deb and Tracy could not have accomplished this alone. “All the work that we have done here has been [with the help of] people who have just shown up - heard that we bought the place, heard that we’re making some changes – and said what can I do to help? They have done everything from 7 and a half days chipping tile off of the floor, to painting and drywalling, cleaning, hauling garbage. Anything that we’ve needed done, they just came forward and did it happily.”

Furthermore, Deb tells us about how, during construction, people in the neighbourhood kept coming by to try the door to the former Garage Burger space, concerned that a new restaurant would mean the end of their favourite burgers and homemade fries. Lucky for them, as Deb explained, “We took their top 3 selling burgers and we added them to our menu. ...We decided that was one of the things we wanted to do, honour that 30 years of history by keeping some of those wonderful things, and then adding some new stuff of course.”

What has been particularly rewarding for Deb and Tracy is seeing the remarkable community spirit that the Junction has inspired in such a short time.

“Groups that used to be in chaos and conflict are starting to come together, the men and the women are starting to...mesh and intermingle a little bit and even enjoy each other’s company in this space. So there is a coming together that is taking place that is so phenomenal. We had experienced it in our first 5 days here, our first night of Karaoke, when we had a group of people on the dance floor of all ages and all walks, and they were all arm in arm swaying back and forth on the dance floor singing at the top of their lungs and having a fabulous times. I cried, it was just the most amazing thing to experience.”

“Our dream and our vision of building a stronger community based on respect, acceptance, and love, is happening here every day.”