Peanuts

Club 7969 (formerly Peanuts)

Peanuts

Location: 7969 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California, USA

Opened: 1973?

Closed: Open at least as late as 1988

Found another great site for historic bars: discomusic.com. Here's what they say about Peanuts:

Peanuts started out as a lesbian nightclub but became mixed with a little of everything. It was right next to the French Market and had two bars, pool table, mid-sized dance floor in front of floor to ceiling mirrors. On the weekends they featured the "Cosmetics," --including regular stars Viva, Grace, Boy Tom, Lesbiana/Tangerine (Derick) and host Michelangelo -- who were both drag and real girl performers who danced and lip-synched at a midnight show. 

Monday nights had "Illusion" which featured the best transexuals in Hollywood.

Make sure you check out the comments. Lots of additional information. 

We know that Peanuts was open at least as late as March 1988, as there was an article in the LA Times about the place. However, there is no mention of it being a lesbian bar at that point. In fact, it sounds like the place had deteriorated significantly--noise, vandalism, violence, underage drinking, the whole enchilada.  This seems to happen a lot when bars "transition" from a lesbian clientele to a more profitable "whatever."

Since then, many clubs have been at this location. Even Club 7969 (see photo above) has been replaced.

Red Carpet Lounge

Red Carpet Lounge 

Location: 937 North New Warrington Road, Pensacola, Florida, USA

Opened: At least by 1998

Closed: 2010



Her self description says very little. In fact, the only reason you would even know that Red Carpet Lounge was a lesbian bar is because it was listed at LesbianNightLife: 

We are located at 937 N New Warrington Rd. an open from 5pm - Close Tuesday thru Sunday. Tuesday its all you can drink for $8! We also have an open pool tournament @ 7:30 with a $5 entry. Cash Prizes. Wednesday its karaoke with KJ Karmyn from 9pm- Close

Lonely Planet is very brief, but at least they use the L word:

This popular lesbian bar has special themes nightly.

Fortunately, the Pensacola Independent tells us more:

Red Carpet Lounge (June 2010)

This primarily lesbian bar calls itself Pensacola's "Hottest Ladies' Bar." Drag pageants, pool tournaments and pajama parties are just a few of the fun events hosted by the bar."

Gaycities informs us that Red Carpet Lounge had the reputation for being anti-male (oh, the horror!):

Lesbian bar in Pensacola
Referred to as "the Rug" by the locals, this lesbian bar has had it's ups and downs in the last couple of years. And unfortunately for guys, it has gained the reputation of unfriendliness towards members of the opposite sex.

It appears that at least one straight dude customer echoed this opinion regarding the Red Carpet Lounge. I'm guessing the ladies did not grant him the deference to which he obviously felt entitled. From yelp, July 2007:

men...do not go in here! the lesbian regulars are hostile and will make your stay very uncomfortable! the lesbo bartenders will not even serve you if you are male! equality and justice...not even in the lesbian dictionary!

However, at least one other patron disputed this claim in  August 2007:

I don't really frequent "The Rug", as it is so affectionately referred to as, all that often, but I wanted to counter the scathing review already posted.  The Red Carpet--if you couldn't tell from the name--is a lesbian bar.  So, if you're going to visit, gay friendliness is a prerequisite. 

I'm not sure what kind of hostile treatment this guy got, but the bartenders and patrons have always been good to me and my male friends whenever I have found myself there.

Blue Mule Saloon
(formerly the Red Carpet Lounge)

Yet another customer at Yelp tells us that the Red Carpet Lounge closed in 2010. No additional details are provided. 

As to when it opened, the earliest reference I have found to the Red Carpet Lounge is in 1998.

Today it is the Blue Mule Saloon.

You Got It

El Paso lesbians

You Got It

Location: El Paso, Texas, USA

Opened: ?

Closed: 1996

You Got It is a lesbian bar mentioned in a book of essays called Performing the US Latina and Latino Borderlands, specifically in an piece called "Decolonial Border Queers" by Emma Perez. In a discussion on machismo, Myrna Avalos, a Chicana lesbian, contributes the following: 

She believes that the border city breeds machista attitudes toward women, which take the form of drunkenness, womanizing, and battering. She was exceedingly critical of this "cultural thing." Myrna observed that butch women in lesbian bars exhibit territorial behavior that she does not like. She said she used to go to You Got It, a lesbian bar that closed down around 1996 because the police had to break up fights between lesbians too often. "I mean these women would literally fight. Throw bottles at each other. I mean, territorial. . . .with their women. 'This is my woman, you leave her alone, Bop!'" She named their territorial behavior a "butch pussy-stance" and refused to engage in the type of restrictive role-playing that was anti-feminist. Identifying as a butch lesbian for Myrna meant negotiating role-playing within a patriarchal structure that already condemned women. She adamantly reclaimed her butch identity as a role beyond "machista" behavior that was confining to women, particularly lesbians.

Myrna came out in El Paso at the age of seventeen. Before then, she endured six brothers and their homophobic remarks as well as an extended family who persistently asked her when she planned to marry.  

Club 505

The former Club 505 (later the Corner Bar & Grill)

Club 505

Location: 505 East Shiawassee Street, Lansing, Michigan, USA

Opened: Around 1993

Closed: 2008

Here's a customer review of Club 505 from January 2008:

This is a popular lesbain bar, pretty much the only one around the Lansing area. The bar is usually packed on Thursdays and Saturdays. The service is good, drinks are a bit pricy, but the bartenders make it worth it! The do not tolerate drunken stupidity, so if you've been out all night and just want to pop in for a while, be sure you are sober enouigh. There are 3 pool tables, a medium sized dance floor, and 3 or 4 flat screen tv's. ESPN is always on, so guys will have a good time as well. The atmosphere is friendly, the drinks are good, and someone will always keep you entertained in this bar. Pros: Parking

From May 2008:

I am a regular at "The 5" and it is my fav. place to hang out!!! I have taken sooo many people there because the atmosphere is so comfortable. I know this is a place I can really let my hair down because they do not put up with BS. I am not a lesbian so I do not consider it a lesbian bar, though that is a great number of it's patrons. I have been going there for over 10 years and I ("Brick House") will be sad to see it close. I recomend it to almost everyone i know and I hope you, the reader, visit it before it closes. Pros: Friendly group Cons: small womens bathroom


And then she was gone. From Capital Gains, October 8, 2008:

The popular lesbian hangout at 505 E. Shiawassee St., Lansing, was a staple downtown for nearly 15 years, famous for bingo nights and other themed events, before owners Kathy Nicoll and Dee Andrews decided to hang it up. Now a new business is coming to the old spot, The Corner Bar & Grill, squelching some women’s hopes that another lesbian bar would open there.

San Diego College for Women

San Diego College for Women
Administration Building

San Diego College for Women

Location: San Diego, California, USA

Opened: February 1952

Closed: 1972

The San Diego College for Women was a private, Catholic women's college in San Diego, California. It was founded by the Mother Rosalie Hill, superior vicar of the Society of the Sacred Heart, in 1950. It first opened to students in February 1952, enrolling about 33 students and having a staff of nine. The first president was Mother Catherine Parks, with Hill serving as honorary president. 

In 1956, Mother Frances Danz was named president of the College. Within her first year, the college received full accreditation from the State of California and established a nursing program in collaboration with nearby Mercy College of Nursing. The college expanded again two years later, offering its first graduate degrees in 1958.

Mother Anne Farraher became president of the college in 1963. Two years later, following the Second Vatican Council that encouraged Catholic educational institutions to "unite in a mutual sharing of effort," the San Diego College for Women and San Diego University, a men's college founded by the Diocese of San Diego, began to consider combining their resources. Mother Nancy Morris became president in 1968, and by 1969 had introduced coeducational classes in cooperation with the College for Men. That same year, the colleges also combined their graduation ceremonies for the first time.

Citing financial deficits and a desire to share more resources, the San Diego College for Women fully merged with San Diego University to form the coeducational University of San Diego in 1972.

Fascinating that the Vatican wanted to close down a women's college before they would even consider letting a woman into the priesthood--just goes to show that spaces segregated by sex are not necessarily equal in terms of status or respect. On the contrary, it's the women's spaces that are considered expendable....