Augie's on 20th

Augie's on 20th 

Augie's on 20th

Location: 313-315 20th Street, Rock Island, Illinois, USA

Opened/Closed: 2013-2014?

Here's the clubfly description of Augie's on 20th:

Type: Lesbian Bar
In a nutshell: Notorious as a hangout for girls, save for the 1am-3am timeslot (which is occasionally packed with younger guys fresh from the Davenport LGBT strip). Some guys during the day...the venue feeds off of the neighboring bookstore and two strip clubs, which often makes for an eclectic mix of characters...

Interesting description, in that it illustrates how an identified women's space is frequently overrun by men (both gay and straight)--even though they have their own spaces where lesbians are typically not welcomed and certainly not respected even if they are admitted (e.g. gay male bars, strip clubs).

Clubfly states that Augie's is "closed," but with no date.

But as we see so often, clubfly will often identify a bar as "lesbian"--when no other bar guide or website does so.

So I suspect that this was a space that was provisionally staked out by marginalized lesbians who had no other place to go, but was never actively "dedicated" to them.

On Facebook for example, Augie's is simply described as a "barbeque restaurant" and "bar." Unfortunately, this kind of camouflage and/or ambiguity is not uncommon even with "dedicated" lesbian bars, even in the supposedly liberated 21st century. Here, Augie's status is described as "may be permanently closed." There is just one post, and that one is dated November 2013.

Clubplanet mentions an Augie's, Inc. at this location. However, once again there is nothing in the description to suggest that this is a gay/queer bar, much less a lesbian one:

Remodeled interior at 313 20th Street

Augie's Inc - Of the city’s hundreds and hundreds of bars, Augie's Inc fits right in the middle of the bell curve – a place to hit with your buddies on the way to your ultimate destination. Not the ideal spot for fabulous, drunken debauchery, but it’s a good as place as any to pre-drink.

Foursquare also lists an Augie's, and does describe it as a "gay bar." They say nothing else about it though. So what that means in terms of the women is anybody's guess. It certainly further suggests, however, that the place was not actively centered or openly identified as lesbian space.

Here we see that the building at 313 20th Street with its "Beautifully remodeled Bar" was put up for sale over a year ago. We also find out that the property was previously known as the Lucky Shamrock Bar (c. 2011-2012) In April 2015, it was purchased by the owner of Jaded Gypsy Tattoo.