Club Tribute

Club Tribute (March 2009)

Club Tribute

Location: 3200 North Arnoult Road (18th Street), Metairie, Louisiana, USA
 
Opened: March 2009
 
Closed: February 2013

From Gay Cities:

NOLA's #1 lesbian bar
Club Tribute is always having a good time in Phat City. With drink specials throughout the week and hot girls servin' them up, it's sure to be a fun girls night.

And here's a customer review from August 2012:

This bar not only had a dance floor but also 5 small pool tables (only 50 cents a game). There were booths for more intimate conversation. The drinks were well priced and despite having three drinks each our bill was under $30.00.

The Facebook page documents what a great old-school lesbian bar this was--hundreds (if not thousands!) of photos from birthday parties, benefits, fundraisers for breast cancer, animal rescue, etc. Unfortunately, it all came to an end when the owners of the building decided to sell.



Club Tribute Farewell Party - February 22, 2013
 

Here's the farewell letter from the owner (dated February 21, 2013):

Just received verbal notice this week that the building where Club Tribute / Escapades are located in has been sold...The new owners (a Medical Service) wants us to vacate within 10 days so this weekend will be our last weekend opened forever (at this location). We will open Friday for Club Tribute (No cover)...Saturday for an event hosted by Dragon (cover) and Sunday for Escapades (Club Tribute family are welcomed but there will be a cover) .
I want to take this time and ...thank our customers (family) for helping to put us on the map. My family has been operating at this location for 25+ plus years (4 years as Club Tribute) so it saddens me deeply to see it come to an end; but our journey will continue and I hope that Club Tribute’s family will go out and support the Beach House and all other “Alternative” businesses…We are a community and we need to do everything in our power to support each other.
Much love to you all,
Wongie

Below are a variety of posters from Club Tribute's four years of existence:

Kristy Lee at Club Tribute
(March 2009)

Michigan Avenue at Club Tribute (April 2012)

Tammy & Coleen Birthday Celebration at
Club Tribute (November 2011)

God-des & She at Club Tribute (April 2011)

Lounging room for ladies, Louisville & Nashville Railroad

San Antonio Express, June 20, 1925

Lounging room for ladies, Louisville & Nashville Railroad

Location: Ran between New Orleans, Louisiana, Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Open/Closed: 1920s

As a student of history, I know very well that access to a transportation service like this, especially in this location (the American South), was stringently regulated by race and social/economic class.

But there is a part of me that is easily seduced by the golden age of railroads--I freely admit it. Especially in the hot summer months, I can easily find myself fantasizing what this kind of journey by train could have been like.

And then under the description of the Pan-American, I see a reference to a "lounging room for ladies."

Now I'm really imagining good times!

I have seen references to ladies lounges in hotels of this era, but never one on a train. I have seen references to smoking cars, which were almost always reserved for men with few exceptions. (An earlier post on a smoking car for women--for some inexplicable reason--is one of our most popular posts.)

So as I swelter in front of my computer, I am drifting back to 1925 and shuttling off on a night-bound train out of New Orleans. I had just settled into a seat in the lounging room for ladies, when a mysterious woman in a black cloche hat strolls into the car and eases into the seat beside me....