Home blog Downtown Journal profiles pioneering gay bar, the Saloon

Downtown Journal profiles pioneering gay bar, the Saloon

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Have you ever wondered why the Saloon has boxes to dance on? The Downtown Journal profiles Jim Anderson and 
John Moore, owners of the Saloon, about 30 years of Pride at the bar: From arrests and police raids in the 1980s to a 3,000 person block party in 2010.

On the boxes:

The two got their bartending start in 1971 — back when the Gay 90s was still a straight bar, back when patrons danced on boxes set out on the floor, as it was illegal for two men to dance together on a dance floor — at a gay bar called Sutton Place, located where the Target Center is today.

On how the duo came to own the Saloon:

The two bought the Saloon in 1980, after having tended bar there since the club opened in 1977. In 1980, the prior owner, Ron Pesis, was sent to federal prison after getting caught bribing a city council member — business as usual back then, when owners of gay bars regularly paid kickbacks to city, police, fire and health officials to avoid raids and shut-downs.

Read the full article here.

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Andy Birkey has written for a number of Minnesota and national publications. He founded Eleventh Avenue South which ran from 2002-2011, wrote for the Minnesota Independent from 2006-2011, the American Independent from 2010-2013. His writing has appeared in The Advocate, The Star Tribune, The Huffington Post, Salon, Cagle News Service, Twin Cities Daily Planet, TheUptake, Vita.mn and much more. His writing on LGBT issues, the religious right and social justice has won awards including Best Beat Reporting by the Online News Association, Best Series by the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and an honorable mention by the Sex-Positive Journalism awards.