The Red Barn was among the first openly gay bars in Las Vegas and featured drag shows and published one of the earliest gay magazines in Southern Nevada. The Red Barn sign has been installed at Fashion Show Mall's plaza. The Neon Museum is sharing signs related to LGBT contributions beyond its boneyard. "This history isn't just something we've uncovered, in the sense it's not newly discovered. "There's been a lot of change in town that way. In 1969, Caesars Palace made the controversial move of showcasing a gay drama called "The Boys in the Band," a big move for a Las Vegas Strip property.ĭecades later, Stardust made a potentially game-changing move being a Strip resort that hosted an Aid for AIDS benefit in 1987 - a time when people didn't want to be associated with the disease. We're really, really proud to be able to reveal the contributions that they made." "So many of the performers in the gay community, they don't need to be closeted anymore. "They raised controversy with people, but I think over time people started to accept the fact that these shows were fun," Warso said. The signs relating to LGBT contributions go back to 1938 when the Green Shack bar featured female impersonators, leading the way for performers at the El Cortez in the 1950s and eventually Jim Bailey at the Flamingo and "Boylesque" at the Silver Slipper in the 1970s. He also recently wrote a book on LGBT history in Nevada called "Out of the Neon Closet." In our not so recent past, there was some shame associated with that."ĭennis McBride, director of Nevada State Museum, compiled information about notable LGBT individuals associated with businesses represented by signs on display in the Neon Boneyard. "We want to remain a powerful collection for this community to learn about itself and we felt that those stories were important to tell. "We felt that the stories of the signs, the more stories we tell, the texture we can offer, the more meaningful the history is," she said. The museum, which has a boneyard of signs throughout Sin City's history, is recognizing during its tours this month LGBT people who made a mark on Las Vegas.Ĭynthia Warso, Neon Museum senior manager of education and engagement, said highlighting the LGBT community was important because of the contributions individuals have made to Las Vegas, especially to entertainment. Right now, happening every Thursday through November 18, the Garden is hosting Las Vegas’s “Drag Superstar,” a drag race-styled competition featuring the Valley’s fiercest up-and-coming Queens, where attendees get to vote on who moves on to the next week and the grand prize winner will be invited to join the Garden’s famed residency lineup, which includes many RPDR alums.During Pride Month in June, the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are highlighted, including at Las Vegas' Neon Museum. They’ve also got great food-think upscale gastropub fare like angus beef sliders and cauliflower wings-great happy hour specials, DJs and bottle service on weekends, and they host Ru Paul’s Drag Race viewing parties. But despite the challenges of opening in the midst of a pandemic, the Garden quickly became the hottest gay bar in town, thanks in part to a sexy, stylish space in the super-hot, hip, and happening DTLV Arts District, as well as a Bottomless Drag Brunch every Saturday and Sunday.
It’s been a long time since a new LGBTQ bar opened in Las Vegas, and the Garden didn’t exactly have timing on its side-originally scheduled to open March 20, 2020, the date got pushed (for obvious reasons) into June of that still-not-a-great-year.