Former patrons of a now-defunct Gayborhood hotspot will relive the ’80s on one of the biggest party nights of the year.
Hundreds of LGBTs and allies are expected on Thanksgiving eve for the first Kennel Club reunion, 9 p.m. Nov. 25 at J.D. McGillicuddy’s, 421 N. Seventh St.
Kennel Club, previously located at 1215 Walnut St., was a mainstay in the LGBT bar scene from 1983-88.
“That was the first place I ever saw two guys kiss,” said reunion organizer Sharon Moss. “I grew up in the Far Northeast, and that area was just not mixed at all and you couldn’t really be openly gay. But at Kennel Club, you could just be who you wanted to be and nobody bothered you.”
Moss said the club offered more diversity than other local bars and that the patrons mixed well.
“There was a good mix of everyone — gay, straight, tranny — you name it and someone was there. But nobody was segregated into different sections. Everyone just hung out together.”
Kennel Club mainly attracted members of the local arts community, who were fans of alternative music by then-underground bands like The Cure and Sisters of Mercy, which other LGBT and mainstream bars typically didn’t play.
“These were people who were really passionate about music,” Moss said. “They cared what the place played and really knew their music, and Kennel Club understood that.”
The club hosted live performances by artists who are now well-known, such as singer and spoken-word artist Henry Rollins; musician Angie Bowie, ex-wife of David; and British band Sigue Sigue Sputnik.
Moss said Kennel Club’s popular video lounge was also the first in the area to show Michael Jackson’s famed “Thriller.”
Moss recently launched a Facebook group to bring together former Kennel Club patrons and said the response she saw — the group now has more than 300 members — prompted her to organize the reunion.
“We were out putting up posters in stores about the reunion and everyone was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re having this,’” she said. “I got the sense that a lot of people had been waiting for something like this.”
DJ Chip Dish, one of the original DJs, will provide the music for the reunion, which Moss said will take on a “hedonistic, carnival-type atmosphere.”
She expects to see Kennel Club supporters from throughout the region, with some coming from as far away as California.
“I can’t believe all the positive feedback I’m getting about it,” Moss said. “I’ve gotten so many e-mails with people thanking me and saying that this has reminded them so much of their youth and the great times they used to have at Kennel Club. It takes people down memory lane and back to a time when we were younger and everything was green and we were just having a good time.”
The cover charge for the reunion is $10.
For more information, visit the Kennel Club reunion page on Facebook.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].