Nashville - Guide for Gays, Lesbians and Queers

Nashville's queer venues cluster in two areas. One is Church Street in Midtown, north of Music Row. Here you will find Tribe, a bar with a dance floor that has been open for more than twenty years, and Play Dance Bar, the street's big club with drag shows and DJs. Suzy Wong's Drag'n Brunch, also on Church Street, serves brunch with queens impersonating celebrities.

The other hub is East Nashville. The Lipstick Lounge is a lesbian-owned bar and has been a fixture of the scene for over two decades. Right next door is Chapstick, a queer sports bar. In Five Points, Canvas runs a gay bar in a converted grocery store; it used to be on Church Street.

Other spots are spread across the city. Trax, an institution in Chestnut Hill for almost twenty years, had to close there when the landlord ended its lease. It carries on as Trax Tea Room in Wedgewood-Houston, with a big patio and drag nights. Frankie J's in Germantown is a queer bar and grill serving Mexican food, and Pecker's in SoBro is a roadhouse-style gay bar.

The scene has deep roots. On Commerce Street stood The Jungle and Juanita's Place, very likely the city's first true gay bars. They opened in the fifties and disappeared in the early eighties, when the street was widened for a hotel and the convention centre. A marker from the Metro Historical Commission now recalls them.