Walk in the (Fabulous) Shoes of Local Queer Trailblazers
Everything you need to know about Ann Arbor District Library LGBTQ+ walking tour
Fun, meaningful — and free — fall travel doesn’t have to mean trekking far from home. The Ann Arbor District Library invites you to walk in the shoes of the LGBTQ+ forefathers and mothers who paved the way for a Michigan that has never been a more welcoming, safe place for our community. The library’s LGBTQ+ Walking Tour will take you on an entertaining, educational journey through greater Ann Arbor with stops at historically significant landmarks and everyday spots that have been a part of local queer history as well as locations where places of significance are now gone but never forgotten.
As you visit each stop, follow the library’s guided tour materials, available online at the links below to learn fun facts and little-known historical details. Jacob Gorski, AADL outreach team member, tells Pride Source that one of the biggest joys of helping to build the walking tour was the opportunity to hear stories from local LGBTQ+ community members, especially about places along the route that no longer exist. “We learned so many fun facts,” Gorski says. “One little tidbit I loved learning about Necto is that it was once called the Nectarine Ballroom because the nectarine is the sweetest fruit.”
The walking tour is only the latest in a long list of local resources the library has created in honor of the local LGBTQ+ community, including offerings like “The Gayest Generation” podcast, which focuses on local community members sharing stories about early days spent fighting for acceptance and equality, lecture series and author talks with queer creators and important figures, and a long list of Pride Month activities each year. This summer, the library’s “Big Gay Read” featured queer Kalamazoo author Samantha Irby’s book “We Are Never Meeting in Real Life.”
Since the tour is self-guided, you can explore at your leisure — plan to do the route in one day or stop by locations when you’re nearby. Each stop on the tour below includes a link to related AADL resources.
1. Human Sexuality Office, University of Michigan
325 Michigan Union | 530 S. State St.
Founded in 1971, the Human Sexuality Office (now known as Spectrum Center) was the first office of its kind in the United States. Jim Toy and Cynthia Gair were hired as the first employees at the center, which continued to expand its mission over the years to welcome the LGBTQ+ community and advocate for civil rights on campus and beyond.
2. Nectarine Ballroom
516 E. Liberty St.
Today, we know it as Necto. When it opened in 1984, it was The Nectarine Ballroom: a big-city style nightclub with multiple dance floors, celebrity performers, and — at its height — three queer nights a week.
3. Common Language Bookstore
215 S. Fourth Ave.
Common Language Bookstore was a feminist, LGBTQ+ bookstore founded in 1990 by Lynden Kelly and Kate Burkhardt. Visitors could drop in to browse the shelves and learn all about LGBTQ+ social life in the city. The bookstore moved to Braun Court from 2003 to 2018.
4. The Flame
115 W. Washington St.
The Flame was a dive bar in the truest sense. From the 1960s through the 1990s, it acted as a refuge for queer people living in and visiting Ann Arbor. It will be remembered for its debauchery and raucousness.
5. The Rubaiyat
102 S. First St.
The Rubaiyat, which first opened in 1960, was a restaurant-turned-disco-club that became THE place for lesbians to meet, dance and socialize in the 1970s and 1980s. It was also known for hosting drag nights and the Miss Ann Arbor pageant.
6. The Town Bar
214 E. Huron St.
The Town Bar was first purchased in 1958 by Norman Goetz, and relocated to 112 W. Washington Street in 1964. Norman and his partner Raymond Devereaux operated the bar together until 1970, when the couple’s gay clientele moved right across the street to The Flame.
7. Kathy Kozachenko Statue
Ann Arbor City Hall — 301 E. Huron St.
The walking tour’s debut coincides with Ann Arbor’s bicentennial celebration, a perfect opportunity to reflect on the city’s contributions to several firsts for the queer community. Jerry DeGrieck and Nancy Wechsler were the first politicians to come out while in office in 1972. Two years later, Kathy Kozachenko became the first openly gay person elected to public office in the United States. Plans were announced to build a statue commemorating her as part of the city’s bicentennial in 2024.
8. Womanspace
211 ½ N. Fourth Ave.
Step back into the 1970s and up a flight of stairs to imagine a space where members of a lesbian feminist collective published The Leaping Lesbian magazine and ran a small bookstore, art gallery and the Women’s Crisis Center. Staffed by volunteers, Womanspace operated between 1975 and 1985.
9. Braun Court
313–327 Braun Ct.
Braun Court, located across from the Farmers Market on N. Fourth Avenue, was a beloved gathering spot for Ann Arbor’s LGBTQ+ community. ⧵aut⧵ Bar, owned by Keith Orr and Martin Contreras, opened there in 1995 and other small businesses and organizations moved in next door, including Common Language Bookstore, the Jim Toy Community Center and Trillium Real Estate. The courtyard was the site of many impromptu gatherings, including a celebration for the Supreme Court decision overturning Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban on June 26, 2015, and a memorial for the Pulse Nightclub shooting a year later.
- ⧵aut⧵ Bar, 315 Braun Ct.
- Jim Toy Community Center, 319 Braun Ct.
- Common Language Bookstore, 317 Braun Ct.
- Trillium Real Estate, 323 Braun Ct.
Download a detailed PDF guide for the walking tour at bit.ly/3T9DGFz
This content is made possible through our partnership with the Ann Arbor District Library. Partnerships like these enable Pride Source to produce free, quality storytelling for the LGBTQ+ community.
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