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The site of thousands of hushed meetings and boisterous celebrations over the years, one local pastor describes it as “ holy ground.” The park dates to 1916, when it became a new public space in an expanding part of Riverside. Willowbranch Park and the adjacent Willowbranch Library have had a place in Jacksonville’s LGBTQ history for six decades. Historic Willowbranch Library, built 1930. Willowbranch Park: Jax’s LGBTQ Holy Ground Open since 1993, the sprawling 17,000-square-foot complex features several rooms with a variety of themes, and is one of the largest nightclubs in the city.
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Membership declined in its later years and it finally closed in 2019 due to compounding code citations stemming from long-neglected maintenance.Ĭurrently, Jacksonville’s oldest gay venue is Metro Entertainment Complex, formerly Club Metro, on Willow Branch Avenue in Riverside. The building began as the Roman Spa in 1973 before becoming Club Jacksonville in 1979, and for another 40 years the spa was a neighbor to Southside Baptist Church and several nearby businesses. While communal bathhouses fell out of favor with most of the general population in the early 20th century, they remained popular in the LGBTQ community as spaces for members to meet and hook up without fear. Bo’s Coral Reef survived Boen’s death in 2010 and carried on until 2019, when it finally shuttered after 55 years serving the community.Īnother long-running LGBTQ business was Club Jacksonville, a bathhouse catering to gay men located in the windowless building at 1939 Hendricks Avenue in San Marco. For nearly 40 years, it was a favorite hangout for LGBTQ people from across the First Coast and a popular spot in the Jax Beaches bar scene. In 1980, Bo’s returned to Jacksonville Beach in a building on 2nd Street. Originally located on Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville Beach, Boen later moved it to Philips Highway. In 1964, Roverta “Bo” Boen opened what became Duval County’s longest running gay bar, Bo’s Coral Reef. While online dating and broadening acceptance of LGBTQ people in the wider community has led to a decline in the number of gay bars and nightclubs, their role in Jacksonville’s LGBTQ history can’t be overstated.īy 1960, Jacksonville was home to at least three gay bars. At a time when being out came with huge social stigma and even personal danger, these spaces served as safe havens for LGBTQ Jaxsons to meet, find a date or simply be themselves in public.
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Jacksonville has been home to bars, clubs and other venues catering to the LGBTQ community since at least the 1950s. Carried by the sound: Gay clubs in Jacksonville history