Herb's Bar/Lounge

After the closure of Duke’s Tavern due to the destruction of the Washington Duke Hotel, which we will discuss shortly, owner Herb Rigsbee created Herb’s Bar/Lounge. Herb’s Bar was listed in the Damron Travel Guides starting in 1978, a few years after Duke’s Tavern was demolished. In the Travel Guides, Herb’s Bar/Lounge is classified as a “cruisy” area, meaning gay men would frequent this spot for sex. It is also listed as “some OC” and “SM.” OC was designated “older crowd,” “while “SM” stands for “some motorcycle and leather.” According to the Mapping the Gay Guides website, a digital history project that has mapped the locations listed in the Damron Guides, “American motorcycle culture began in the 1940s and 1950s, and gay motorcycle clubs gained in popularity around the same time. Some participants in the culture found refuge in these roaming motorcycle communities as a replacement for meeting spots for bars (which could be unsafe, especially with constant police raids). Gay leather culture also allowed some gay men to embrace a masculine gay identity, one in opposition to the stereotyped femininity of “fairy” gay men.”

Interestingly, Herb’s Bar/Lounge is only listed on Damron’s Travel Guides from 1978-1979. In 1983, Herb’s Swing Club was listed in a new location (706 ½ 9th Street). Herb’s Swing Club is only listed in the Damron Travel Guides for 1983. You can find the listings of Herb's Bar/Lounge here, on the "Mapping the Gay Guides" website. "Mapping the Gay Guides," is a digital archive of the places listed in the Damron Travel Guides.

*The Damron Travel Guides were travel books created by Bob Damron and meant to indicate gay-oriented spaces, especially for traveling men. These guides also came with classifications, as indicated in this example, for traveling queer men to cater their visits to. The Damron Guides mostly highlighted stops for gay, white men, but included indications for places that had Black, and female audiences.