DETROIT + MICHIGAN / LGBTQ+ / ¼

LGBTQ+ Detroit & Michigan

Bars, clubs, drag nights, saunas, community centers, Pride festivals and landmarks of queer history, with addresses, phone numbers and sources, all in one place.

Browse the guide ↓Pride & festival calendar ↓Remembered: closed landmarks ↓

places & communities: 272
closed legends: 61

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272 places & communities · 61 archive entries · 1/2

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Bars & clubs / Grand Rapids

General Wood Shop

Trans community

An LGBTQ+-owned West Side cocktail lounge in Grand Rapids that served cocktails, mocktails, karaoke and drag from 2023 to 2025.

507 Bridge St NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504

Food, coffee & shops / Ferndale

Not Sorry Goods

A queer-affirming sustainable fashion brand whose Ferndale store closed in summer 2025; it now sells online and at pop-ups.

22963 Woodward Ave, Ferndale, MI 48220

Bars & clubs / Saugatuck

Guardian Brewing Company

A fully LGBTQ- and women-owned brewery near Saugatuck that closed in March 2024 when its owners moved the business to Indiana.

3657 63rd St, Saugatuck, MI 49453

Food, coffee & shops / Grand Rapids

Hamburger Mary's Grand Rapids

The drag-themed burger chain's Grand Rapids franchise, known for drag bingo and drag shows; it closed in 2022.

6240 28th St SE, Grand Rapids, MI

Food, coffee & shops / Ypsilanti

Hamburger Mary's Ypsilanti

The drag-themed burger chain's short-lived Ypsilanti outpost in 2022, with weekly drag entertainment and Tower Inn favorites.

701 W Cross St, Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Bars & clubs / New Center / Milwaukee Junction

Woodward Bar & Grill

MenBlack & POC community

For decades Detroit's oldest gay bar and a home for Black LGBTQ+ Detroiters, open from 1954 until a fire destroyed it in 2022.

6426 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48202
(313) 872-0166

Bars & clubs / Ann Arbor

Aut Bar

Men

Ann Arbor's openly gay bar and restaurant on Braun Court from 1995 to 2020, loved for its brunch, its patio and its role as a community hub.

315 Braun Ct, Ann Arbor, MI 48104

History & landmarks / Ann Arbor

Braun Court

A small Ann Arbor courtyard that was the heart of the city's LGBTQ+ community from 1995, when aut Bar opened, until the bar closed in 2020.

313-327 Braun Ct, Ann Arbor, MI

Bars & clubs / Northeast Detroit (7 Mile, east of Conant)

Club Gold Coast

Men

One of Detroit's longest-running gay clubs, known for nightly male dancer shows and drag pageants, open from 1973 to 2020.

2971 E. Seven Mile Rd., Detroit, MI 48234
(313) 366-6135

Bars & clubs / Lansing

Spiral Dance Bar

Lansing's former main gay and lesbian video dance club in Old Town, with a big dance floor, DJs and drag shows; it closed in 2020.

1247 Center St, Lansing, MI 48906

Food, coffee & shops / Berkley

Amici's Pizza & Living Room

Women

A Berkley pizzeria and martini lounge run for years by a married lesbian couple; its LGBTQ-owned era ended in late 2019.

3249 12 Mile Rd, Berkley, MI 48072

Food, coffee & shops / Ann Arbor

Common Language Bookstore

Women

A feminist and LGBTQ+ bookstore in Ann Arbor that closed at the end of 2018, when only about ten such shops remained in the US and Canada.

317 Braun Ct, Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Saunas & men's clubs / Northwest Detroit (8 Mile)

TNT Health Club

Adults onlyMen

Detroit's longest-running gay bathhouse, a private men's club on West 8 Mile from 1979 until it closed in 2018.

13333 W. 8 Mile Rd., Detroit, MI 48235

History & landmarks / Hart

Michigan Womyn's Music Festival

Women

For 40 summers, from 1976 to 2015, this lesbian feminist music festival filled a stretch of woodland near Hart, built and run by women.

Hart, MI

Leather, bear & cruising bars / Southwest Detroit

R&R Saloon

Adults onlyMen

Laid-back Southwest Detroit leather bar, home of the Mr. Leather Detroit contest and the Macho City disco night until 2014.

7330 Michigan Ave., Detroit, MI 48210
(313) 849-2751

Bars & clubs / Northeast Detroit (8 Mile)

The Rainbow Room

East 8 Mile show bar that was a major Detroit drag pageant venue from 1996 to 2012.

6640 E. 8 Mile Rd., Detroit, MI 48234
(313) 891-1020

Bars & clubs / West Side (Greenfield & Joy)

Backstreet

Men

Legendary West Side gay disco opened in 1979, which booked stars like Sylvester and drew up to 1,200 dancers on Saturdays.

15606 Joy Rd., Detroit, MI 48228
(313) 838-6699

Bars & clubs / Lansing

Chrome Cat

Women

A lesbian-owned bar in Lansing's Old Town that served as a gathering place for Mid-Michigan's LGBTQ+ community from 2009 to 2011.

226 E Grand River Ave, Lansing, MI 48906

Bars & clubs / West side

Diamond Jim's Saloon

Men

West-side Detroit saloon (2001–2010) that drew bears, cowboys and the leather crowd and raised money for gay rodeo.

19650 W Warren Ave, Detroit, MI 48228

Leather, bear & cruising bars / Near Trumbull (North Corktown/New Center edge)

The Detroit Eagle / The Interchange

Adults onlyMen

For more than three decades the heart of Detroit's leather scene on Holden Street, first as The Interchange, then as the Detroit Eagle, until 2010.

1501 Holden St, Detroit, MI

History & landmarks / Detroit

Triangle Foundation

Michigan's pioneering LGBTQ+ anti-violence and advocacy group (1991–2010), a predecessor of Equality Michigan.

Detroit, MI

Bars & clubs / Lansing

Club 505

Women

A lesbian-owned bar in downtown Lansing that was the area's main lesbian hangout for nearly 15 years, until 2008.

505 E Shiawassee St, Lansing, MI 48912

Bars & clubs / Pontiac

Club Flamingo

A gay club on Pontiac's former Oakland Avenue that operated from roughly 1992 to 2008.

Oakland Ave (now Cesar Chavez Ave), Pontiac, MI

Bars & clubs / Ferndale

Q Nightclub

Men

A big gay dance club on Ferndale's 9 Mile and an anchor of the city's gay nightlife in the early 2000s; it closed in 2006.

141 W 9 Mile Rd (Club 9 listing), Ferndale, MI 48220

Bars & clubs / Lansing

Club Paradise

Men

Lansing's leading gay dance club from 1992 to 2002, opened the night after the city's older gay club, Trammpps, closed.

224 S. Washington Square, Lansing, MI 48933

Bars & clubs / Ann Arbor

The Flame

Men

Ann Arbor's legendary gay bar on West Washington Street, a small, famously unpolished dive that ran from 1949 to 1998.

115 W. Washington St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Bars & clubs / Mount Clemens

The Mirage

MenWomen

A Mount Clemens gay bar of the late 1990s with a long bar, small dance floor and pool room; it burned down around the end of 1998.

27 N Walnut St, Mount Clemens, MI

Bars & clubs / Ann Arbor

The Rubaiyat

An Ann Arbor disco popular with gay men and lesbians alike from the early 1970s until 1986.

102 S. First St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104

History & landmarks / Ann Arbor

Womanspace

Women

A volunteer-run lesbian feminist collective space in Ann Arbor (1975–1985) and the home of The Leaping Lesbian magazine.

211 1/2 N. Fourth Ave, Ann Arbor, MI

History & landmarks / Detroit

Detroit Gay Liberation Front and The Gay Liberator

Detroit's post-Stonewall Gay Liberation Front (1970) and its journal, The Gay Liberator, which ran until 1976.

Detroit, MI

History & landmarks / Detroit

Christopher Street Detroit '72 – Michigan's First Pride

Michigan's first Pride, held in June 1972 with dances, picnics, films, a drag pageant and a march and rally in Detroit.

Detroit, MI

History & landmarks / West Side (site demolished)

Ruth Ellis and the “Gay Spot”

WomenBlack & POC community

The West Side home of Ruth Ellis and her partner Babe Franklin, a refuge for Black gay and lesbian Detroiters until it was demolished in 1971.

Detroit, MI

Saunas & men's clubs / East Side

Akron Health Club

Adults onlyMen

Historic East Side gay men's bathhouse, run by the owners of Todd's Sway Lounge; one of five in Detroit in 1979.

Detroit, MI

Bars & clubs / Lincoln Park

Club 1625

Downriver gay bar on Fort Street in Lincoln Park, documented around 2008.

Fort St., Lincoln Park, MI

Bars & clubs / Westland

Club 450

Former gay bar on Merriman Road in Westland, documented around 2001.

Merriman Rd., Westland, MI

Saunas & men's clubs / Detroit

Club Baths

Adults onlyMen

Detroit outpost of the Club Baths chain, one of five gay men's bathhouses in the city in 1979; closed by the mid-1980s.

Detroit, MI

Addresses, phone numbers and hours come from public sources, and every entry shows its check date. Nightlife venues change schedules often, so confirm on the venue's own website or social page before you go. Photos and logos come from the venues' official websites, archived websites or openly licensed collections; each entry names its exact source.

Proud all year

Pride & festival calendar

August 7

September 5

Straits Pride / Mackinac Island Pride FestivalMackinac Island
Up North PrideTraverse City
AIDS Walk DetroitRoyal Oak
Flint PrideFlint
Lenawee PrideAdrian

October 3

November 1

Transgender Day of Remembrance in MichiganStatewide

LGBTQ+ events ↗

Time machine

Remembered: closed landmarks

These places are gone, but they shaped queer life in Detroit and Michigan. We keep their entries as an archive, with the years they opened and closed.

Before you go

Good to know

Michigan serves alcohol from age 21, and almost every bar checks photo ID at the door. Visitors from abroad should carry a passport, the ID accepted everywhere.

Michigan bars stop serving alcohol by 2 a.m. Most clubs are liveliest Thursday to Saturday; drag nights and theme parties vary by venue.

Several Detroit and Ferndale community organizations offer free or low-cost HIV and STI testing and PrEP advice. Find them under Health & testing.

Use a taxi or rideshare between venues at night. Saunas and men's clubs admit adults only, often with a membership and photo ID.

LGBTQ+ Detroit & Michigan

Find your place

Pride & festival calendar

May 2

June 20

July 2

August 7

September 5

October 3

November 1

Remembered: closed landmarks

Good to know

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