Lost Spaces: Memories from Gay Bars, Lesbian Clubs, and LGBTQ+ Parties

Usually on this show we talk to someone about a very specific time in their life when they went to a particular venue. What we don't do that often is look at the same venue at different time periods, and reflect on the journey and the growth that the person experienced in the intervening years...  But, today, James O'Hagan, writer, activist and co-host of the Drag Race recap podcast Sissy Tha...

Have you every had that experience of being 'fresh meat'?  When you walk in to a bar and receive all the attention of everyone who is in there?  Well, this week's chat threw me back in time to the (admittedly very few) occasions when that's happened to me, and how glorious and all-powerful I felt in those moments!  And, who reminded me of those heady days? Well, it's Bryan, the co-h...

Very early on in the life of this podcast I had Boogaloo Stu on to talk about the cult London club night Shinky Shonky. And, in lots of ways, that was the episode that helped show me that the concept of Lost Spaces was going to work because suddenly people who used to go to Shinky Shonky were talking about the episode on social media and celebrating all of the good times that they had there. ...

There's a really interesting conversation in this week's episode about the 'we're all in this together' mentality that queers in small towns have, supporting queer spaces even if they don't particularly enjoy the music or the events held there.   And, to show us the way is singer/songwriter Chris Pureka, who took time from promoting their new EP, The Longest Year, to talk all about Diva's, th...

So, I'm kinda fascinated with gay country and western bars, where people dress up in their finest cowperson garb, and square dance, two-step and mosey on down... This isn't something that I think is a thing in the UK, so it's just been a curiosity to me until now.  But, luckily for me, Dennis Hensley - writer, performer and host of the podcast 'Dennis Anyone?' took the time to tell me all abo...

I got an e-mail from this week's guest saying that he'd like to be on the show. He pitched himself with something along the lines of 'I know you like talking about sex, so I think you'll be really interested in my stories!'. After feeling very judged and a smidgen shamed I responded immediately to book him! And, so that is how Dave Quantic came on to tell me all about lost LA spaces Spike and Cuff...

It's the crossover episode that none of you asked for (but I promise you're going to love it!)! If you follow me on social media (and, if you don't, why not? @lostspacespod on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook), you will have seen earlier this week that I was a guest on the NotStalgia podcast. Now, this is a really cool show, where hosts Jess and Eric discuss an original film and then they discuss i...

Jeffrey Masters is the creator and host of the long-running interview podcast, LGBTQ&A (recommended by The New York Times!). Here he has interviewed such guests as John Cameron Mitchell, Laverne Cox, and Melissa Etheridge, and over 200 others.  Back when he was a baby-gay, and after an earlier three-month stint over summer holidays, he packed his bags and plonked himself down in LA, where...

This week we're welcoming back an old guest - Craig Law is a DJ and the host of the #InTheMix show on Gaydio, the world's biggest LGBT radio station.  The last time he was here he told me all about his early days of gay clubbing in his hometown Swansea, Wales. This time around we're visiting Manchester's gay village and the lost club Kiki, whose tagline was "A grown-up club for those who grew...

This week I am talking to Seth... no last name, just Seth... who is the former co-host of the Thanks for Coming! podcast, which recapped episodes of RuPaul's Drag Race whilst also covering queer pop culture. Alas, the show ended earlier in 2022.  Having lived in LA for a few years, Seth moved back to his college town of Bloomington, Indiana (where he had that weird experience of everything be...

We’ve heard a few times on this show about the healing power of drag, and how important it has been on different guests journeys of self-discovery and recalibration... but that’s always been from the perspective of drag artists, and not the audience who find escape in their art.... Well, that's all about to change. On this week's episode we are talking to Jaimie Sherling, who has recently publishe...

The longer I do this podcast the more I'm learning about a real and very serious affliction on our community - and that is 'lesbian drama'... a few guests have now talked to me about this phenomenon, and at first I brushed it off, but the more I heard about it the more I wanted to know... Now, if you google 'lesbian drama' you'll probably find a list of films to watch on Netflix, but dig a little...

Lee Sean Huang is Taiwanese American designer, educator and podcaster. He grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and had what he describes as a typical middle American upbringing.  In the late 90s, as a teenager, he spent two summers in Paris, France on a study abroad programme. It was here that he got an opportunity to explore his identity and figure out who he was.  And one of the gay bars where...

Amelia is the co-host of the podcast Pitney and Amelia's Bitchen Boutique - they may be awful, but they’re right!  (Actually, i don’t know if i agree that they are awful or right, bit it’s how they describe themselves on their show so we’re just gonna go with it....) We caught up to talk about the Austin, Texas club The Crossing.  Now, this is one of those situations where, because the c...

Doug Crossley is an award-winning writer and artist based in the UK (and - spoiler alert - he also recently won a baking episode of Kirstie's Handmade Christmas which was on Channel 4 over the festive period!). He moved to London in the early 00s to study musical theatre at the infamous BRIT school, and came with a set of preconceptions about the big city and how his life would be there.  We...

Having been an in-demand DJ for the better part of the last 20 years there were a lot of queer spaces that I could have talked about with DJ Dan Murphy,  but we decided to go with the venue that gave him his big start all those years ago...  And so we're headed back to the early 2000s to talk about Arq, the legendary superclub at the tip of Sydney's queer district of Oxford Street. ...

Have you ever had someone try to coax you out of the closet by asking the seemingly innocent question 'is there anything you want to tell me?'?  Do you remember the anguish and pain of simply muttering the 3 or 4 words needed to just confirm their suspicions?  Well, if you have, I have a feeling you'll love this week's episode.  I'm talking to comedy writer and actor Lisa Haas about...

There's nothing quite like a small town gay bar. This week we're catching up with Martin J Dixon , a stand-up comedian who is really into soft core porn and hard core hand holding. He lived in Truro between the ages of 16 and 18, having moved there to live with his grandparents and finish high school. It was here that he snuck in to Eclipse, and had his first gay bar experience. During our convers...

Self confessed pop culture expert Charlie Sayce, creator of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Fans, and host of God Save the Queens, a drag race review show on Glitterbeam Radio, is this week's guest.  And he's taking us on a trip back in time to his uni days in Worthing, a small seaside town in the south of England. It was here that he found the only gay bar in town, the Jack Horner. Despite it looking...

1 December is World Aids Day, an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic.  To mark this day on this week's show I'm joined by De'Vannon Hubert, podcaster and author of 'Sex, Drugs, and Jesus', a memoir about his struggles with his HIV+ diagnosis, drug addiction, homelessness, and rejection from his church for his sexuality. And the venue we're discussing is F-Bar...

So, if you've ever listened to this show before you'll know that I often talk to my guests about straight people in queer spaces... and, for the most part people are not exactly against the idea, but fear that it can compromise the integrity of a space, or... just make it a bit more boring... Well, this week's guest, Gretchen Phillips , has an entirely different view, and wants to see a world wher...

This week's guest is Reese Williams , host of the Not Another Drag Race Podcast .  If you follow me on social media you'll have seen this week that I was the guest on his show, spouting my ill-informed opinions about last week's episode of Drag Race UK, and now it's time to return the favour! Reese grew up in Melbourne's outer suburbs and still remembers the long train ride he'd take to come...

Michael Ryan, who leads the Gay Bars That Are Gone walking tour in NYC, and loves queer spaces as much as I do, is this week's guest. Originally from Augusta, Georgia, he first moved to New York for college, and although he quickly threw himself in to the scene, he wasn't sure what kind of gay he wanted to be... It wasn't until he found Splash, one of those old school gay bars that was bold, trash...

The story behind how this week's conversation happened is almost as good as the interview itself! So, you may know this already, but I’m a big fan of Grease 2, which I think is a far superior film to Grease.  Having heard me rant about it on a previous episode of the show (see 'Queer as Punk' with Demi Wylde) a follower on twitter, @rnfrw, who is also a long time listener of the show (hello!)...

One of the big perks of doing this show is that I get to reach out to people I admire with the flimsy excuse that I want to interview them for my podcast, and then get the opportunity to talk one-to-one with them for a few hours... And, this week's guest is very special. Regina Gently, who you may also know as Gentleman Reg, is  a singer, songwriter and drag performer from Canada, who has wor...