Masculine male bar and club culture went through a revolution over the two decade span of these stories, from the indignities of police raids and harassment which dropped off somewhat after Stonewall, to being somewhat embraced, or perhaps respected by popular culture in establishments such as The Mineshaft in New York, and the various Eagle Bars worldwide.
Certainly Drummer Magazine itself is a product of harassment in Los Angeles, resulting from the arrest of Owner/Editor John Embry at a charity “Slave Auction” in 1975, forcing him to move to San Francisco. Bill Ward’s London and UK itself suffered from the notorious “Operation Spanner” which arrested, convicted, and imprisoned men for acts you see here. As of today, these acts in the UK are still not decriminalized.
Of course, when I write about bars and club here with drum, I mean leather bars and clubs. The friendships, sexual and social, created in these establishments created much of the fabric of modern gay male masculine culture – the color black, the material leather, the aim is ecstasy, and most importantly the place allows for complete honesty of expression and desire, as Sontag might say.
