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“They threw us to the ground, searched everyone and everything in the bar, kicked us and stepped on us, and called us names like it was the 1950s,” Kelley remembered. Its most famous moment came in 2009 when the Atlanta Police Department’s Red Dog Unit raided the bar, acting on a tip that there was nudity, sexual activities and drug use on the premises. Thirty years in business is almost unheard of for a gay bar in Atlanta, and in some ways the Eagle has seen enough ups and downs for twice that time period. I used to play on both of the Eagle softball teams,” he said.īaker also echoed Kelley and Ramey’s favorite points of pride: “I have always found it one of the most welcoming bars in the city, and walking in after a few weeks without a visit feels like coming home.” “My weekends would start at Hoedown’s, and then I would end my nights on the dance floor at the Eagle. Michael Baker, an Athens resident and longtime Eagle patron, first fell in love with the bar in 1999 when he lived in Atlanta. If you’re a drag queen, or a leather man, or you have a specific fetish, there’s a place for you at the Eagle.” “People are still looking for a place to be themselves,” he told Georgia Voice. (Photo by Robbie Medwed)Īs much as the bar may have changed since then – a fresh coat of paint, a redesign of the outdoor signage to add the bar’s name – the essence has remained the same, Ramey said. Atlanta Eagle bartender Kirby Morin on a recent night leading into the bar’s 30th anniversary weekend. Ramey refused to allow that to happen, and together with Kelley, purchased the bar – and fired the manager.
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The manager running the bar after Jay’s death floated the idea of ending the club nights, which would have effectively severed the relationship with the many community organizations that called the Eagle home. The Eagle has long been a home to sports teams, interest clubs and other LGBT community organizations. Ramey and Kelley found their way to the Eagle when they were officers in the Southern Bears Club. When Renegade’s failed, he decided to paint everything black and re-open as the Eagle – though according to Robby Kelley, who purchased the bar with his partner (and current owner) Richard Ramey after Jay died of AIDS soon after opening, Jay often joked that if the Eagle failed, he’d “find a poodle, dye it pink, put it up on a pole and call it ‘The Pink Poodle on Ponce.’” Evans previously owned the Texas Drilling Company (where Highland Tap is now). The dark, stucco building at 306 Ponce de Leon Avenue first housed Renegade’s, a gay country bar opened by the Eagle’s first owner, Jay Evans, that lasted less than six months. Atlanta’s most famous gay bar has seen it all, and this month the Atlanta Eagle is reaching a new milestone: 30 years serving Atlanta’s LGBT community – or, more specifically the leather and fetish community.