On August 2nd, 2018 many of us gather to remember what was the cornerstone of gay life in Mobtown, the Baltimore Eagle.
After struggling and flighting battle after battle for more than 2 years, the original management of the newly renovated Baltimore Eagle closed the doors and simply walked away, with good reason.
As someone that had a significant understanding of what happened, a group of good hearted like minded men tried to recreate the essence of a leather bar twinned with a sustainable business model. It seemed like a win-win.
But we would soon find out that sometime passion is truly blinding and no matter what you do, you just can’t put lipstick on crazy and hope for the best.
Since that point, the original management team has moved on and proven their business model will work, and I am happy for their success. They deserve it after the crazy train experience they had.
Still nothing had replaced that vacuum left by the true Eagles demise, and Baltimore’s gay life has been less for it.
Sure the Eagle has since as 2 other management groups come in with the current set finding what looks like a winning combo leading to measured success, but when you go in, it doesn’t feel like the Eagle I remember. Now it feels more like a T-Fueled fever dream, mixed with some disco harnesses and posers trying to play the part of a legacy they will never understand.
My guess this is how so many felt when Limelight closed, or Velvet Nation, or any of the night time gay Meccas we once called home.
So now we stick close to good old fashion staples like Leon’s when we want to get together, and that’s fine. Or we venture down to Fort Lauderdale and visit our Eagle in Reincarnate.
But I still remember walking into the Baltimore Eagle for the first time, thinking, wow I’m finally home, and I like so many miss that.
I fully agree, I stay out of the Baltimore Eagle unless needed now. It’s not a place I frequent. There are other spaces where I feel much more comfortable, Leon’s for one, CPC as another (though hours are limited). I feel with the demise of certain venues we are losing our “leather culture” or its being pushed more to the sides. I remember my first time walking into the Baltimore Eagle, sticky floors, very dark, certain content playing on the TVs, and the infamous board walk where people would congregate underneath (This was pre-renovation). You’d enter from the side vs. the front, the bathrooms…..well they weren’t the fancy bathrooms there now, this all is lost and most of those visiting the Eagle now will never know.