In search of the Eagle

In at least nine countries and 15 U.S. states, you can find the Eagle.

In Montreal, it’s called L’Aigle Noir; in Minneapolis, it’s the Eagle Bolt Bar; in New Orleans, it’s a room above another bird bar. But all of these places are unmistakably the Eagle: A family of gay bars with no formal relationship.

Their offerings are similar, but their locations are varied – from Atlanta and Los Angeles all the way to Vienna. Think black walls, Bud Light, bearded men and perhaps a large wooden cross with cuffs dangling off.

It’s the closest thing gay men have to a global franchise. You can walk into one in many cities and know what you're in for.

“I would call the Eagle an idea. A concept that has spread,” said Dan Henderson, general manager of the Eagle Portland.

Over the years, he told me, he has become more curious of the history behind the name.

Curious myself, I set off to catalog every outpost I could find, and to try and make sense of this ad-hoc network of bars.

The first came in 1970, right after the Stonewall riots, when a longshoreman’s pub on Manhattan’s far west side was transformed from the Eagle Open Kitchen into a leather and cruising bar called the Eagle’s Nest.

A year after its New York founding, an outpost opened in Washington, DC. By 1981, not only had the bars moved west to California and Washington, they popped up in Munich and Amsterdam.

Over time, independent Eagle-branded bars opened in at least 59 cities. When one closes — or burns down — a new one frequently takes its place in the same city. In at least five instances, when one closed, a bar called The Eagle in Exile popped up to fill the void, itself a small tradition.

Most have evolved from a leather crowd to something more akin to a cruisy sports bar — though you probably won't find sports on the TV. You can still find men strutting around in a harness and chaps, but you'll more likely come across people in jeans and a t-shirt.

What's in a name?

So why propagate the Eagle name specifically?

“It's an interesting question, but a tough one to answer,” said Gayle Rubin, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan.

“Eagles are the biggest diurnal predatory birds, and all that power and deadly equipment is easy to absorb into the semiotics of potency, strength and domination,” she said.

When I asked Alan Kachin, owner of the former Eagle bar in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., why he chose the name, he told me it was because of the manly connotation.

“Eagle Bars were and still are remembered as masculine meeting places. Therefore, Fort Lauderdale Eagle,” he said.

However, its history is diffuse, a casualty of its nature. Pegging the locations involved hunting down liquor licenses, emailing owners and comparing websites, which frequently list the locations of sister bars.

Going online

Unsurprisingly, gay bars were early adopters of the Internet, and some Eagle websites go back to 1998. With the help of the WayBackMachine, I was able to peer back at parties, messages, drink specials and a lot of low-resolution gifs.

Many of the sites served, like the bars themselves, as community hubs. More than one hosted a guestbook where people chatted and left reviews. One site hosted photos of the patrons’ pets — among them cats and dogs named Foo Foo, Argus and Titan.

When the Eagle in Charlotte, N.C., shut down, the bar posted an outpouring of messages from regulars. “I can't begin to tell you how many people I now know because of visiting the Eagle,” said one man. “Thank you for some of the best years of my life.”

I put together an exhaustive list of cities, dates and names of Eagle bars. Each row has the date the first opened its doors to the date the last one turned out the lights, as well as the different names the bars went by.

Random Eagle facts

The Eagle Amsterdam claims to be in the city's oldest building. The wooden skeleton apparently dates to 1485.

The Long Island Eagle has rebranded to “The Veranda at The Long Island Eagle,” touting its serene deck in lieu of its previously “dark and seedy patio.” In spite of this, I’ve kept it marked as open.

At least four have been gutted by fire. The 501 Eagle in Indianaoplis, Ind., posted on their website that “the men are as hot as the bar.” The Houston Eagle was the most recent to burn, forcing it from its home in early 2016.

The Boston Eagle is the oldest one in continuous operation. It's been at the same location for 40 years.

Florida has had an outpost in at least six cities — Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Cocoa Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami — the most of any state, yet none remain open.

As for the original building, the Eagle's Nest on 11th Ave.? Like all things in New York, it’s been knocked down to make way for condos. But don't worry: you can get a beer at the Eagle NYC, just 7 blocks north on 28th St.