Facebook group Gay Barchives captures glory days, forges connections

About five years ago, LGBTQ culture maven Art Smith created a Facebook group called Gay Barchives as a way to preserve the histories of LGBTQ bars and clubs. The original idea was to capture logos, photos, and personal recollections of fun times at defunct, often legendary gay nightlife venues. Over the years, their mission expanded to include current bars not only from the U.S. but all over the world.  The group gradually accrued several thousand members until last March, when the inconceivable happened. Membership skyrocketed, hitting 50K members. Gay City News recently caught up with Art via video call to talk about the joys and pitfalls of documenting queer nightlife online. The interview has been condensed and edited. First off, congratulations on the incredible milestone with Gay Barchives. You’ve already surpassed 64K members, not just 50K. How did this all begin? It feels a little crazy, honestly. The seeds were planted at the end of 2019 when I interviewed my friend Vicki Vara, whose family owned a dozen gay bars in Atlanta over time, including Backstreet, Weekends, and Weekends Warehouse. I posted about our conversation on social media, and people started chiming in with their own memories of places like
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