After a much-ballyhooed grand reopening late last year, one of the Fort’s divey gay institutions, the 651, closed its doors early this month. Manager Terry Phillips said that the old patrons who’d become new patrons again were warned of the impending and unexpected demise.
“People were allowed to come back and socialize for a final weekend,” Phillips said. “They were allowed closure. That place had a lot of memories for a lot of people.”
The bar business sometimes feels like a giant Wack-a-Mole arcade game for those who dare to enter it. After you stick your head up to let people know you’re there, anything can come along and slam you down. For the venerable 651, it was a simple problem: air conditioning.
On most leases, “after six months, the only thing the landlords are responsible for are air conditioning and building maintenance,” said Phillips. “We were having problems getting the A.C. fixed. People were already starting to complain in January. On Saturday nights with a full dance floor, it gets hot.”
There’s no way Phillips and the owner could’ve maintained a clientele through a Texas spring and summer, so they decided to voluntarily close up shop rather than soldier on. They are determined to reopen another incarnation of the 651, and all options are open across the city. The problem, Phillips said, is that only a few areas are zoned for bars, and retail-residential construction is so ubiquitous across town that a prospective gay haunt could wind up opening its doors only to discover it was in line for a wrecking ball six months later. Even if they have to build a property from scratch themselves, he swore, the 651 will return.
In the meantime, the other bar Phillips manages, the Stampede, is celebrating March as Turnabout Month, a Fort Worth staple of gay socializing in which organizations such as the Trinity River Bears and the Cowtown Leathermen put on charity drag shows. And what’s so unusual about that? The “turnabout” part: Gay dudes who aren’t normally into drag agree to don lashes, lipstick, and frock for various good causes. The Stampede celebrates its Turnabout night with a show on March 30. Among the divas involved will be Phillips himself – and he’s already begun preparations.
He makes an ugly woman, he said, and he wants people to know that he knows that. For the show, he said, “I’m growing a mustache and goatee, and afterwards I’ll shave it off. This is camp drag for us, not serious drag.”
He doesn’t want to step on any manicured toes. – Jimmy Fowler
Contact Last Call at lastcall@fwweekly.com.
