The board of directors last week reversed the decision to close permanently after secretary Gail Starr says the building’s landlord reached out with a generous offer. “I remember the Ranch closing, I remember Foxes closing, and my original home bar – which was AMC, The Albuquerque Mining Company – closing, and the Pulse closing.”īut Roxxx and the rest of the SOCH family now have a bit of hope that it won’t join those other bars in the Albuquerque LGBTQ history books. “Unfortunately, I’ve witnessed a lot of my homes-away-from-home closing,” they said. While Roxxx described news of the SOCH closing as “terrifying,” they weren’t shocked. in the city's Nob Hill neighborhood for nearly 40 years. KUNM The Albuquerque Social Club has stood at the corner of Central Ave. “And I could tell you a thousand stories of how this place changed someone’s life in one night.” And the first time we kissed was here in the parking lot of the Social Club,” they said. “The first time I said 'I love you' to my partner Sera was in the back room while we were smoking. Roxxx is now in their early 40s and has had some of life’s most treasured experiences there. So, eventually our goal was to be old enough to go to SOCH.” “We’d just sit outside and see the people driving around. – and the main focus was the parking lot of SOCH,” said Roxxx. “The gay cruise was just cruising in your car from Carlisle Blvd. The gay cruise is how Frida Steel Roxxx first found out about the SOCH years later, in the mid-90s, when they were still underage. And the back parking lot was like the cruise. They could have sodas and juice and dance for another two hours. “We had after-hours clubs in the back bar, Last Chance Disco. “It was like Saturday Night Fever because we had the same dancefloors with the lights under the plexiglass,” said Tellez. But for about a decade before that, it was a gay bar known as The Heights, says Midnyte Tellez, who was there at the beginning. in Nob Hill has been the members-only Albuquerque Social Club since the early 80s. The LGBTQ club on the corner of Central Ave. “Like when I talk to the governor, or I talk to Congresswoman Haaland, I can sit down with them and not be nervous, and it’s because I have that experience at the Social Club.
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"It was more than just a bar that sold liquor.”Ĭruse credits much of her professional growth to having been a longtime emcee at the SOCH. “That’s where I have always imagined any kind of funeral services for myself or anyone else in the community," said Bunnie Cruse, a trans advocate and chair of the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico. If you have big news, bad news or anything – you went there.” Hannah Bernal-Cooper, a member and performer there, said that's because “that’s where you went to celebrate, that’s where you went to mourn, that’s where you went to be with family.
Kimberly's expert tip: There's never a cover.The stage at the Albuquerque Social Club, popularly referred to as the "SOCH."Įvery SOCH member who KUNM spoke to described the SOCH as a church. Recommended for Gay Clubs because: Kockout is the newest bar to open up on the strip, and therefore is the new hot place to hangout. In the evening, they open up the Backroom Bar, where the real fun is said to be had.
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When you get nibbley, you can nosh on a yummy snack from their full kitchen or opt for a handmade pizza from Pup's Pizza, which is located right inside Knockout. Knockout invites guests to come in, enjoy the music, drink the cocktails and get great service from some of San Antonio's best bartenders. They have brand new pool tables, dart boards and even a punching bag, for working out that post-work aggression. it may be the first official gay sports bar in San Antonio, where you can watch games on one of their big screens or over 15 flat screen TVs. One of the newest additions to the LGBT nightlife is Knockout, located along the San Antonio strip, also known as Main Avenue.