All photos by Donald Kravitz.
Location: Pro Bar – Resorts Atlantic City
Dateline: 11:59pm - Friday, Feb. 10
An Asbury Park store, Etc. in conjunction with the club Pro Bar in Resorts is holding a Valentine’s Underwear, Briefs, and Swimsuit Runway Show and Sale this Friday night, Feb. 10, at midnight.
Promoter Keith Werner has more than 10 models lined up showing an extensive collection by C-IN2, Good Boy Gone Bad, Marek+Richard, and Mundo Unico.
Models are from Australia, Romania, Italy, and the good old USA.
According to Werner, “We are bringing the mountain to Mohammed, so to speak, by taking this great merchandise on the road. There are no stores catering to the GLBT community in Atlantic City, and very little true selection outside of the norm for men’s underwear and swimsuits in the local department stores.
The presenting store, Etc., features fashions, furnishings, and flourishes. Owner, Bob Reuter adds: “We are grateful to Resorts for allowing this opportunity. Ideally, we’ll establish a year-round retail presence to better serve both the GLBT community and the younger straight men who frequent our store in Asbury Park for a sexier selection of briefs and trunks.”
Atlantic City in its current re-branding is anxious for the GLBT community to return and enjoy our town. This columnist, like the majority of state voters, thinks it’s time for New Jersey legislators to pass gay marriage and let New Jersey be ahead of the curve for once, instead of stuck behind the 8-ball.
Atlantic City was once the honeymoon capital of the world before plane travel started taking newlyweds to many more exotic locales. We can never be that again.
Now, let’s imagine a new twist to an old theme.
We can easily become the gay honeymoon capital of the world if we act positively and quickly. And, if that happens, there will be a lot more things to do, and a lot more creativity centered in the town.
Richard Florida statistically has tracked the economic success and infra-structure improvements that follows the bohemian arts and the GLBT communities in his books The Creative Class and Whose City Are You?
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) has taken over the town’s development. Everyone is excited about the newly adopted master plan, which includes an arts district. And, part of the new development can easily be geared toward and focus on the GLBT community.
It is the perfect mix. And, it can be centered in the dead midtown area, once an East Coast gay Mecca.
Atlantic City is, and always has been a city of acceptance. We now must be the city that welcomes and provides allure to, and attractions for all communities, including the GLBT. Our tradition in that arena dates back 100 years plus. Now, It’s time to set up our next 100 years.
NEXT WEEK: Interviews, pictures and stories on some of the models, including the straight ones
Some statistics on the gay traveler:
98% took a vacation in the past 12 months
ATLANTIC CITY — Caesars Entertainment has again assembled a weekend full of fun events focused on Atlantic City’s gay community. It starts Friday night, Sept. 23, with a four-course dinner party at House of Blues’ Foundation Room featuring the Hearty Boys — a gay couple who host a cooking show on the Food Network — and several other segments served up in a festive atmosphere and hosted by famed Las Vegas drag queen Frank Marino. This is the third annual OUT In AC event put on by Caesars Entertainment (an organization that regularly receives high commendation from the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index), and one of many GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) events to materialize on the Atlantic...
ATLANTIC CITY — Paint the town rainbow — the gay community is flocking full force back to the city that’s always turned on! Recently Atlantic City's first in-casino gay bar, Prohibition nightclub at Resorts, opened its doors to tremendous hoopla, and with that club’s success came the emergence of another GLBT-themed establishment — one that had been a pioneer during the first giant wave of gay clubs that helped spawn a thriving GLBT community in the seaside resort during the 1970s and 1980s. Can lightning strike twice? The Brass Rail — once part of the Club Tru complex created by John Schultz and partner Gary Hill — will have its formal grand re-opening in a weekend-long affair starting Friday, July 29, with an invite-only party from 7-9pm Friday. After 9pm the club opens to the public, and the fun doesn’t end until Monday, Aug. 1, at 6am. Presented by Stoli vodka, the gala will include an appearance by Claudia DuMont, who will be accompanied by the New York City Strippers, starting midnight Friday. On Saturday at midnight “Faresa” performs, and on Sunday from 9pm-1am guests will be treated to the outlandish antics of Lady La Belle — one of the popular contestants from the recently resurfaced...
This GLBT population consistently frequents areas/genres that cater to multiple orientations. They are not limited to the old definition, but are more so driven to openly enjoy themselves in environments that are mutually sensitive — and not offensive.
Being a lesbian was no laughing matter until Suzanne Westenhoefer came along. Suddenly, out was very in. A former bartender at Houlihan's restaurant in Seacaucus, Westenhoefer has been comedy's fir...
And, thank God we joined you as one, and not apart. Think of how dull this world would be without our creative energy. It would be the light bulb hanging on a wire from the ceiling, without the decorative fixture — or the lamp without the lamp shade.
'Everything we do as a society is based on love. I want to welcome everyone. Our arms are open to all aspects of our culture.'
The show was created in the early 1990s by former Atlantic City Councilman John Schultz and his partner, Gary Hill, and held at their old Studio Six nightclub, once considered the epicenter for gay life in Atlantic City.
Sometimes, recessions can present unexpected opportunities. For members of the Atlantic City region's gay and lesbian community, what might be called a civil rights struggle, an attempt to form a real community or even just an effort to create some kind of gay social life in the area, also has one other good thing going for it.
� In case you missed it, last week a New Jersey Appeals Court upheld by a 2-1 margin a trial court's ruling against marriages between members of the same sex. "Pro-family" (a.k.a. anti-gay) activists lauded the decision, while those in favor of gay marriage just saw it as a necessary hurdle on the road to a state Supreme Court case. The notice of appeal will soon be filed with the high court by Lambda Legal, which is representing the plaintiffs in the case (seven homosexual couples). The case will likely be heard by the state Supreme Court within a year. The plaintiffs claim that the New Jersey Constitution requires the extension of the institution of marriage to all couples, whether the couple is comprised of two men, two women or a man and a woman. Strong support for that argument can be found in Article 1, Paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, which states: "All persons are by nature free and independent, and have certain natural and unalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and of pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness." In January 2004, Governor James McGreevey signed New Jersey's...
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