User:Satyridium/sandbox/List of leather bars and clubs

This is a list of notable leather bars, sex clubs and bathhouses, both active and defunct. These venues played a key role in the development of the gay leather subculture, providing a gathering space for the local community, for socializing and cruising, and a point of entry into the scene for newcomers, as well as turning leather into a consumable aesthetic and identity; historically often enforced by dress codes and access restrictions for women. Leather bars (at the time also called leather/levi or L/L, western, and macho) are considered the first distinct subgenre of gay bars, and with their characteristic visuals are often depicted as gay bars' most iconic form. Designated leather bars started appearing between the 1950s and 1960s in major cities of the U.S. and Europe, exploding in popularity and dissemination in the 1970s. Usually, leather bars were found in industrial and working-class city neighborhoods, like South of Market in San Francisco, the Manhattan Meatpacking District and the Munich Glockenbachviertel. The large number of leather related businesses in these areas led to the emergence of local leather districts, with the best known being the "Miracle Mile" on Folsom Street in San Francisco.

In the 1980s, the forced closing of sex clubs and bathhouses and increased regulation of leather bars sped up the ongoing gentrification in big cities, that already threatened their existence, so that the leather districts shrank rapidly after the explosive expansion of the 1970s. Within a few years, many institutions that had played a central role within the community were shut down. The spread of the internet in the 1990s and 2000s led to another wave of closures, as many activities such as cruising shifted to specialized forums, services and apps in the digital world.