Grand rapids gay
Locally Owned & Operated LGBTQIA+ Businesses to Check Out
Drinks & Entertainment
Back to Top of ListThe Apartment Lounge is the oldest same-sex attracted bar in Michigan. Enjoy the welcoming atmosphere and then step outside to admire the Rainbow Road mural.
Photo by Brian Craig for Experience GR
The Apartment Lounge
As Michigan&#x;s oldest gay prevent, The Apartment Lounge has a long history of making group members feel welcome and trustworthy. The Apartment serves up a chill vibe along with rotating drink specials throughout the week. You are always met with a smiling face and served hot, fresh popcorn to accompany your beverage of choice. It&#x;s commonly referred to as the place where friends meet, and this bar will not disappoint if you&#x;re looking to mix and mingle.
The Apartment also has an outdoor covered patio overlooking Joey Salamon&#x;s Rainbow Road road mural and Veteran&#x;s Memorial Park in downtown Grand Rapids. Food trucks often visit the bar, offering patrons an opportunity to dine alfresco or take their food inside to accompany a drink. There i
Grand Rapids Gay Metropolis Guide: Finding Your Place in the Furniture City
Located minutes away from Lake Michigan, Grand Rapids is a municipality that blends innate coastal beauty with a hip, eclectic, and inclusive vibe. Many know it as the “Furniture City” for the fact that it is one of the largest furniture manufacturing cities in the country, but it was also recently honored by The Advocate as one of the “Gayest Cities in America”. Expedia also recently declared it “among the cream of the crop of cool cities to visit in the United States.” Truly, Grand Rapids is known for being inclusive, hip, and fun.
A Glimpse at Grand Rapids History
Grand Rapids initially began as a fur-trading post in the early s, eventually growing into a village, and officially a municipality in As it continued to expand, various industries became popular, until it eventually became a major lumbering center in the belated 19th century – an industry that would give ascend to a amazing deal of okay furniture manufacturing, and the nickname “Furniture City”. It’s not o
Michigan&#;s Oldest Gay Bar is in Grand Rapids
Michigan's Oldest Gay Bar is the Apartment Lounge in Grand Rapids, 53 years elderly in
Over the decades, the bar kept re-locating from place to place. When it opened in , it was located in a building on Lyon Street across from the Vandenberg Center.
From there it went to the southeast corner of Ionia and Fulton, the northeast corner of Fulton and Monroe (the current B.O.B. Location), to Bridge Road on the West Side, down Bridge for a year, then to Plainfield Ave Northwest. In , they moved to The B.O.B location for 10 years until they moved to their current place on Sheldon Boulevard - site of the former Incredible Edible Cafe' - by
According to their web page, referring to back in the night when the Apartment Lounge was located where the B.O.B. is now, Many regulars have very fond memories of that vintage place; the urinal trough always filled with ice, to the game room in the backIt actually contained several pinball machines but there were always other 'games' taking place .
Find out more history an
LGBTQIA+ in GR
The Advocate magazine named Grand Rapids one of the Gayest Cities in America more than a decade ago, in a feature exploring the peer capita queerness of some less expected locales.
Grand Rapids has become even gayer in the years since. The city has been recognized as one of the safest in the U.S for LGBTQIA+ singles and we earned a perfect score in the Municipal Equality Index, which examines how inclusive cities are of LGBTQIA+ people.
New community gathering spaces like LGBTQIA+ bar General Wood Shop and sober-minded Lotus Brew Coffee/Dry Block have joined such iconic destinations as the Apartment Lounge, Michigan&#x;s oldest LGBTQIA+ bar, and Rumors Blackout Club, serving a diverse clientele since Other locally owned and operated LGBTQIA+ businesses have also flourished.
World-class art, food, beer and craft beverage scenes are attracting discerning LGBTQIA+ travelers to the region, while abundant outdoor recreation opportunities appeal to an active crowd. Visits often begin in downtown Grand Rapids, where + restaurants, breweries, museums and entertain