The Triangle area is home to several LGBTQ+ nightlife hot spots — from Legends Nightclub in Raleigh to The Pinhook in Durham. Historically, most queer bars or clubs across the nation have typically catered towards white gay men – moreso than any other demographic in the LGBTQ+ umbrella.
Now, a new bar — Club Era — is coming to Bull City with the idea of creating a space for folks of all identities and backgrounds to come together and celebrate their authentic selves. Club ERA is the brainchild of Triangle-based drag queen Naomi Dix, She recently took to Instagram to say why she felt compelled to create her own club and bar.
“As a young queer person, I always wanted a place where I could explore who I was,” Dix wrote in a recent Instagram post, “but spaces often lacked representation and diversity and made it difficult to find my community.”
Club ERA will be both a bar and club located in the basement of The Fruit — a popular entertainment venue in the heart of Durham. Dix, a Durham native, said this space is meant to add to the diversity of Durham’s queer community, not to compete with other establishments.
“This club is not, in any way, in competition with anything,” she says. “This is just us continuing the legacy of Durham and continuing the legacy from all of the other businesses that came before us.”
According to reporting from the Durham Voice, Dix came up with the idea for Club ERA after having a conversation with her partner a few years ago. She spent over two years searching for the perfect space for her perfect safe haven before she was approached by The Fruit’s owner Tim Walters. They recently came to a deal, and the club opened June 1 to kick off LGBTQ+ Pride Month.
Durham used to be home to a plethora of gay bars and night clubs, but in recent years, some have closed their doors. One of those clubs was The Power Company, a queer nightclub that opened in 1983, and became a place for LGBTQ+ folks in Bull City to find community during the height of the AIDS epidemic.
Kent Parks, a Raleigh native and a Power Company regular during its heyday, said he remembered making trips to Durham as a UNC student to party there.“Back in the 80s, nobody would’ve dared show affection to a same-sex partner in public, and there were very few places to go where queer people could be in the majority except bars, especially like the Power Company, since it was for men and women,” he said.
Known as “the best gay club between DC and Atlanta,” The Power Company was located on Main Street and was expansive in size. Sporting a multi-level layout with several bars, a mezzanine lounge, a dance floor lined with booming speakers, colorful lighting and several disco balls, The Power Company has been remembered by former patrons (who refer to themselves as “alumni”) as a haven from day-to-day life.
“The Power Company was a gay force,” said DJ Jeff Inman, who performed at the Power Company from 1984 to 1988. “It was Grand [sic] period, packed with the who’s who.”
The club was also known for its inclusivity and openness to all members of the LGBTQ+ community, including interracial couples, immigrants and older people. But since its closure in 2000, there’s been a hole in the Durham queer community, according to drag queen Vivica C. Coxx, who is Club ERA owner Dix’s drag mother.
“Drag in Durham isn’t as formalized as it is in Raleigh,” she said. “So what you see is a lot more DIY spaces, a lot more business-oriented drag performers versus cast-style drag performers.”
Club ERA’s opening comes during a time where violence against queer and trans folks is at an all time high. According to a study commissioned by Everytown for Gun Safety, the murder rate for trans people has doubled in the last four years, and though only 13% of trans folks are Black, nearly 75% of trans murder victims are Black.
“I’m aware of the fact that all of this anti-drag hate is actually just anti-trans hate,” Coxx said. “Every time we put on makeup, every time we put on our heels, every time we get dragged, we are reminded that might be the time we don’t come home.”
Dix’s goal was to pull from her own experience as a queen of color, saying she wanted to create a haven for the most vulnerable members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially for people of color.
“I never really felt as though I was able to find a space where I was accurately represented as a person of color, as an Afro-Latino, in the Triangle,” she says. “I always felt like a lot of those spaces were very overrun by this idea of what society thinks a masculine gay male is …
“I want people to feel like they can let their hair down and they don’t have to feel as though they have to dress a certain way or look a certain way in order to be within this space.”.
Dix said she hopes to be able to add to the legacy of queer spaces in Durham, hoping to welcome everyone from kings and queens to supportive allies.
“You know … places that have been in Durham … have been overrun by the change that has come into [the area],” she explained. “I just want to continue that legacy.”