ATLANTA — Midtown has long served as an LGBTQ+ safe haven for people in and outside of Atlanta, but recent development changes have threatened many of the spaces the community called home.
Two of those places are the Atlanta Eagle and My Sister's Room. Both LGBTQ+ bars have had to move their locations, given stark rental hikes and the reluctance of management to renew their leases.
The Atlanta Eagle had been a fixture in the city for over 30 years before it closed and moved in 2020. This partly had to do with the COVID-19 pandemic, but ultimately, it came down to their landlord's decision.
"The landlord had notified me at the signing that this would be the last lease that he would be able to offer us, that he had other plans with the building," Atlanta Eagle owner Richard Ramey said.
On the Atlanta Eagle's final night of service, at its 306 Ponce De Leon Ave. location, Ramey promised all his loyal patrons, "We would be back, and we would find us a new home."
And during Atlanta Pride weekend 2022, their doors swung open at their new location, their new home, 1492 Piedmont Ave NE.
"We had almost an hour and a half wait just to get in the front door," Ramey said. "We had probably over 8,000 people hit the door throughout the weekend."
The new space still comes with its challenges, Ramey said, one being rent. To combat that, he's decided to extend hours, offer food and have more events at their new location.
Ramey took over the bar in 1997 after being a long-time patron. Unfortunately, the bar's original owner, Jay Evans, died that year, and due to money trouble, the state planned to sell the bar.
"They had filed bankruptcy, and I guess I decided I didn't want to lose my bar," Ramey said. "So the next thing I knew, I was the owner of the Atlanta Eagle."
Over the years, Ramey has continued to make changes so that more queer people can call its four walls home. When Evans opened the bar in 1987, Ramey said women were not accepted in the space. One of his first changes had to do with their infamous Mr. Eagle contest, which is an international leather title. The contest was only open to men, but now, Ramey has created the Miss. Eagle title.
"I think that was one of my biggest changes when I bought the Eagle," Ramey said. "Making sure that women felt welcomed and felt like they could come in and be part of our family."
The Atlanta Eagle is now finishing construction of their 2-story building that features a dance room and restaurant area. But their bar is open for service with shows every Friday and Saturday night. Their previous location at 306 Ponce De Leon Ave. is now a historic Atlanta landmark.
But Atlanta Eagle is not the only bar creating a legacy in Atlanta. Susan Musselwhite's journey in opening My Sister's Room was filled with triumphs and challenges. To this day, MSR has now had to move locations five times. Their current location sits at 1104 Crescent Ave. NE. It features dancing, live shows and a pub menu.
The bar is one of 24 lesbian bars in the county. With most LGBTQ+ bars catering primarily to men, Musselwhite wanted a space where queer women and other femme-identifying people could feel safe.
"I always wanted to create a space that I wanted to go to," Musselwhite said. "You know, something? I don't know, something kind of cozy."
And her first location opened in the Midtown Promenade in 1996; she called it My Sister's Room: A Parlor for Women, and compared to now, it was much smaller. Musselwhite said they didn't have a dance floor or stage; it was only a place to grab drinks, and they "had a small game room."
"That type of bar was just starting to come about, and people were really liking it," she said.
But just two years later, in 1998, MSR relocated for the first of many times.
"The rent went sky high in the Midtown Promenade, and it just wasn't feasible," she said. "It's just, you know, we could only do so much."
Issues of rising costs plagued bar owners before MSR opened their doors; Musselwhite said many long-standing businesses began to "die off." My Sister's Room left and set up shop in the heart of Decatur across from Agnes Scott College on East Howard Avenue. And then, they were uprooted in 2008 and moved to East Atlanta Village.
Not long after, Musselwhite felt like she nurtured the bar as much as possible, and it was time to "pass the torch." In 2011, she sold the bar to Jami Atlanta and Jennifer Maguire. After a few years, MSR moved to its fourth location on 12th Street in Atlanta's "gayborhood," but their last move was earlier this year.
The companies Rockefeller Group and Selig Development announced in 2020 that it's building a 64-unit luxury condominium on 12th Street, which forced Jami and Jennifer to U-Haul over to their current location, 1104 Crescent Ave.
"We are so excited to bring a larger space!" Jami and Jennifer said in 2021, when the bar announced their last move. "We are looking to upgrade a bigger venue wih more VIP section better stage for live music, shows."
What started as "My Sister's Room: A parlor for women" has now evolved into much more, and Musselwhite couldn't be more excited.
"I think it has to be a community within the community, which is pretty much what MSR came to be," Musselwhite added later," And just the community itself is forever evolving, which I love."
Musselwhite and Ramey have shown Atlanta that they are here to stay. The two agree that it's vital for the community to protect LGBTQ+ spaces through all their struggles.
"We're not just bars, you know, and that's what I get, I guess, really upset about more than anything," Ramey said and added later, "As I get older, I'm always going to make sure that the Eagle is here, that Atlanta has an Eagle, and that it's here for everyone. And it's not only a fun place to come, but a safe spot for all."
Musslewhite added, "It's something more than that. It has a heartbeat. It has its own heartbeat."