Monday, April 9, 2012

Billie Jean's

5012 Main Street today - a parking lot
Billie Jean's

Location: 5012 Main Street, Kansas City, Missouri, USA

Opened/Closed: 1980s

I don't know a lot about Billie Jean's, other than that it's mentioned in a March 20, 1994 article on the local gay community published in the Kansas City Star:

Jamie Straley, now a 27-year-old college student, remembers the first time she sneaked into the old Bille Jean's lesbian bar near 51st and Main streets.

"When the door opened and I stepped in, all of a sudden I felt like I wasn't alone anymore," she said. "It was like if you were in a foreign country and everybody spoke another language and you walked into a room where there were a bunch of Americans.
Billie Jeans logo
Billie Jean's logo - from GLAMA

It was just something that said: 'This part of you is normal.'"

In David W. Jackson's Changing Times, a history of Kansas City's gay and lesbian community, Billie Jean's is also briefly noted. He reports that this site was originally Le Bistro, another gay watering hole, but as of 2011, was a  parking lot for Andre's Confiserie.

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