Eve Mauro Instagram – I would like to share two articles my nephew @dimauroneverdies found online written by @paulfultonjr about my father, Atlanta, topless bars, rupaul and most importantly the LGBTQ community.
Please visit @gayatlflashback for the full article.
Ponce, The Nitery, Onyx, and Onyx II would take their place the Gay Atlanta history books.
In the early 1980s, Antonio Dimauro had a short string of businesses that catered to Atlanta’s long line of LGBTQ customers.
His controversial Antonio’s at 600 Ponce de Leon Ave. masqueraded as an Italian restaurant, but it was really a go-go bar that featured nude women. Dimauro quickly turned that venture into The Nitery , a music venue where RuPaul debuted a punk band called the Wee Wee Poles.
In about 1982, Dimauro folded up The Nitery and opened the Celebrity Club just up the street, at 306 Ponce , most recently home to The Atlanta Eagle.
Celebrity Club was a music venue that featured burlesque and nude dancing. It joined 688 Club on Spring Street as a popular place for the punk rock, new wave, and LGBTQ crowds, including RuPaul and friends.
Celebrity Club closed in 1985, but Dimauro was not ready to relegate it to the Atlanta LGBTQ history books just yet.
Dimauro was not the only one with high hopes for the Frances Hotel, however. Preservationists and developers also had visions for a renewed property, which was built in 1898 as the Farlinger.
Dimauro was no stranger to the Frances Hotel. Before it closed, he operated a club called Domino’s Lounge II on the ground floor.6 But his vision for a revived Celebrity Club would be bigger and better than any of Dimauro’s former ventures.
This Celebrity Club would be an “adult entertainment complex” made up of three nightclubs. One would feature nude burlesque dancing. Another would be geared toward gay customers. A third would appeal to the punk-rock crowd. #lgbthistory #lgbtqhistory #lgbt #atlantahistory #NotDeadYet | Posted on 16/Feb/2022 05:01:35
