Tracks D.C.

In the mid 1980s, Washington DC queers began flocking to Tracks, a hugely popular dance bar located in a large warehouse on M and First streets SE. Track’s state-of-the-art lighting, video, and sound systems attracted diverse sections of DC’s LGBT clubbers at a time when many of the city’s gay bars aimed for a select clientele.1 Opened in 1984, Tracks eventually marketed the dance floor for select patrons on different nights of the week. The last Tuesday of the month was named “Women’s Night” or “Ladies Night” for lesbian patrons to dance free of men. On these nights, which sometimes attracted more than 2,000 women, Tracks prohibited men from entering the main dance hall. Beginning in 1991, Tracks hosted “Lesbo-agogo” events that involved exotic dancers and stripping, though no actual nudity. Still, according to visitors, the dancing proved controversial.2

While these events were mostly social, community activists used the large gathering of women to spread awareness of safe sex practices. Community pioneer Cheryl Spector and the Safer Sex Sirens handed out safe sex literature and kits at the Ladies Night events. Even with safe sex advocacy, patrons largely remember the bar for its entertainment value. Track’s dance floor “really brought everyone together—even my mom went dancing with me,” remembers Bonnie Morris. “That was really a good place to be kinetic. You didn’t go there to have a cultural conversation.”3

1. Lou Chibbaro Jr., "Glory Days," Washington Blade. April 25, 2013

2. Katherine Liepe-Levinson, Strip Show: Performances of Gender and Desire, 32.

3. Harrison Smith, "What Happened to DC’s Lesbian Spaces?" Washingtonian, June 26, 2015