The Nantucket Lounge opened at 11624 Clifton Boulevard in 1970. The Nantucket Lounge was owned and operated by Leo and Teddy Swingo. In 1976, the Nantucket was granted the “first Sunday liquor license for a west side bar” in Cleveland. The Nantucket was popular neighborhood bar with a “mix of gay and straight patrons.” After cocktail hour, however, gay men comprised the bulk of the Nantucket’s crowd. The Nantucket Lounge closed in 1983.
Additional information coming soon.
Resources
- “Correction – Sorry for our Error Last Month. Nantucket Celebrates Ten.” High Gear. May 1980 Page 5.
- Glaser, Chris. “Chapter 10: Doris Palmer.” Purple Armadillos: The Intellects, Entrepreneurs and Oddballs of Northeast Ohio’s LGBT Community in the 19th and 20th Centuries. June 23, 2010.
- “Nantucket Celebrates Ten.” High Gear. April 1980. Page 8.
- Negron, Sidney. “Gay Bars in Cleveland.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.
- Nosek, John, and Leon Stevens. “Gay Community 1970s.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.
- Rita. “More Rita.” Action Magazine. June 1983. Page 4.
- Scott, Jane. “Gay Life is Nurtured in Many A Bar.” Plain Dealer. July 10, 1977.
- “The Nantucket.” High Gear. April 1975. Page 10.