The Shaker Club, a gay bar and disco, was located at 2275 South Moreland Avenue. The Shaker Club at Shaker Square was a popular east-side neighborhood bar and dance club. On its lower level, the Shaker Club featured a “disco bar with a large dancefloor” and state-of-the-art lighting and sound system. The Shaker Club frequently hosted live entertainment acts on a large platform stage area situated nearby the lower-level dancefloor. On its upper level, the Shaker Club featured a “cozy upstairs bar,” a “game room” that contained “pin-ball machines, table-top TV tennis/hockey, and tables for backgammon,” and a comparatively private “intimate lounge in the rear for quiet relaxing.” On weekdays, the Shaker Club’s upper-level bar area hosted many “residential gays” that granted the club a so-called “neighborhood feel.” Dick Deutsch, the Shaker Club’s owner, hosted multiple benefit nights and fundraisers at the Shaker Club that financially assisted the GEAR Foundation’s early efforts to establish an LGBT Community Center.
Additional information coming soon.
Resources
- “Around Town.” High Gear. April 1975. Page 14.
- “Brian DeWitt Interview, 2008.” Cleveland Voices.
- Damron, Bob. “…And Doing Cleveland…” High Gear. October 1978. Page 7.
- Juszczyk, Jerry. “Cleveland’s Bar Personalities.” High Gear. April 1976. Page 27.
- Negron, Sidney. “Gay Bars in Cleveland.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.
- Nosek, John, and Leon Stevens. “Gay Community 1970s.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.
- Scott, Jane. “Gay Life is Nurtured in Many A Bar.” Plain Dealer. July 10, 1977.
- “Shaker Club.” High Gear. December 1975. Page 19.
- “Shaker Benefit A Success.” High Gear. Volume 2, Issue 9. 1976. Page 1.
- Stella, Charles. “Shaker Show – A Hit!” High Gear. January 1976. Page 23.