After 17 years, club closes doors to make way for development
The Brick shut its doors for the last time Sunday, Aug. 2, and with it goes a legacy of circuit parties, tea dances and hip-hop nights. After 17 years, the property changed ownership as development in the area increased, thanks to the rebirth of the old Parkland Hospital down the street.
While The Brick is gone it will not soon be forgotten, as it left a significant mark on the gay clubbing scene. But although the Maple Avenue location has already closed its doors for good, management is already planning a comeback.
"The Brick is not closing; we just don’t have a location and we’re trying to look for the right venue," says general manager Camille Lamour.
Lamour has been with The Brick for almost as long as it has operated, starting out as a barback working up to management. The reality of the closing is now sinking in, as a result of events this week.
"We had a White Party Saturday night and had about 650 people. A lot of people who hadn’t been out came out. It was kind of bittersweet. I’ve done my crying but it’s time to move on," he says.
The Brick took its final bow Aug. 2 with a reunion party featuring DJs from the club’s roster back in the ’90s, including Blaine Soileau, Mark Brack and Dallas’ Paul Kraft. It was Kraft who pulled the party together quickly.
"We had less than two weeks to promote it, but the party went really well," Kraft says.
The reunion was a tea dance starting at 5 p.m. and according to Lamour, by 5:30, a crowd had already begun — proof that The Brick stood for something in the Dallas club scene.
For a club on the outskirts of the Cedar Springs drag, it successfully positioned itself as a major player for circuit parties. With that came notoriety for a burgeoning crystal meth culture as well as blatant promiscuity within the club.
"Circuit was popular for a long time. In the ’90s, people exhaled from the AIDS crisis and partied really hard. That’s when we started seeing the three-day weekend party. But meth just decimated the dance community," Kraft says.
Lamour agrees and saw that the problem phased itself out but the club was left without a crowd. "We were this big leather bar with fabulous circuit parties but the crowd got older and the drugs ran out. People moved on," Lamour says.
Beginning as a Levi-and-leather club, The Brick filled its calendar with parties. Special events developed into weekly circuit soirees with DJ Troy Sands usually helming the turntables and people filling the dance floor. The bar and the infamous-but-short-lived dark room, a sliver of a hallway sans light, were never without a crowd.
After suffering through an identity crisis, The Brick reinvented itself earlier this decade with hip-hop on Saturday nights, a move that pushed the club to newfound success. The African-American community responded and filled the club on weekends, when it was the only club offering a hip-hop night for gays.
"They have a really loyal hip-hop following on Saturday nights. They pull in hundreds of people every weekend," Kraft says.
But he sees the dance community changing.
"It hit the skids two or three years ago. A lot of younger gay guys don’t understand how important dancing is to gay culture. So much has changed in our community and it’s harder to keep clubs like that. Gays now go to mainstream clubs while straights come in more to gay clubs," he says.
But Kraft forgot about all that on Sunday as he came full circle that night in his DJ career.
"There were lots of smiles, tears and crying. It was hard stepping into the booth. It was emotional to be at the place that got me started into dance music. I was honored by that," he says, welling up while recalling the night. His last song for the dance floor was Whitney Houston’s "I Learned from the Best," perhaps in homage to the DJs who manned the tables years before.
For his part, Lamour is already looking forward.
"That building was so old, we needed a new club. Every week something was wrong. We’re gonna get a bigger and better place and still have hip-hop, circuit parties and even private parties," he says, seeing the open window as these doors close.
WHAT ABOUT JOE’S PLACE?
The Brick’s general manager Camille Lamour has vented that in all the attention, no one has been talking about Joe’s Place, the small bar named after Jugs founder Joe Elliott, attached to the club. "It was a different crowd. It was more of a neighborhood bar. People would come in, eat popcorn and nuts, watch a game. It was very relaxed," he says.
Weekly cookouts and Wii tournaments gave Joe’s it’s own identity. But its regular patrons are feeling their own loss. "People are sad. They just want to know now where the new place is going to be. In the meantime, they may just find another place. We hope they’ll come back though," Lamour says.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition August 7, 2009.
What type of business is developeing in the Bricks spot.
Hey BRICK management – come across the Trinity and give us somewhere to go in the CLiff. Oak Cliff!!….the next Oak Lawn.
Hey BRICK management – come across the Trinity and give us somewhere to go in the CLiff. Oak Cliff!!….the next Oak Lawn.
Oak Cliff is the most logical location to go as it is becoming the Gay Mecca & Gay friendly part of Dallas. Check out the areas around Bishop Arts District – It is just what that area needs a friendly and openly Gay bar.
Oak cliff is dry and these bars and restaurants must be state-approved private clubs with memberships. I wonder if that dissuades bar owners from venturing into that area. However, Bishop Arts is a great area and would benefit from a gay bar.
The gay bar scene has seen a lot of transition lately and while change is always sad, it’s exciting to see new things happening. And I hope our choices continue to grow instead of decline.I’d rather see us all out socializing instead of sitting at homes behind a computer.
Gosh, I wish I’d known about the farewell party. I definitely would have been there! I DJ’d at the Brick right after the Ripcord closed from ’92 through ’97. I worked with DJs Rick Herrington, Jimmy Bartlett, Tim Clement, and Troy Sands. That’s where Rob Parker got his Dallas start, too. That was when Jan was the manager, before he moved to LA and became Chris Steel. Gaylon Zant was a manager then, too.
I guess we all, eventually, must say farewell to old friends, but the memories of the good times do remain!
Hey Mardi (or anyone…) what happened to Gaylong? How about Rick Herrington? I am in CA now and just wonder…
mardi, good seeing your name in here.
The Brick closing is sad, life goes on. That location has many memories from the 70s when it was Tex’s ranch , then just the Ranch, across the parking lot was the Sundance , before AIDS decimated our community.
The circuit parties in the 90s were so much fun/drama
Dancing has always been a huge part of our culture.
As ive aged , dancing is something ive missed.I guess i should drive by and pick up a brick from the brick.
A picture of this bar, when it was Tex’s Ranch, was in Life Magazine in 1985, when they did an article on legal “designer drug” use in Dallas and the US. What a fun year that was!
Wow, thats sad.. i love The Brick. Oak Lawn is changing. I almost dont know what to think anymore. haha Crossroads Cafe is gone and this. I hope Oak Lawn comes together and brings new and exciting life back. Yes, i would like to see Oak Cliff move up in the Gay scene. But, remember Oak Lawn is where many of us guys and gals remember coming and learning to be ourselfs with Love and Pride. Im from Oak Cliff, but its Oak Lawn that took me in. Ok im done rambling on now. Take care people!
Oak Cliff does Have 3 Gay Bars, and it would be nice to see More Bars, Clubs or Gay owned businesses open in the O.C., but we need to look back at Dallas History before Oak Lawn was the “Gay Mecca of Dallas†with over priced Apartments, over priced Boutique shops and considered a premier section of Dallas. Back to the late 1970’s when the Gay community was shunned by the rest of the cities “Normal†citizens who considered Oak Lawn to be a place not to go to after dark where – Ladies of the evening, drug dealers and some of the most undesirables Citizens ended up. Cedar Springs and Oak Lawn was considered one of the worst parts of town. When the Black eye pea opened and J.R.s (formally a dry cleaner in that location) was just a little bar next to Italian Restaurant we the Gay population moved in and turned things around and turn it into something wonderful – unfortunately it looks like we are being pushed out again by greedy business people how are hiking up the prices and claiming the area for themselves . So as I see it Oak Lawn has seen its “Homo†hay day form the mid 80’s to the late 00’s. Now it is time for us to move on to the next “Gay Mecca†of Dallas Oak Cliff and make it ours until we are forced out again as if we don’t learn from our past we are doomed to repeat it.
Rich,
I would actually place the credit for cleaning up Oak Lawn and making it more desireable for development to the Gay Community at large, rather than Trammel Crow’s Old Parkland Hospital. I do think that Oak Lawn is a prime example of what a determined group of people can accomplish when we put our foot down and claim our stake.
On another note, I think that the emerging demographic in Oak Lawn is wonderful. As a Gen Y’er, it is a true testimate of our fight for equality. I do not see this shift as a “take over” or that we are being “forced out” but simply the result of the blood, sweat and tears of the Stonewall Generation. It disturbs me to hear people say that “they are taking over” or that this is “our neighborhood.” People, this is what we are fighting for. Our community is one of acceptance. If you actually take the time to really look at the hetero couple walking their dog down the side walk in front of Buli, you will see our greatest ally in the fight for equality.
I miss the dark hallway, much like I miss the Trestle. It was always such fun!
Ok, i think that some people have got it all wrong. I believe yes that the gay community should move to Oak Cliff, but not all. Come one man, we grew up with Oak Lawn around and now with now the moving of time. But, you see i think its good for Oak Lawn to move up with the times and better it self and i also think it would be great that Oak Cliff moves up and claims the GLBT community too. Im from Oak Cliff and im also mexican, so yea i would have loved to have a gayborhood around back when i was growing up. haha So, yea lets keep Oak Lawn going and move Oak Cliff up as well. Thanks and now i shall forever shut up about this. Thanks and now bye!!! Good luck!!!!!!
Ok, i think that some people have got it all wrong. I believe yes that the gay community should move to Oak Cliff, but not all. Come one man, we grew up with Oak Lawn around and now with now the moving of time. But, you see i think its good for Oak Lawn to move up with the times and better it self and i also think it would be great that Oak Cliff moves up and claims the GLBT community too. Im from Oak Cliff and im also mexican, so yea i would have loved to have a gayborhood around back when i was growing up. haha So, yea lets keep Oak Lawn going and move Oak Cliff up as well. Thanks and now i shall forever shut up about this. Thanks and now bye!!! Good luck!!!!!!
Guess I’m a little late in finding out about The Brick closing. As a former DJ at Cafe Lafitte in Exile in New Orleans, I had the privilege of working with DJ Troy Sands and DJ Chet Green back in the middle 90’s. Sorry to hear about the closing…here’s hoping for a bigger and better location!
It is quite sad to see The Brick close. I can remember SO many fun times there…foam parties, circuit parties, even that funny little place next door called Stogies, that was really just a hallway of gloryholes…anyone remember that place? For those like me, who have seen the Dallas gay bar scene change over time, it is sad to see the change that AIDS and meth have brought. Just think of all the fun places we used to have: The Old Plantation, 4001, TR2…all gone by the wayside; and now The Brick, The Hideaway Club, and Crews Inn are gone. Times, they are a-changing. I agree that it is nice to be able to go to a completely straight bar and not be shunned like we were back in the 70’s and 80’s. But, I don’t like to see legendary places like The Brick and The Trestle go away. I think we are losing some of our uniqueness. I can only hope that The Brick actually does reincarnate itself and rekindle that old spark. I am actually thinking about finding some fellow investors and re-opening The Trestle…anybody interested?
Awesome times at the Brick for sure. Remember when it was remodeled and renamed Ice Factory for a while? Good times pass but also remain to be had. 🙂