Recognize this facade? Nob Hill in Columbia Heights was one of the first openly gay bars in both D.C. and the U.S. It is now home to Wonderland Ballroom.
Nob Hill catered mainly to gay Black men who were shut out of queer nightlife in D.C. It opened in 1953 as a private social club but became a public bar just a few years later and remained in business for over 50 years. It is considered D.C.'s longest-operating gay bar.
The bar hosted everything from male dancers to weekly “Gospel Hours” with the local church. The low-key club was known as “a house party that charged a cover,” and some of the longtime regulars even had their own personal glasses.
Nob Hill was the grandfather of a booming gay nightlife scene in D.C., which remains as critical today as it was in the ‘50s.
Ed Bailey, the owner of the iconic gay nightclub The Town, notes, “What a lot of my straight counterparts in the nightclub business don't understand is that queer spaces are not just a business, it's about creating a center for our community to be able to go and enjoy themselves and be who you are.”
Wonderland Ballroom on a sunny afternoon. (Kaela Cote-Stemmermann/City Cast DC)
