The only suspect was a man named Roger Dale Nunez who had been thrown out of the bar earlier that day after a confrontation. The police did little to no work on the investigation. This was the deadliest attack on the LGBTQ community until the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016, and the deadliest fire in New Orleans since the Great Fire of 1778. 32 people had perished, and 15 others were injured by burns or smoke inhalation. Some were able to squeeze through the 14-inch gaps, while others weren’t as lucky.īy the time the fire department arrived, the building had burned out.
Gay bars new orleans upstairs windows#
The massive floor-to-ceiling windows were seemingly the only way out, but they were reinforced with steel bars. Part of the crowd heard his call, but some didn’t get the signal and were stuck in the inferno. The crowd panicked.īartender Douglas Rasmussen signaled to the crowd, trying to lead them through an unmarked back door. The narrow wooden staircase was the only clearly marked way to exit the building. When someone went to open the front door, they found the wooden staircase engulfed in flames. About 50 to 90 people remained in the lounge, most of them from the MCC. A few minutes before 8 pm, the buzzer at the front door rang, which usually indicated the arrival of a taxi. When the service was over, most of them stayed for the beer bust, which began at 5 pm.
The Fire at the UpStairs LoungeĪbout 125 patrons gathered at the UpStairs for the Sunday Service. Two other chapters of the MCC had also been firebombed in Los Angeles and Nashville earlier that year, and the Los Angeles chapter had been attacked right after the historic Roe vs Wade ruling. It was the last day of Pride week, marking the 4th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. This Sunday in particular, though, was different. The MCC held a Sunday Service during the day in the bar’s theatre, and the bar held a weekly “beer bust” at night with an all-you-can-eat buffet and beer for only $1. Nights usually ended with patrons singing songs around the bar’s grand piano. The UpStairs was one of them, serving as a safe space for the LGBTQ community to gather. Though there were dozens of gay bars in the French Quarter at the time, the LGBTQ community was still forced to remain underground. The New Orleans MCC had just taken off and was still gaining traction. The UpStairs Lounge and the MCCĪt the time of the fire, the three-story building on 604 Iberville Street was occupied by The Jimani Lounge restaurant and its offices on the first floor, and the UpStairs Lounge and the MCC on the second and third floors. Being that the ingrained homophobia meant that the city turned a blind eye to the tragedy, many residents today know little about what took place on that fateful Sunday evening. Paranormal experts who investigated the building have been able to communicate with the spirits of the victims, many of whom simply want to be remembered.
Gay bars new orleans upstairs full#
Ghosts of the victims have even appeared in full apparition.
The smell of smoke and burning flesh has also been reported, while others report feelings of being watched by unseen entities. The staff and workers of The Jimani have reported several paranormal phenomena in the building, often hearing the screams of those who perished in the fire. The third floor, the former home of the UpStairs Lounge, remains unused and partially damaged. The building is home to the offices and a kitchen for The Jimani, a popular bar in New Orleans, which also occupied the building at the time of the fire. Today, a memorial plaque sits on the sidewalk in front of the building. The victims were openly ridiculed by the media.
Many citizens of New Orleans, especially the Christian community, scoffed at the attack, brushing it off as divine intervention. The police hardly investigated, and the attack remains a cold case to this day.
The city of New Orleans, like most of the nation, was still very hostile towards gays at the time. The arson was the deadliest attack against the LGBTQ community until the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016. Someone set fire to the building, killing 32 people and injuring 15 others. But on Sunday, June 24th, 1973, it all came to a tragic end. Despite the fact that the New Orleans LGBTQ community was forced to remain lowkey, the UpStairs Lounge provided hope. The MCC was the first LGBTQ church in the US. The building was also the headquarters of the New Orleans chapter of the Metropolitan Community Church, called the MCC for short. Patrons gathered at the UpStairs to drink, play piano, and enjoy drag shows. The UpStairs was a safe space where the LGBTQ community could congregate amidst the deep hatred and oppression they faced in the Christian South. During the early 1970s, the UpStairs Lounge was a thriving gay bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans.