If a new, expansive gay club opens, it will buck a long trend.
But the name, branding, size, and location of the establishment will likely be different, given that Town will have operated in its current space for more than 10 years-a rare feat for any club in a major city. John Guggenmos, who owns the club along with Ed Bailey and Chachi Boyle, tells City Paper that the trio are “actively looking for” a new club space that could effectively replace Town, and are hoping to have an official announcement in the coming months. “I’ll be sure to come back sometime in the next year, and I hope you will be able to reopen or re-create elsewhere.” “When I was in college & deeply closeted at my school in Virginia, Town was one of th few places I could go to truly be myself,” one Facebook commenter wrote. Many described Town, which opened on 8th Street NW near Florida Avenue in 2007 and spans more than 20,000 square feet across two floors, as a place to let loose after a draining day or week at work. Others said they found their eventual spouses and partners there. Some revealed that the club was among the first gay spaces they’d ever visited, the first place they’d made out with a stranger.
The mourners were like a sprawling, extended family that had recently learned a loved one was terminally ill or moving far away. Hundreds took to Facebook and Twitter to share memories of the times they’d spent bumping and grinding at the club, where drag shows, themed parties, and a hopping patio are mainstays in bustling Shaw. When Town Danceboutique, the District’s largest LGBTQ nightclub, announced on June 27 that it would be shutting its doors next summer after a decade in business, gay men across D.C.