Roland's Tavern
The First Queer Bar
Welcome to Roland's Tavern the first gay bar that we know of in Maine. Started in 1968 by Lewiston born Roland Labbe, Roland's was patrinized by every queer Mainer's of every letter of the alphabet, from every compass point; even from up in the Downeast.
"So you’d walk in and there’d be a long bar, with many people drinking and partying and smoking, there was a big haze of smoke. Then you’d
turn to the right and there’d be a big huge room...for dancing.-Penny, Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ Collection, Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, University of Southern Maine Libraries.
Ads for Roland's from Mainely Gay Newsletter
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<p>Rolands Tavern Ad Mainely Gay March1977</p>
<p>Ad for Roland's featuring a drawing of the outside of the bar.</p>
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<p>Rolands Tavern Ad Mainely Gay Aug 1976</p>
<p>Ad for Roland's featuring a drawing of a beer tankard</p>
QuoteTest
"So you’d walk in and there’d be a long bar, with many people drinking and partying and smoking, there was a big haze of smoke. Then you’d
turn to the right and there’d be a big huge room...for dancing.
-Penny, Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ Collection, Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, University of Southern Maine Libraries.
From Oral History
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Ralph on gay bars now