PASADENA, Calif. — Gay nightlife is disappearing around SoCal, but there are a few notable exceptions, thanks to some extremely loyal customers.
Husbands Mark Lanza and Mark Chou discovered the Boulevard Bar in Pasadena and spent most of their nights there.
"I haven't been to another gay bar in probably like at least five or six years," Chou said.
They're both longtime customers of what has become the only gay bar in Pasadena. They sing and socialize but also step behind the bar when needed.
Besides the owner Steve Terradot they are probably the most recognized faces at the bar.
"You can go away for an entire year and come back, and you know we're going to be here, and people do, and they come back, and they go, 'oh my god, I haven't seen you guys in a year,' and it's fun to see that, that people come back home," Lanza said.
While the bar was shut down, they took it upon themselves to help renovate the place.
Before the reopening, Terradot said he was $50,000 in debt. The husbands helped him fundraise and promote, so now he sees a bright future for the bar he bought not long after burying many good friends during another public health crisis: the AIDS epidemic.
"Especially in the gay community, we're there for our friends because they become our family. They are our family," Terradot said.
Lanza was raised in Louisiana but has found love and a home in California where he and his partner maintain a space for everyone to enjoy.
"We accept everyone for who they are. We don't judge people. Sometimes we do, but it's for fun," Lanza said.
That's gay nightlife in a nutshell.