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Anaang people

Anaang (also spelled Annang and Ànnang) is an ethnic group in Southern Nigeria, whose land is primarily within 8 of the present 31 Local Government Areas in Akwa Ibom State: Abak, Essien Udim, Etim Ekpo, Ika, Ikot Ekpene, Obot Akara, Oruk Anam, Ukanafun in Akwa Ibom State. The Anaang are the second largest ethnic group after the Ibibios in Akwa Ibom state.

The Anaang were formerly located in the former Abak and Ikot Ekpene Divisions of the Anaang Province, as well as part of the former Opobo Division of Uyo Province, in the former Eastern Region of Nigeria. The proper name for the Ika of Akwa Ibom is Ika-Annang.

Oral history
According to oral tradition, the Abiakpo came to the northern range of Anaang from Eka Abiakpo. They were quickly followed by the Ukana clan, the Utu, Ekpu, Ebom and Nyama (the British lumped these groups together and gave them the name Otoro), and other Anaang clans. The Anaang and the entire people of Akwa Ibom and Cross River states of Nigeria (AkwaCross people) have occupied their land in coastal Southeastern Nigeria for thousands of years.

The group is related to the Efik people. It is believed that the Anaang people originated from Egypt and began their migration from Egypt around 7500BC before settling in present-day Akwa-Ibom, Nigeria. Before their current settlement, they lived among the Twi of Ghana, where the name Anaang means "fourth son".

From Ghana, the group moved eastward into present-day Cameroon. It was in the Cameroon highlands that the group broke off but later reached the same territory in Coastal Southeastern Nigeria. Lineages were recognized and the groups organized into clans, based on old family origins known as Iman. Their northern neighbors, the Igbo, have a similar clan/community structure.

Written history
Very little was written about the Anaang people before the mid-19th century. Early European traders who arrived in the Cross River territories referred to groups who lived outside of the coastal areas as residents of Egbo-Sharry Country. The first written mention of the Anaangs is in Sigismund Koelle's account of liberated slaves in Sierra Leone. He mentioned a liberated slave named Ebengo who hailed from Nkwot in Abak. Ebengo was captured and sold to the Portuguese but was subsequently freed by a British warship and later settled in Waterloo, Sierra Leone. The British soldiers listed the languages spoken by the slaves in that captured ship as "Anaang". The second mention is a description of what is known as the Ikot Udo Obong Wars. The British described the killings of the Anaangs by King Jaja of Opobo as a punishment for defying his orders and trading in palm oil directly with the British merchants instead of going through him as a middleman. In the war that ensued, the British intervened and with the help of the Anaangs, they captured King Jaja and exiled him to the West Indies. The British established a military post at Ikot Ekpene in 1904.

Following British colonialism and with changes and ban in ancient hunting practices, the Anaang witnessed attacks by wild animals. As the men went to fight in World War II these attacks intensified. The British authorities called the attacks murder and blamed it on "the barbarism of the Africans". The Anaang were accused of belonging to a secret society called Ekpeowo (The Human Leopards Society). It has been argued that killings born out of insurgency against the British elsewhere in Africa led to the branding of leopard attacks as murders by the British authorities among the Anaang. Between 1945 and 1948 about 196 people were killed in Ikot Okoro community in the present-day Oruk Anam LGA; the Ikot Okoro Police station was set up because of this reason. The British convicted 96 people and executed 77 innocent people. The Anaang religion called Idiong was banned and the priests arrested. Articles and worship materials were publicly burnt and those who did not convert to Christianity automatically became suspects.

The Anaangs have a history and reputation for fearlessness and the ability of villages and clans to bind together to fight a common enemy. This is perhaps why they were able to thrive living so close to the Aro Confederacy's center, Arochukwu with its famed Ibini Ukpabi oracle. A particular interesting war group, or "Warrior cult", was the famous Oko warriors. This war group was highly functional in the 1950s. These warriors were considered invulnerable to penetration of knives, spears, and arrows. In various instances sharp machetes were tested on the body parts of members.

The Anaangs suffered genocide during the Nigerian Civil War. The war lasted for three years (1967–1970) and the Anaang lost a significant number of its people. The effect of the war and the resulting neglect of the Anaang is now a serious political discuss.

Location
The Anaang people homeland is located in Akwa Ibom State, Southern Nigeria. The Annangs have lived in the Southeastern, coastal parts of Nigeria for centuries before the arrival of the Europeans. The political capital of the Anaang people is Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area.

Culture
A brother/sister from the same Ilip, literally translated as "womb" means that they can trace their origin to the same mother or father. Those who can so trace their ancestry to the same parents form Ufok (literally a house or compound). Several ufoks make up Ekpuks or extended family and several Ekpuks (extended families) make up "Ilung" (meaning village) and several villages make up the "abie" or clan. This is in many ways similar to the system used by other south-eastern Nigerian peoples but more centralized.

Although leadership at the family, village, or clan level remains the prerogative of the men, lineage ties extends to women even after marriage. This is because the Anaang society was originally semi-matrilineal, just like a few other societies in Eastern Nigeria such as The Abiriba, Afikpo, and Ugep. There are many societies and associations (Ulim also called "udim") for men and women which are very important in traditional village life. Individuals are measured by both the number and types of memberships in Ulim and by the achievements of one or more Ulims. Governance is done by elderly males who act as the legislative arm called Afe Ichong, directed by the Abong Ichong (Village Chief and Clan Chief) who is the head and the chief executive but without the authority beyond what the Afe Ichong gives. A chief can be appointed by the Afe or can be an inherited office.

The Anang speak the Annang language and perform a masquerade after the yam harvest to mark the visit of ancestral spirits, or ekpo. This is also the name of a men's associations that once had great influence among Ibibio groups. The Anang carve masks with grotesque features, known as iliok, which are considered dangerous and may only be viewed by members of the ekpo. Other masks embody the beautiful spirit, or mfon.

The strength of any individual, family (or group for that matter) is typically based upon a consensus of the village or clan through this complex social system. In all this, Anang women are not completely subordinate to men. Instead Anaang women are partners and leaders in many aspects of Anaang tradition, including serving as female chief priests "Abia Iyong" in the Iyong cult or as healers in the healing cults. The first-born female known as Aliaha is important and commands respect in the family and lineage. Some traditions hold that a woman's first birth should take place in her mother's compound. Women's organizations such as "abi-de" and "Nyaama", and "Isong Iban" play important roles in giving the women voice and status in society. There are no traditional or cultural barriers that prevent women from attaining high offices or positions.

Anaangs value the ability to speak well and oratory ability using proverbs is highly desirable, especially among the leaders. The American anthropologist, Peter Farb, stated that the name "Anaang" among this group means "they who speak well". An individual who has the gift of eloquent speech is often complimented as Akwo Anaang, meaning the "Man of Anaang".

Fattening room
The fattening room is traditionally where virgin adolescent girls were fattened up in preparation for marriage. A fattening room girl is known as a mbobo. This was an occasion for a major village celebration. As part of her preparation for marriage the girl was also instructed on how to be a wife. She would spend her time in the room naked so that her fattening could be observed, and would sleep on a bamboo bed which was thought to fatten her up. It was also meant to make it more possible for her to conceive easily.

This use for fertility purposes was also used at time for infertile wives and as a prerequisite for entrance into secret societies.

Written language
The Annang language is also mutually intelligible to speakers of Ibibio, Efik, Oron, Eket (also known as Ekid) of the Akwa Akpa (Old Calabar Kingdom). Though the Anaang speech pattern was not written down, linguists have now produced an orthography of the language which makes it possible to produce written materials in the language (Idem & Udondata, 2001).

Demographics

 * Nigeria
 * Akwa Ibom State
 * Cross River State
 * Benue (Efik-Ibibio people are the fourth largest ethnic group of the original settlers of Benue of Nigeria)
 * Equatorial Guinea (formerly Fernando Po)
 * Cameroon
 * Ghana

Overseas diaspora:
 * Cuba
 * West Indies

Annang numbers
Numbers from zero to twelve:

Delicacies
The Annang people have different delicacies such as Afang Soup, Alitan Soup, Okro Soup (Afere nkolo), Abak Atama, White Soup (Affia Efere), Asa Iwa, Ekpang Nkwukwor and many other delicacies which one can enjoy during vacation.

title: Anaang people


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Talk:T-Mobile (brand)

Data breach text
Hello. Could you please explain how this text meets WP:UNDUE and WP:NOTNEWS? I am happy to reconsider, but at the moment it does not seem to IMHO. In response you mentioned Data breach, however this is an article, not Wiki policy. In addition, your claim "I don't have the time to correct them" is not justification for including text that needs improvement. Regards, MrsSnoozyTurtle 08:27, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Hey, I come at peace! I appreciate your corrections, but if you read the article Data breach, at the bottom you will find many Data Breach incidents and some of them have their own pages. I am listing a few companies where the Data Breach is mentioned. Please have a look at them. As far as I am concerned, every lawsuit with references has a place on Wikipedia. We can ask the admins to share their opinions in Teahouse if you still disagree with me.

 * Wattpad
 * SolarWinds
 * Canva
 * Quora

These are major ones like T-Mobile (100 Million customers were affected). On the Data breach page, there are minor ones as well that affected less than 100,000 people. If they can have a place, then why not this? And secondly, I have seen many pages where even a normal lawsuit has a place, let alone a major Data Breach. Let me know what you think. SAMsohot (talk) 13:55, 23 September 2021 (UTC)

 * Thank you for the detailed reply, great to hear that you come in peace! Please be aware of WP:OTHERSTUFFEXISTS- I agree that there are breaches which are notable but am concerned about WP:UNDUE and WP:NOTNEWS with the way it was included in this article. Regards, MrsSnoozyTurtle 00:47, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Well, I didn't say anything out of certainity but only what was factual. I used words like "alleged." I am quite sure it is fine. Do you wanna ask the community? Thanks! SAMsohot (talk) 15:37, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Sounds good. I have made some changes to the text, feel free to tweak further if you see fit. It's also fine to ask for help at the Teahouse if you like. MrsSnoozyTurtle 01:27, 25 September 2021 (UTC)

Removal of content
Can anyone work out what's going on with ? It looks like reversion to a c.2016 version but I can't find one that matches: the article has been bigger than that since 2010. Should we restore the version before that edit and repeat any subsequent edits that aren't just partially restoring the removed text? Certes (talk) 13:13, 29 June 2023 (UTC)

 * Agreed: it's some sort of vandalism (or a very, very misguided edit) that we've accidentally institutionalised by building on rather than reverting. I've been bold and gone back to the edit before. Now, of course, we have to pick through the subsequent (good) edits that have been lost and see if there's any new sourced info we can add back in. Well spotted, Certes. — Trey Maturin™ 14:24, 29 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I don't see any major changes except a possible inconsistency as to whether the regional setup started in 2009 (lead) or 2005 (#History). They may refer to different changes. Certes (talk) 14:54, 29 June 2023 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:T-Mobile (brand)


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Gay bar

A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBTQ+ communities.

Gay bars once served as the centre of gay culture and were one of the few places people with same-sex orientations and gender-variant identities could openly socialize. Other names used to describe these establishments include boy bar, girl bar, gay club, gay pub, queer bar, lesbian bar, drag bar, and dyke bar, depending on the niche communities that they serve.

With the advent of the Internet and an increasing acceptance of LGBTQ+ people across the Western world, the relevance of gay bars in the LGBTQ+ community has somewhat diminished. In areas without a gay bar, certain establishments may hold a gay night instead.

History
Gathering places favoured by homosexuals have operated for centuries. Reports from as early as the 17th century record the existence of bars and clubs that catered to, or at least tolerated, openly gay clientele in several major European cities. The White Swan (created by James Cook and Yardley, full name unknown) on Vere Street, in London, England, was raided in 1810 during the so-called Vere Street Coterie. The raid led to the executions of John Hepburn and Thomas White for sodomy. The site was the scene of alleged gay marriages carried out by the Reverend John Church.

It is not clear which place is the first gay bar in the modern sense. In Cannes, France, such a bar had already opened in 1885, and there were many more in Berlin around 1900. In the United Kingdom and the Netherlands gay bars were established throughout the first quarter of the 20th century.

China
The oldest gay bar in Beijing is the Half-and-Half, which in 2004 had been open over ten years. The first lesbian bar in China (also in Beijing) was Maple Bar, opened in 2000 by pop singer Qiao Qiao. The On/Off was a popular bar for both gay men and lesbians. The increase in China's gay and lesbian bars in recent years is linked to China's opening up to global capitalism and its consequent economic and social restructuring.

Denmark
The bar Centralhjørnet in Copenhagen opened in 1917 and became a gay bar in the 1950s. It now claims to be one of the oldest gay bars in Europe. The main Copenhagen gay district is the Latin Quarter.

France
The very first gay bar in Europe and probably in the world was the Zanzibar in Cannes on the French Riviera. The Zanzibar was opened in 1885 and existed for 125 years, before it was closed in December 2010. Among its visitors were many artists, like actor Jean Marais and comedians Thierry Le Luron and Coluche.

Paris became known as a centre for gay culture in the 19th century, making the city a queer capital during the early 20th century, when the Montmartre and Pigalle districts were meeting places of the LGBTQ+ community. Although Amsterdam, Berlin, and London had more meeting places and organizations than Paris, the latter was known for the "flamboyance" of LGBTQ+ quarters and "visibility" of LGBTQ+ celebrities.

Paris retained the LGBTQ+ capital image after the end of World War II, but the center of the meeting place shifted to Saint-Germain-des-Prés. In the 1950s and 1960s the police and authorities tolerated homosexuals as long as the conduct was private and out of view, but gay bar raids occurred and there were occasions when the owners of the bars were involved in facilitating the raids. Lesbians rarely visited gay bars and instead socialized in circles of friends. Lesbians who did go to bars often originated from the working class. Chez Moune, opened in 1936, and New Moon were 20th-century lesbian cabarets located in Place Pigalle, which converted to mixed music clubs in the 21st century.

Since the 1980s, the Le Marais district is the center of the gay scene in Paris.

Germany
In Berlin, there was gay and lesbian night life already around 1900, which throughout the 1920s became very open and vibrant, especially when compared to other capitals. Especially in the Schöneberg district around Nollendorfplatz there were many cafes, bars and clubs, which also attracted gay people who had to flee their own country in fear of prosecution, like for example Christopher Isherwood. The gay club Eldorado in the Motzstraße was internationally known for its transvestite shows. There was also a relatively high number of places for lesbians. Within a few weeks after the Nazis took over government in 1933, fourteen of the best known gay establishments were closed. After homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969, many gay bars opened in West Berlin, resulting in a lively gay scene.

In Munich, a number of gay and lesbian bars are documented as early as the Golden Twenties. Since the 1960s, the Rosa Viertel (pink quarter) developed in the Glockenbachviertel and around Gärtnerplatz, which in the 1980s made Munich "one of the four gayest metropolises in the world" along with San Francisco, New York City and Amsterdam. In particular, the area around Müllerstraße and Hans-Sachs-Straße was characterized by numerous gay bars and nightclubs. One of them was the travesty nightclub Old Mrs. Henderson, where Freddie Mercury, who lived in Munich from 1979 to 1985, filmed the music video for the song Living on My Own at his 39th birthday party. Other gay venues include Pompon Rouge, Mandy's Club, Pimpernel nightclub, the bar Mylord, the Ochsengarten, which was "Germany's first bar for leather men", as well as the gay hotel-pub Deutsche Eiche. Regulars in many of these bars and nightclubs include, for example, Freddie Mercury, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Walter Sedlmayr (who met his later murderer in the Pimpernel), Inge Meysel and Hildegard Knef.

Japan
The oldest continuously operating Japanese gay bar, New Sazae, opened in Tokyo in 1966. Most gay bars in Tokyo are located in the Shinjuku Ni-chōme district, which is home to about 300 bars. Each bar may only have room to seat about a dozen people; as a result, many bars are specialized according to interest.

Mexico

Because of a raid on a Mexico City drag ball in 1901, when 41 men were arrested, the number 41 has come to symbolize male homosexuality in Mexican popular culture, figuring frequently in jokes and in casual teasing. The raid on the "Dance of the 41" was followed by a less-publicized raid of a lesbian bar on 4 December 1901 in Santa Maria. Despite the international depression of the 1930s and along with the social revolution overseen by Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–1940), the growth of Mexico City was accompanied by the opening of gay bars and gay bathhouses. During the Second World War, ten to fifteen gay bars operated in Mexico City, with dancing permitted in at least two, El África and El Triunfo. Relative freedom from official harassment continued until 1959 when Mayor Ernesto Uruchurtu closed every gay bar following a grisly triple-murder. But by the late 1960s several Mexican cities had gay bars and, later, U.S.-style dance clubs. These places, however, were sometimes clandestine but tolerated by local authorities, which often meant that they were allowed to exist so long as the owners paid bribes. A fairly visible presence was developed in large cities such as Guadalajara, Acapulco, Veracruz and Mexico City. Today, Mexico City is home to numerous gay bars, many of them located in the Zona Rosa, particularly on Amberes street, while a broad and varied gay nightlife also flourishes in Guadalajara, Acapulco, in Cancun attracting global tourists, Puerto Vallarta which attracts many Americans and Canadians, and Tijuana with its cross-border crowd. However, there are at least several gay bars in most major cities.

Netherlands
In Amsterdam, there were already a few gay bars in the first quarter of the 20th century. The best known was The Empire (Amsterdam), in Nes, which was first mentioned in 1911 and existed until the late 1930s. The oldest that still exists is Café 't Mandje, which was opened in 1927 by lesbian Bet van Beeren. It closed in 1982, but was reopened in 2008.

After World War II, the Amsterdam city government acted rather pragmatic and tolerated the existence of gay bars. In the 1960s their number grew rapidly and they clustered in and around a number of streets, although this was limited to bars, clubs and shops and they never became residential areas for gays, like the gay villages in the US.

Since the late 1950s the main Amsterdam gay street was Kerkstraat, which was succeeded by Reguliersdwarsstraat in the early 1980s, when the first openly gay places opened here, like the famous cafe April in 1981, followed by dancing Havana in 1989. Other streets where there are still concentrations of gay bars are Zeedijk, Amstel and Warmoesstraat, the latter being the center of the Amsterdam leather scene, where the first leather bar already opened around 1955. The Queen's Head is a gay bar located at Zeedijk 20 in the centre of Amsterdam.

Russia
Because of the high prevalence of homophobia in Russia, patrons of gay bars there often have had to be on the alert for bullying and attacks. In 2013, Moscow's largest gay bar, Central Station, had its walls sprayed with gunfire, had harmful gas released into a crowd of 500 patrons, and had its ceiling nearly brought down by a gang who wanted to crush the people inside. Nonetheless, gay nightlife is increasing in Moscow and St. Petersburg, offering drag shows and Russian music, with some bars also offering discreet gay-only taxi services.

Singapore
The first recorded use of the term "gay bar" is in the diaries of homosexual British comedian Kenneth Williams: "16 January 1947. Went round to the gay bar which wasn't in the least gay." At the time Williams was serving in the British Army in Singapore. In the 1970s, straight nightclubs began to open their doors to gay clients on designated nights of the week. In the 1980s, a lesbian bar named Crocodile Rock opened in Far East Plaza, which remains to this day the oldest lesbian bar in Singapore. Today, many gay bars are located on the Neil Road stretch, from Taboo and Tantric, to Backstage Bar, May Wong's Café, DYMK and Play. Mega-clubs like Zouk and Avalon are also a big draw for the gay crowd.

South Africa
The history of gay and lesbian bars in South Africa reflects the racial divisions that began in the Apartheid era and continue, to some extent, in the 21st century.

The first white gay bar opened in the Carlton Hotel in downtown Johannesburg in the late 1940s, catering exclusively to men of wealth. In the 1960s, other urban bars began to open that drew more middle and working class white men; lesbians were excluded. The language of Gayle had its roots in the Cape Coloured and Afrikaans-speaking underground gay bar culture. In 1968, when the government threatened to pass repressive anti-gay legislation, queer culture went even further underground, which meant clubs and bars were often the only places to meet. These bars were often the targets of police raids. The decade of the 1970s was when urban gay clubs took root. The most popular gay club of Johannesburg was The Dungeon, which attracted females as well as males, and lasted until the 1990s. The 1979 police assault on the New Mandy's Club, in which patrons fought back, has been referred to as South Africa's Stonewall.

In the 1980s, police raids on white gay clubs lessened as the apartheid government forces found itself dealing with more and more resistance from the black population. In the black townships, some of the shebeens, unlicensed bars established in people's homes and garages, catered to LGBTQ clients. During the struggle against apartheid, some of these shebeens were important meeting places for black gay and lesbian resistance fighters. Lee's, a shebeen in Soweto, for example, was used as a meeting place for black gay men who were part of the Gay Association of South Africa (GASA) but did not feel welcome in the GASA offices.

With the establishment of the post-apartheid 1996 constitution that outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation as well as race, South Africa's gay night life exploded, though many bars continued to be segregated by race, and fewer blacks than whites go to the urban bars. The 2005 inaugural gay shebeen tour was advertised as a gay pub crawl that would provide an opportunity for South Africans and foreigners to "experience true African gay Shebeen culture".

South Korea

In Seoul, most gay bars were originally congregated near the Itaewon area of Seoul, near the U.S. military base. But in recent years, more clubs have located in the Sinchon area, indicating that "safe spaces" for Korean LGBTQ+ people have extended beyond the foreign zones, which were traditionally more tolerant. One male bar patron said Korean bar culture was not as direct as in the United States, with customers indicating their interest in another customer by ordering him a drink through a waiter. The oldest lesbian bar in Seoul is Lesbos, which started in 1996.

Spain
Under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975, homosexuality was illegal. However, in 1962, Spain's first gay bar, Tony's, opened in Torremolinos and a clandestine gay bar scene also emerged in the 1960s and early 1970s in Barcelona.

Taiwan
In Taiwan, Gay bar culture was first brought to Taiwan by the US military stationed in the 1960s. In the 1970s, the first gay bar "Take" appeared in Taipei. At the same time, lesbians often held activities in American military bars and gay bars. It was not until 1985 that the first lesbian bar "Forgettable Valley" appeared. After the mid-1980s, Gay bars and T-bars sprouted up like mushrooms after a rain. In addition to Taipei, they also began to appear in Taichung and Kaohsiung. The style has also become diversified from simply drinking and chatting. For example, Funky in the 1990s divided its business hours into singing hours and dancing hours.

In the early 2000s, the human rights of gays and lesbians in Taiwan improved significantly. The gay nightlife entertainment scene shifted from being a scene opened by gays and only having gay customers. Some non-gay-only nightclubs were considered gay nightclubs because they gathered a large number of gays. Representative stores are TeXound and 2F.

Starting in 2007, gay bars began to move into the Ximen Red House, which was not operating well at that time. Relying on the gay customer base, this place gradually gathered a lot of popularity and became the first openly gay business district in Taiwan. Nowadays, Ximen Red House Bar Street is a must-visit attraction for gays from all over the world when visiting Taiwan.

Currently, the representative gay bars include Abrazo Bistro, Bacio Taipei, Belle's, Commander D, Fairy Taipei, G-Star, Ganymede, Hunt and Locker Room. There are also many small gay bars in Ximen Red House.

United Kingdom
In the 18th century, molly houses were clandestine clubs where gay men could meet, drink, dance and have sex with each other. One of the most famous was Mother Clap's Molly House.

The first gay bar in Britain in the modern sense was The Cave of the Golden Calf, established as a night club in London. It opened in an underground location at 9 Heddon Street, just off Regent Street, in 1912 and became a haunt for the wealthy, aristocratic and bohemian. Its creator Frida Strindberg née Uhl set it up as an avant-garde and artistic venture. The club provided a solid model for future nightclubs.

After homosexuality was partially decriminalized in the UK in 1967, gay bar culture became more visible and gradually Soho became the centre of the London LGBTQ+ community, which was "firmly established" by the early 1990s. Gay bars, cafes, restaurants and clubs are centred on Old Compton Street.

Other cities in the UK also have districts or streets with a concentration of gay bars, like for example Stanley Street Quarter in Liverpool, the Merchant City in Glasgow, Canal Street in Manchester and the Birmingham Gay Village.

United States
There are many institutions in the United States that claim to be the oldest gay bar in the country. Since Prohibition ended in 1933, there are a number of notable gay bars that have opened. In alphabetical order:
 * The Atlantic House in Provincetown, Massachusetts, was constructed in 1798 and was a tavern and stagecoach stop before becoming a de facto gay bar after artists and actors, including Tennessee Williams, began spending summers in Provincetown in the 1920s.
 * The Black Cat Bar, founded in 1906 and operated again after Prohibition was ended in 1933, was located in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood and was the focus of one of the earliest victories of the homophile movement. In 1951, the California Supreme Court affirmed the right of homosexuals to assemble in a case brought by the heterosexual owner of the bar.
 * The Black Cat Tavern opened in November 1966 and was one of many LGBTQ+ bars to be raided, which happened on New Year's Day in 1967. It is now considered a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.
 * Cafe Lafitte in Exile in New Orleans, dating back to 1933 and the end of Prohibition, claims to be the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the United States.
 * The Double Header in Seattle's Pioneer Square is claimed to be the oldest gay bar on the North American West Coast, operating since 1933.
 * Esta Noche was the first gay Latino bar in San Francisco; it opened in 1979. It was located on Mission Street and 16th Street. It closed down in 1997 as one of the last gay Latino bars in the Mission District.
 * Eve's Hangout was one of the first lesbian bars, also called Eve Adams Tearoom. It closed after a police raid in 1926. Eva Kotchever, the owner, was deported to Europe and murdered at Auschwitz.
 * Julius Bar, founded by local socialite Matthew Nicol, is the first modern gay bar in New York City. It is where the Mattachine Society staged a "Sip-In" on 21 April 1966 challenging a New York State Liquor Authority rule that prohibited serving alcoholic beverages to gays on the basis that they were considered disorderly. The court ruling in the case that gays could peacefully assemble at bars would lead to the opening of the Stonewall Inn a block southwest in 1967, which in turn led to the 1969 Stonewall Riots. Julius is New York City's oldest continuously operating gay bar.
 * Korner Lounge (1933) of Shreveport, Louisiana is believed to be the second oldest continuously operating gay bar in the country.
 * Maud's Study (961 Cole Street, San Francisco), featured in the film Last Call at Maud's, was a lesbian bar which was founded by Rikki Streicher in 1966 and closed in September 1989. At closing, it claimed to be the oldest continuously operating lesbian bar. It closed during the AIDS crisis when a "clean and sober" mentality drove down a lot of bars.
 * The White Horse Inn in Oakland, California, operating legally since the end of Prohibition, but also likely illegally during it, claims to be the oldest gay bar in operation in the U.S.

HIV/AIDS impact
Gay bars have been heavily impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. For example, San Francisco had over 100 gay bars when the epidemic first hit in the early 1980s; by 2011 there were only about 30 remaining. During the worst years of the epidemic (before affordable and effective treatment), millions of gay men around the world died; consequently fewer persons owned or patronized gay bars.

Gay bars have always been a place of refuge and support for gay men impacted by the virus. Cure fundraising, testing, support group, and free condom events have been present at gay bars.

Today
Some commentators have suggested that gay bars are facing decline in the contemporary age due to the pervasiveness of technology. Andrew Sullivan argued in his 2005 essay "The End of Gay Culture" that gay bars are declining because "the Internet dealt them a body blow. If you are merely looking for sex or a date, the Web is now the first stop for most gay men".

June Thomas explained the decline by noting that there is less need for gay-specific venues like bars because gay people are less likely to encounter discrimination or be made unwelcome in wider society. Entrepreneur magazine in 2007 included them on a list of ten types of business that would be extinct by 2017 along with record stores, used bookstores and newspapers.

Some commentators have argued there has been some recent decline in gay-specific venues mainly due to the modern effects of gentrification. But despite the decline, gay bars still exist in relatively strong numbers and thrive in most major cities where male homosexuality is not heavily condemned. They also asserted many gay men (especially men new to gay nightlife) still find some value in gay-specific venues and being in the company of other gay men. Unlike gay bars, lesbian bars have become a rarity around the world. Many articles have been published discussing possible reasons as to why lesbian bars struggle to exist despite a growing lesbian population.

Background

Like most bars and pubs, gay bars range in size from the small, five-seat bars of Tokyo to large, multi-story clubs with several distinct areas and more than one dance floor. A large venue may be referred to as a nightclub, club, or bar, while smaller venues are typically called bars and sometimes pubs. The only defining characteristic of a gay bar is the nature of its clientele. While many gay bars target the gay and/or lesbian communities, some (usually older and firmly established) gay bars have become gay, as it were, through custom, over a long period of time.

The serving of alcohol is the primary business of gay bars and pubs. Like non-gay establishments they serve as a meeting place and LGBTQ+ community focal point, in which conversation, relaxation, and meeting potential romantic and sexual partners is the primary focus of the clientele. Historically and continuing in many communities, gay bars have been valued by patrons as the only place closeted gay men and lesbians can be open and demonstrative about their sexuality without fear of discovery. Gerard Koskovich of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society explains that "[Gay bars] were a public place where gay people could meet and start to have a conversation, where they didn't feel like sexual freaks or somehow not part of the larger social fabric; from that came culture, politics, demands for equal rights."

Gay bars traditionally preferred to remain discreet and virtually unidentifiable outside the gay community, relying exclusively on word of mouth promotion. More recently, gay clubs and events are often advertised by handing out eye-catching flyers on the street, in gay or gay-friendly shops and venues, and at other clubs and events. Similar to flyers for predominantly heterosexual venues, these flyers frequently feature provocative images and theme party announcements.

While traditional gay pub-like bars are nearly identical to bars catering to the general public, gay dance venues often feature elaborate lighting design and video projection, fog machines and raised dancing platforms. Hired dancers (called go-go girls or go-go boys) may also feature in decorative cages or on podiums. Gay sports bars are relatively unusual, but it is not unusual for gay bars to sponsor teams in local sports/game leagues, and many otherwise traditional gay pubs are well known for hosting post-game parties—often filling with local gay athletes and their fans on specific nights or when major professional sporting events are broadcast on TV. Some of the longest established gay bars are unofficial hosts of elaborate local 'Royal Court' drag pageants and drag-related social groups.

Gay bars and nightclubs are sometimes segregated by sex. In some establishments, people who are perceived to be of the "wrong" sex (for example, a man attempting to enter a women's club) may be unwelcome or even barred from entry. This may be more common in specialty bars, such as gay male leather fetish or BDSM bars, or bars or clubs which have a strict dress code. It is also common in bars and clubs where sex on the premises is a primary focus of the establishment. On the other hand, gay bars are usually welcoming of transgender and cross-dressed people, and drag shows are a common feature in many gay bars, even men-only spaces. Some gay bars and clubs which have a predominantly male clientele, as well as some gay bathhouses and other sex clubs, may offer occasional women-only nights.

A few gay bars attempt to restrict entry to only gay or lesbian people, but in practice this is difficult to enforce. Most famously, Melbourne's Peel Hotel was granted an exemption from Australia's Equal Opportunities Act by a state tribunal, on the grounds that the exemption was needed to prevent "sexually-based insults and violence" aimed at the pub's patrons. As a result of the decision, the pub is legally able to advertise as a "gay only" establishment, and door staff can ask people whether they are gay before allowing them inside, and can turn away non-gay people.

Already categorized as gay or lesbian, many gay bars in larger cities/urban areas take this sub-categorization a step further by appealing to distinct subcultures within the gay community. Some of these sub-cultures are defined by costume and performance. These bars often forge a like-minded community in dozens of cities with leather gay bars, line-dancing gay bars, and drag revues. Other subcultures cater to men who fit a certain type, one that is often defined by age, body type, personality, and musical preference. There are some bars and clubs that cater more to a working class/blue collar crowd and some that cater to a more upscale clientele. There are gay bars that cater to "twinks" (young, smooth-bodied pretty boys) and others that cater to bears (older, larger, hairier alternatives to the well-manicured and fey gay stereotype). There are also gay bars that cater to certain races, such as ones for Asian men "and their admirers", Latin men, or black men.

Gay cruise bar
A variation of the gay bar is the gay cruise bar. Normally gay bars usually prohibit sexual activity other than kissing or flirting on the premises, however cruise bars allow sex to happen on their property. Cruise bars have a secured entrance door so that only adults can enter, a cloakroom area to allow patrons to change, and seating that allow sexual activity to happen. There is usually an entrance change, however on special occasions it is waived. Mobile phones are banned for privacy reasons. Notable cruise bars include Vault 139 and Bunker Bar in London.

Music
Music, either live or, more commonly, mixed by a disc jockey (DJ), is often a prominent feature of gay bars. Typically, the music in gay bars include pop, dance, contemporary R&B, house, trance, and techno. In larger North American cities and in Australia, one or more gay bars with a country music theme and line dancing are also common, as are bars known for retro 1960s pop and "Motown Sound."

List of gay bars
This is not a complete list of gay bars around the world.

Argentina
 * Amerika, Buenos Aires

Canada
 * Woody's, Toronto

Colombia
 * Theatron, Bogotá

Denmark
 * Pan Club Copenhagen (closed 2007)

Finland
 * DTM, Helsinki
 * Hercules, Helsinki

Ireland
 * The George, Dublin
 * Panti Bar, Dublin

Netherlands
 * Café 't Mandje

Puerto Rico
 * Loverbar

Thailand
 * Sunee Plaza, a close collection of gay bars

United Kingdom • Admiral Duncan, London

• Comptons of Soho, London

• Royal Vauxhall Tavern, London

• G-A-Y, London

• The Black Cap, London

• The Coleherne, London – now closed down

• London Astoria, now closed

• Heaven, London

• Cruz 101, Manchester

• Planet Out, Edinburgh

• The New Penny, Leeds

• The Joiners Arms, Hackney, London

• The Golden Lion, London - a former gay pub, now an ordinary pub

United States • Axis Nightclub, The Short North, Columbus

• The Abbey, West Hollywood, California

• Black Banana, Philadelphia (closed)

• Black Cat Bar, San Francisco (closed)

• Black Cat Tavern, Silverlake, Los Angeles, California (closed)

• CC Slaughters, Portland, Oregon

• Club Universe, San Francisco (closed)

• Down the Street, Asbury Park, New Jersey (closed)

• Embers Avenue, Portland, Oregon

• Hobo's, Portland, Oregon

• Jewel's Catch One, Los Angeles (closed)

• Julius, New York City

• Neon Boots Dancehall & Saloon, Houston, Texas

• Paddock Club, Greenville, North Carolina (closed)

• Phase 1, Washington, D.C.

• Pulse, Orlando, Florida (Closed after a mass shooting on the night of June 12, 2016)

• Red Cap Garage, Portland, Oregon (closed)

• Silverado, Portland, Oregon

• South Beach, Houston, Texas

• Stag PDX, Portland, Oregon

• Stonewall Inn, New York City

• This is It!, Milwaukee, WI

• Three Sisters Tavern, Portland, Oregon (closed)

• Velvet Nation at Nation, Washington, D.C. (closed)

• Ziegfeld's, Washington, D.C.

List of lesbian bars
While some gay bars open their doors to all LGBTQ people, other bars cater specifically to lesbians. In recent years many popular lesbian bars have closed down. In 2015, JD Samson made a documentary exploring the very few remaining lesbian bars in the United States.

United States

 * As You Are Bar, Washington, DC
 * Babes of Carytown, Richmond, VA
 * Blush & Blu, Denver, CO
 * Chances Bar, Houston (closed)
 * Henrietta Hudson, New York, NY
 * Herz, Mobile, AL
 * Maud's, San Francisco (closed)
 * Peg's Place, San Francisco (closed)
 * Phase 1, Washington, D.C. (closed)
 * Slammers, Columbus, OH
 * Sue Ellen's, Dallas, TX
 * The Lexington Club, San Francisco, CA (closed)
 * Toasted Walnut, Philadelphia, PA (closed)
 * Wildrose, Seattle, WA
 * Wild Side West, San Francisco, CA

United Kingdom
 * Candy Bar, Soho (closed)
 * Gateways club (London) (closed)

title: Gay bar


text:
The Saint (New York City)

The Saint was an American gay nightclub, located in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It operated from 1980 to 1988.

History
It opened in the old premises of the Fillmore East, a 1926-built, former-theater-turned-classic-rock-and-roll venue of the late 1960s and early 1970s, at 105 Second Avenue at 6th Street. The Saint was opened by Bruce Mailman and his business partner and his architectural designer, Charles Terrell.

The original opening date was set for July 30, 1980, but construction delays forced a deferral to September 20, 1980, with Alan Dodd as disc jockey. The nightclub was a success even before it opened. Membership packs with floor plans were distributed and before the club opened 2,500 memberships had been sold at $150 each for the first 700 members and for $250 for the rest, with a waiting list established.

It was financed in large part by Mailman's other gay venture, the nearby New St. Marks Baths – a gay mecca at the time. The nightclub's renovation cost $4.5 million, being $2 million over budget ($17 million at 2017 prices). Money was spent repairing the roof, paying six years of back taxes to the city and fitting out the interior. It opened initially as a private membership gay nightclub (returning the idea of a club to "nightclub"), and set the standard for disco presentation, lighting, sound system, hydraulics and technical support.

However, by the end of its second season, AIDS had begun eating through the fabric of gay life in New York City and began to take a heavy and relentless toll on the Saint's membership. Change came quickly. Membership costs were lowered and the season extended into the summer so that the club was open almost all year round. By its seventh season, membership costs had fallen to $50. It also opened weekly for a straight crowd. Furthermore, by 1985, the Black Party performers were for the first time required to perform safe sex. By 1987, the performance emphasised masturbation, phone sex and mud wrestling, all a far cry from the club's early days which, on one celebrated occasion, a boa constrictor was used as a prop.

Venue
The circular dance floor (5000 sqft) was topped by a perforated planetarium dome 76 ft in diameter and 38 ft high. In addition to hiding the speakers, the dome served as a spectacular palette for the lighting effects. A circular opening at the top of the dome could be automatically opened and closed to allow a large mirrored disco ball to be lowered into the space. The speaker cabinets were located on, and attached directly to, the outer surface of the dome, creating a very euphonic "surround sound" effect, the sound system in the club consisted of 500 speakers generating 26,000 watts. In the center of the dance floor was a circular light tree constructed on a hydraulic lift. It contained 1,500 lights and as its centerpiece was a rotating, dual Spitz Space System hemisphere star projector, ten times brighter than those used in planetariums. Mailman had initially approached Zeiss regarding the purchase of a star-projection system, but the company refused to sell one, believing its use in a gay club would be an inappropriate use for their system.

Directly underneath the dance-floor level was a large lounge with several juice bars. Beer on tap was sometimes served for free to avoid the licensing oversight of the New York State Liquor Authority. Above and outside the dome was what would become the controversial balcony, where patrons could see down to the dance floor, through the scrim of the dome. It was there that men relaxed and, according to the sexual mores of the times, could indulge in sexual activities. Several times during the year, themed parties such as the "Black Party" and the "White Party" attracted celebrities from around the world.

DJs
The Saturday night DJs at the nightclub included Jim Burgess, Roy Thode, Alan Dodd, Robbie Leslie, Mark Thomas, Terry Sherman, Shaun Buchanan, Michael Fierman, Warren Gluck, Wayne Scott, Chuck Parsons, Michael Cavalone, Nao Nakamura and Sharon White. The lighting was operated by Marsha Stern, Richard Tucker, Mark Ackerman, Jorge Villardell, Richard Erskine, Tony DeVizia and Richard Sabala.

Live performances
Musicians who performed at the nightclub include:

 * Patti Austin
 * Baltimora
 * Claudja Barry
 * Celi Bee
 * Laura Branigan
 * Jocelyn Brown
 * Miquel Brown
 * Betty Buckley
 * Irene Cara
 * Cerrone
 * Linda Clifford
 * Natalie Cole
 * Company B
 * The Cover Girls
 * Tim Curry
 * E.G. Daily
 * Sarah Dash
 * Taylor Dayne
 * Dead or Alive
 * Hazell Dean
 * Kiki Dee
 * Teri DeSario
 * Divine
 * Dominatrix
 * Carol Douglas
 * Erasure
 * Exposé
 * The Flirts
 * Freeez
 * Fun Fun
 * Taana Gardner
 * Gloria Gaynor
 * Debbie Gibson
 * Gwen Guthrie
 * Sam Harris
 * Debbie Harry
 * Dan Hartman
 * George Hearn
 * Nona Hendryx
 * Jennifer Holliday
 * Loleatta Holloway
 * Thelma Houston
 * Rhetta Hughes
 * Imagination
 * Paul Jabara
 * Debbie Jacobs
 * France Joli
 * Grace Jones
 * Madleen Kane
 * Chaka Khan
 * Eartha Kitt
 * Rose Laurens
 * Amanda Lear
 * Paul Lekakis
 * Lime
 * Dorothy Loudon
 * Darlene Love
 * Lorna Luft
 * Patti LuPone
 * Cheryl Lynn
 * Kelly Marie
 * Nancy Martinez
 * Ullanda McCullough
 * Maureen McGovern
 * Stephanie Mills
 * Liliane Montevecchi
 * Jackie Moore
 * Melba Moore
 * Phyllis Nelson
 * Noel Pagan
 * Paul Parker
 * Pepsi & Shirlie
 * Pet Shop Boys
 * Bonnie Pointer
 * Fonda Rae
 * Sheryl Lee Ralph
 * Red Hot Chili Peppers
 * Sharon Redd
 * Helen Reddy
 * Chita Rivera
 * Louise Robey
 * Vicki Sue Robinson
 * Jimmy Ruffin
 * RuPaul
 * Seduction
 * John Sex
 * Shannon
 * Dee Dee Sharp
 * Marlena Shaw
 * Sinitta
 * Pamala Stanley
 * Brenda K. Starr
 * Amii Stewart
 * Jermaine Stewart
 * Jeff Stryker
 * Swing Out Sister
 * Sylvester
 * Evelyn Thomas
 * Tiffany
 * Judy Torres
 * Tina Turner
 * Bonnie Tyler
 * Leslie Uggams
 * Luther Vandross
 * Sarah Vaughan
 * Tata Vega
 * Shriekback
 * Jody Watley
 * The Weather Girls
 * Deniece Williams
 * Viola Wills
 * Mary Wilson
 * Betty Wright
 * Val Young

title: The Saint (New York City)


text:
Nissen hut

A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British engineer and inventor Major Peter Norman Nissen. It was used also extensively during the Second World War and was adapted as the similar Quonset hut in the United States.

Description

A Nissen hut is made from a sheet of metal bent into half a cylinder and planted in the ground with its axis horizontal. The cross-section is slightly more than a semi-circle so that the bottom of the hut curves inwards slightly. The exterior is formed from curved corrugated steel sheets 10 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 2 inches (3.2 × 0.7 m), laid with a two-corrugation lap at the side and a 6-inch (15 cm) overlap at the ends. Three sheets cover the arc of the hut. They are attached to five 3 × 2 inch (7.5 × 5 cm) wooden purlins and 3 × 2 inch wooden spiking plates at the ends of the floor joists.

The purlins are attached to eight T-shaped ribs (1¾ × 1¾ × ⅛ inch; 4.5 × 4.5 × 0.5 cm) set at 6 feet 0.5 inch (1.8 m) centres. Each rib consists of three sections bolted together using splice plates, and each end is bolted to the floor at the bearers. With each rib are two straining wires, one on each side, and a straining ratchet (or in some cases a simple fencing-wire strainer). The wires are strained during construction. The straining wires do not appear in the original Nissen patent.

The purlins are attached to the ribs using a "hook" bolt, which hooks through a pre-drilled hole in the rib and is secured into the purlin. The hook bolt is a unique feature of the Nissen design.

Interior lining could be horizontal corrugated iron or material like hardboard attached to the ribs. Sometimes corrugated asbestos cement sheeting was used. If required, the space between the lining and the exterior may be used for insulation and services.

The walls and floors rest on foundations consisting of 4 × 4 inch (10 × 10 cm) stumps with 15 × 9 inch (38 × 23 cm) sole plates. On these are 4 × 3 inch (10 × 8 cm) bearers and 4 × 2 inch (10 × 5 cm) joists at 2 feet 10 inch (86 cm) centres. The floor is made from tongue and groove floorboards.

At each end the walls are made from a wooden frame with weatherboards nailed to the outside.

Windows and doors may be added to the sides by creating a dormer form by adding a frame to take the upper piece of corrugated iron and replacing the lower piece with a suitable frame for a door or window.

Nissen huts come in three internal spans (diameters)—16 ft (4.9 m), 24 ft (7.3 m) or 30 ft (9.2 m). The longitudinal bays come in multiples of 6 ft (1.8 m), allowing the length of the cylinder to be any multiple of 6 ft.

The corrugated steel half-circles used to build Nissen huts can be stored efficiently because the curved sheets can be cupped one inside another. However, there is no standard model of Nissen hut, because the design was never static and changed according to demand.

History
Between 16 and 18 April 1916, Major Peter Norman Nissen of the 29th Company Royal Engineers of the British Army began to experiment with hut designs. Nissen, a mining engineer and inventor, constructed three prototype semi-cylindrical huts. The semi-cylindrical shape was derived from the drill-shed roof at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario (collapsed 1896). Nissen's design was subject to intensive review by his fellow officers, Lieutenant Colonels Shelly, Sewell and McDonald, and General Clive Gerard Liddell, which helped Nissen develop the design. After the third prototype was completed, the design was formalized and the Nissen hut was put into production in August 1916. At least 100,000 were produced in the First World War.

Nissen patented his invention in the UK in 1916 and patents were taken out later in the United States, Canada, South Africa and Australia. Nissen received royalties from the British government, not for huts made during the war, but only for their sale after the conflict. Nissen received some £13,000 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).

Two factors influenced the design of the hut. First, the building had to be economical in its use of materials, especially considering wartime shortages of building material. Second, the building had to be portable. This was particularly important in view of the wartime shortages of shipping space. This led to a simple form that was prefabricated for ease of erection and removal. The Nissen hut could be packed in a standard Army wagon and erected by six men in four hours. The world record for erection is 1 hour 27 minutes.

Production of Nissen huts waned between the wars, but was revived in 1939. Nissen Buildings Ltd. waived its patent rights for wartime production during the Second World War (1939–45). Similar-shaped hut types were developed as well, notably the larger Romney hut in the UK and the Quonset hut in the United States. All types were mass-produced in the thousands. The Nissen hut was used for a wide range of functions; apart from accommodation, they functioned as churches and bomb stores among other uses. Accounts of life in the hut generally were not positive. Huts in the United Kingdom were frequently seen as cold and draughty, while those in the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific were seen as stuffy and humid.

Use as family housing
Although the prefabricated hut was conceived to meet wartime demand for accommodation, similar situations, such as construction camps, are places where prefabricated buildings are useful. The Nissen hut was adapted into a larger prefabricated two-storey house and marketed by Nissen-Petren Ltd. Four of the original prototypes survive in Queen Camel in Somerset. The standard Nissen hut was often recycled into housing. A similar approach was taken with the U.S. Quonset hut at the end of the war, with articles on how to adapt the buildings for domestic use appearing in Home Beautiful and Popular Mechanics.

In Aultbea on Loch Ewe, in Scotland, a large Nissen hut cinema built by the Royal Navy was donated to the village after the Second World War, and remains in use as a community hall. Nissen hut houses survive in Hvalfjörður, Iceland. They were built to house naval personnel during the war.

However, the adaptation of the semi-cylindrical hut to non-institutional uses was not popular. Neither the Nissen nor the Quonset developed into popular housing, despite their low cost. One reason was the association with huts: a hut was not a house, with all the status a house implies. The second point was that rectangular furniture does not fit into a curved-wall house very well, and, thus, the actual usable space in a hut might be much less than supposed.

In the UK, after the Second World War many were converted for agricultural or industrial purposes, and numerous examples have since been demolished.

In Pune, India, some Nissen huts were provided to persons who lost their homes due to floods caused by the Panshet Dam burst in 1961. Some of these huts are still occupied and in use as homes.

Use in Australia
In Australia, after the war, Nissen huts were erected at many migrant camps around the country.

Most post-Second World War Nissen huts were used by governments. However, there is one block that was built as private housing. Fifty Nissen huts were constructed in Belmont North, a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. They were designed to provide cheap, ready-made housing for post-war British migrant families. Seventeen of the huts have been demolished over the years, but the remainder have been refurbished, improved and extended and remain popular with their owners. However attempts to have the remaining huts heritage listed in 2009 failed in the face of opposition from some owners.

The story of Western Australia's post-War migrants has been marked with the state heritage-listing of the remaining parts of the former Main Roads Migrant Camp in Narrogin, Western Australia. The camp housed European migrants who had been displaced by the war and resettled in Western Australia, then employed in road construction. The Australian Government worked with the United Nations to accept, resettle and provide employment for many thousands of Europeans after the Second World War.

Immigrants were housed in Nissen huts at Holmesglen, in south east Melbourne until the early 1970s when they were demolished to make way for native parklands. A unique example still exists along nearby High Street Road in Ashwood where the hut is occupied by a bottle shop.

Main Roads was one of three migrant camps set up in Narrogin in the late 1940s and used until the mid-1950s. The camp's conditions were basic, with migrants living in tents and Nissen huts. The three Nissen huts are the only ones to survive. Post-war migrants played a vital role in the development of the state through the construction of state and local government buildings, roads and railways. Today, the place is used by Main Roads Western Australia as its Wheatbelt South Region Headquarters.

title: Nissen hut


text:
Bemani

Bemani (ビーマニ), stylized as BEMANI, is Konami's music video game division. Originally named the Games & Music Division (G.M.D.), it changed its name in honor of its first and most successful game, Beatmania, and expanded into other music-based games, most notably rhythm games such as Dance Dance Revolution, GuitarFreaks, and DrumMania.

Current Bemani games
Since 1997, Konami has released many different series of music games under the Bemani brand. Each series has a unique way of playing the game and detaches players from the typical hand held controller of modern game systems by using their whole body to control the game. Dance Dance Revolution lets players dance with their feet, Beatmania gives players a DJ style mixing board complete with turntable, ParaParaParadise is controlled with the players hands and arm by setting off motion sensors during the dance routine, and GuitarFreaks & DrumMania let players use simplified instruments to create music. Below are the Bemani series of video games in alphabetical order.

Beatmania IIDX
Continuing the Beatmania series, Beatmania IIDX (typically pronounced "Two Dee Ecks") was released in 1999. The rules of the game remain the same from Beatmania with the addition of two more keys giving players seven keys to play with along with the turntable. "IIDX" stands for 2 Deluxe, "Beatmania 2 Deluxe", as Konami gave the series an entire internal and external makeover. The deluxe versions of the arcade machines were bulked up with larger displays, a platform for players to stand on and literally feel the bass of the music, and other amenities. As time went on Konami ceased production of the standard cabinet and went exclusively with the deluxe cabinet.

Beatmania IIDX has been released on the PlayStation 2 and PC platforms for home players and continues to this day with arcade releases worldwide. In 2006, the game was released on the PlayStation 2 in North America for the first time, simply titled Beatmania.

Dance Around
Dance Around, stylized as DANCE aROUND, was first announced on November 10, 2021. It began location tests in select portions of the Japanese market through November 2021. DANCE aROUND uses a pair of cameras mounted on either side of the cabinet to detect the player's body using parallax.

The top half of the game's UI contains a continuously scrolling "Timeline" at the top of the screen, previewing the moves that are coming up, grouped into four-beat groups, similarly to the system in Dance Central.

The bottom part of the game's UI shows prompts representing how the game expects the player to move. Most of the prompts are rounded rectangles that show the areas where the game expects the player's hands and feet to be in or moved into. Occasionally, there will also be trails of dots, along which the player is expected to move either hand, and yellow silhouettes representing full-body poses that the game expects the player to strike. The user's detected hand and foot positions are shown as pink, translucent overlays.

In the background, computer graphics characters perform the dance in real time. By default, there will be three characters, the one in the center being the one chosen by the player. However, if using "Performance Style", the game moves the avatar into a window in the corner, and it mimics the players movements in the real world. This leaves the center area clear, and makes for less clutter on screen.

"Performance Style" unlocks the ability to record the player's movements on certain songs, and play them back on a Web-based interface later. This data is stored for 7 days and can only be watched 10 times.

Dance Around is considered by fans to be a spiritual sequel to Bemani's own Dance Masters and Dance Evolution Arcade, and is also comparable to the Just Dance game series.

Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution, often initialized to DDR and also known in Europe as Dancing Stage, was first produced in 1998. The game is played by stepping to music on a dance platform with four pressure-sensitive arrow pads. The game has changed little since its introduction but has come a long way in terms of musical selection and visual appearance. While originally an arcade title, many versions of Dance Dance Revolution have been released on many different platforms including the Sony PlayStation 2, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo Wii, and Microsoft Xbox. Other versions have also appeared on portable handhelds, cell phones, and as standalone TV plug'n'play devices. Dance Dance Revolution is commonly considered to be the most well-known BEMANI series outside of Japan.

Dance Rush
Dance Rush Stardom, stylized as DANCERUSH STARDOM, was first released on March 23, 2018. It is marketed as a shuffle dancing simulator, and encourages the players to learn several real-life moves, such as the running man, the crab step, the Spongebob, and the Charleston. It uses a Microsoft Kinect-like body tracking camera and a dance platform powered by an IR frame. In addition, Dance Rush has five buttons for navigating the menu, but not used during gameplay.

In Dance Rush, the player is given a set of prompts that scroll down the timeline, and must match the horizontal foot positions by stepping in the right place on the platform, sliding their feet left and right, or keeping their feet off the platform by jumping. In addition, the game also detects the speed at which the player’s center of gravity moves, requiring the player to go "DOWN" in time with the prompts.

Similar to other Bemani series like Dance Dance Revolution and Dance Evolution, Dance Rush has three game modes: Light (up to two songs, or only one in South Korea), Standard (up to two songs, plus Extra Stage if the total score for the two songs exceeds 180.000) and Premium (record any one song fulfilling the license terms and upload them to YouTube).

Dance Rush also has a cooperative 2-player mode, where one player uses the front half of the platform and the other uses the back half, as well as a head-to-head battle mode using two separate cabinets. The two modes can even be activated at the same time, resulting in a 2v2 cooperative multiplayer game.

Gitadora (GuitarFreaks and DrumMania)

Also known as Gitadora in Japan, the combined series of GuitarFreaks and DrumMania are games that use simplified instruments after their namesake. GuitarFreaks uses a small, plastic guitar with three buttons known as "frets", a strum bar, and a motion sensor that players set off by pulling the neck of the guitar up and quickly down again. Despite the similarities, Guitar Freaks predates Guitar Hero by several years; in fact, the heads of RedOctane, Charles and Kai Huang, were reportedly inspired by the GuitarFreaks gameplay to develop the Western game's guitar peripheral and pitch its gameplay proposal for what would eventually become Guitar Hero.

Drum Mania lets players play a set of drums. Modeled after modern digital drum kits, the player strikes the appropriate piece with the drumsticks on cue with the music and failure to do so causes the song to sound incorrect. Many American players will recognize the Drum Mania setup from more recent games like Rock Band, which is unrelated to the Konami game.

Similar to the 5-key to 7-key upgrade from Beatmania to Beatmania IIDX, GuitarFreaks and DrumMania received a major gameplay overhaul with the 2010 release of GuitarFreaks XG and DrumMania XG, with a total of 5 frets and 9 drums respectively. While standard GuitarFreaks and DrumMania games were originally being released alongside the XG games, the latter has now become the primary focus of the series, with the last standard series game being V8, released in 2011. The XG series was rebranded in 2013 as simply "GITADORA".

Despite being separately released games that can be played independent of each other, Konami markets the GITADORA series as a pair that can be linked for co-operative play in the arcades. The two series continue to be released to this day.

Jubeat
Announced on December 22, 2007, Jubeat (pronounced "you beat", title changed to UBeat and Jukebeat in the American test releases) is similar to Whac-A-Mole, where players must tap the square-shaped panels on a touch screen when they light up. It was released in Japan in July 2008. A localized version of the game for North America was announced the month after with tests held at an arcade in Southern California alongside Dance Dance Revolution X. After two separate testing phases Konami canceled all plans to release the game in North American Arcades. Jubeat arcade presence is localized in Japan and several East Asian countries. Free-to-Play adaptations for mobile were eventually released in 2010. Japan received Jubeat Plus, available for iOS and Android. International regions received a localized version called Jukebeat, available solely on iOS. While the apps may appear similar, Jukebeat songlist is far more restricted and features different licences.

NOSTALGIA
NOSTALGIA (ノスタルジア) was first released on March 1, 2017, available as an upgrade kit for BeatStream cabinets or as a new machine. The game serves as a spiritual successor to Keyboardmania, with its gameplay involving a keyboard-esque controller used to hit notes coming from the top of the screen. Unlike Keyboardmania though, the player does not have to hit a specific key, just one in the note's general area. Only one row of keys is used as well; while the cabinet does have black keys, they are solely for decoration. The touchscreen used by BeatStream is reused to navigate the game's interface. Similar to Keyboardmania, "Real" charts requires players to know how to play the piano in order to easily pass the songs.

Pop'n Music
Released in 1998, Pop'n Music is like a simplified Beatmania. With larger, colorful buttons, no turntable, and easier note patterns, Pop'n Music presents players with a more childlike appearance. However Pop'n Music is viewed as every bit as difficult as Beatmania IIDX, with modes that use up to nine hand buttons at once, and having some songs that aren't keysounded. Pop'n Music is stylized with cute cartoony characters and a musical selection to match. The series continues to this day as one of the most popular Bemani games.

Sound Voltex
SOUND VOLTEX was first released on January 18, 2012. Its gameplay involves four white buttons, two orange "FX" buttons, and two knobs, one blue and one pink. While the white and orange buttons are simply pressed or held, the knobs must be adjusted on cue with blue and pink lasers which quickly move left and right across the track. Similar to beatmania, this gameplay is meant to mimic a DJ controller, but places more focus on layering effects over the music. Besides music featured in other BEMANI series, many songs are arrangements of music from Touhou Project, and some are produced by Vocaloid artists. SOUND VOLTEX also holds regular song contests, officially called SOUND VOLTEX FLOOR, in which fans submit original songs or artwork for a chance to be part of the game's extensive songlist.

Beatmania
Modeled after nightclub DJs and mixing boards, Beatmania, known as Hip Hop Mania in North America and Beatstage in Korea, allows the player to "spin" the music with five activator keys and a turntable. The Beatmania series was the first Bemani game introduced and its successor is still the most popular Bemani game in Japan. With numerous releases in arcades and on video game platforms Beatmania set itself as a role model for future Bemani titles. The music featured in this series of games is still in use today in Beatmania IIDX and other Bemani games.

Beatmania III

Built off the Beatmania gameplay, Beatmania III added a foot pedal to the five keys and turntable used by players. The Beatmania III series was short lived with only a few releases and a series run of only two years, ending in 2002. Many songs from Beatmania III were ported to the IIDX series as well as other Bemani games.

BeatStream
Released on July 17, 2014, and discontinued on March 1, 2017, its gameplay involves hitting notes that come from eight directions to an octagonal judgment lines within a wide touch panel. The notes have several types: some need to be held down, and some need to be slid. Similar to Beatmania IIDX, the player starts with 30% clear gauge (represented by a ring in the middle of the screen) and have to obtain at least 70% by the end of the game to pass the stage. The music library features a good number of songs from Vocaloid and Touhou Project, like Sound Voltex, but BeatStream does have its fair share of original songs. e-Amusement support for BeatStream ended on September 1, 2017, discontinuing most cabinets that require constant e-Amusement connection, rendering the game unable to run after boot and recycling cabinets for other games.

Bemani Pocket
Similar in style to Tamagotchi handhelds, the Bemani Pocket series released small, handheld versions of Dance Dance Revolution, Beatmania, and ParaParaParadise intended to be played with one's fingers. Rarer Pop'n Music and GuitarFreaks variants were produced later on.

Dance Dance Revolution Solo

An offshoot of the Dance Dance Revolution series, Dance Dance Revolution Solo added two additional arrows to the dance stage, but supported only single-player gameplay. The Solo series saw two major releases and two complementary releases before being canceled in 2001. Most of the music exclusive to Dance Dance Revolution Solo was reused in the main Dance Dance Revolution series.

Dance Maniax
Dance Maniax is an arcade video game controlled by two pairs of infrared motion sensors that detect movement of arms and legs. Several versions have been produced in 2000 and 2001. Instead of the usual concept of dropping notes in the genre (like Beatmania), they scroll up to the top of the screen instead. They can be judged as a "hit" or "miss", depending on the timing accuracy. The game featured a song list from Konami's in-house artists and Dancemania music label.

Dance Masters and Dance Evolution
A Kinect-based game called Dance Evolution Arcade is also considered a part of Bemani series, previously being exclusive to Xbox 360. It was released on March 27, 2012. Its gameplay is similar to the original game, in which players must follow the in-game character's movements by touching and drawing line on the air correspondingly with the movement. The game ceased receiving e-Amusement service on August 31, 2016, discontinuing most cabinets that require constant e-Amusement connection, installing the offline patch and effectively terminating support for the game.

Keyboardmania
A MIDI synthesizer game. Keyboardmania features a mini-musical keyboard and players create the primarily piano based music by striking the keys to the note patterns on the screen. Keyboardmania saw only three major releases before being canceled but features exceptionally difficult and unique gameplay for the Bemani series of games. "Real Mode" actually requires players to know how to play the piano in order to easily pass the songs.

Keyboardmania can be multi-session linked with certain versions of the GuitarFreaks and DrumMania series.

Martial Beat
Martial Beat was designed for the PlayStation in Japan in 2001. It is based on the players' actions by use of wristband sensors. The game was shipped in a modified Dance Dance Revolution cabinet, with the sensors and the game's art on it. Although there are two sets of selection buttons (as Dance Dance Revolution supported two players), the game is one player only. To play the game, one needs to follow the on-screen instructor, and when a red light turns on located on top of the screen, the player must perform the move by repeating the instructor.

Mirai Dagakki FutureTomTom
Mirai Dagakki (ミライダガッキ) FutureTomTom was first released on June 20, 2013. Its gameplay involves hitting drums to match the notes on the screen, akin to Taiko no Tatsujin. The game ceased receiving e-Amusement service on July 31, 2015, discontinuing most cabinets that require constant e-Amusement connection, installing the offline patch and effectively terminating support for the game.

MÚSECA
First released on December 10, 2015, after five location tests, MÚSECA gameplay involves a pedal and five spinners which can be pressed, held or rotated, depending on the note type. One of MÚSECA most important aspects are the illustrations named Grafica. A Grafica gives the player GIFTs, which are in-game bonuses that are auto-triggered at some points of the charts, slightly modifying the chart lane's judgment line. GIFTs include Life Support, Score Gain, Play Risk, and Item Collect. Most Grafica characters have their own voices that play when they're triggered in-game. The game ceased receiving e-Amusement service on July 31, 2018, discontinuing most cabinets that require constant e-Amusement connection, installing the offline patch, recycling some cabinets for other games and effectively terminating support for the game.

Para Para Paradise
Built around the Para Para dance style made popular in Japan, Para Para Paradise recreates official dance moves within the game by setting off arrows on screen by using players' hands under a set of motion sensors. The music in the game centers around Eurobeat and features songs from Konami and Avex Trax. Only three versions of the game were released as Para Para dancing fell out of mainstream popularity in Japan, and the series never saw light outside of the country beyond music game importers and localized Korean versions of the arcade machines.

Pop'n Stage
Combining game elements from Dance Dance Revolution and Pop'n Music, Pop'n Stage takes the colorful buttons and lets players play the game on a stage with their feet. There was only one version of the game released.

Reflec Beat
Reflec Beat was first released on November 4, 2010. Its gameplay is similar to air hockey, but Reflec Beat uses fingers. Players must touch circular symbols that match the color of their line moving to the player at the right time. It features a one-on-one matching system. Mobile adaptations for iOS were made in 2011, with Japan receiving Reflec Beat Plus and international regions receiving a localized version called Reflec Beat + in 2012. Like Jukebeat, Reflec Beat + contains a more restricted song list, with no licensed tracks at all.

Bemani artists
In addition to licensed music tracks, Konami employs a list of in-house artists to produce the music for its Bemani series, which in 2017 started being referred to as the "BEMANI Sound Team". These artists often go by pseudonyms when credited with their songs. Some of these artists, such as TAG, have broken off to become independent artists.

Related Konami games
Some rhythm games from Konami do not use the Bemani brand for one reason or another.

Polaris Chord
Polaris Chord is an arcade rhythm game whose controller is made up of a slider consisting of a row of 12 shallow-pitch buttons, and a pair of levers that can be pushed to either side. It is themed after livestreaming, and focuses heavily on VTuber original songs, VTuber covers, Vocaloid, and other online hits. Some prominent VTubers whose songs are featured in the game are Houshou Marine, Tsunomaki Watame, Gawr Gura, and Calliope Mori.

title: Bemani