![obviously gay bar names obviously gay bar names](https://media.timeout.com/images/105803082/750/422/image.jpg)
The Flame was one of those gay bars where this rare phenomenon transpired. In her classic article, “The Homosexual Bar,” Nancy Achilles notes that “homosexuals rarely infiltrate an already established bar and make it their own a gay bar is gay from the beginning” (179). As Harry explains, the gays just started to leave the Town Bar and began to patronize the Flame. Instead of creating a new bar, the newly barless gay population started to colonize the bar across the street. Also, as a result of the presence of this new crowd, there started to be fights at the Town bar. This change attracted a new crowd, which made gay patrons feel less comfortable there. The Town Bar seems to have been a cherished place for the gays of the area until the owners decided to feature live music in the bar. Since the owners were gay, the Town Bar attracted a gay crowd and was the gay bar of the time. Harry recalled he was good friends with them. The Town bar was owned and operated by two men who formed a gay couple. At this point, there was another bar across the street, the Town Bar. Although the Flame became a gay bar in those years, Harvey did not decide to turn it into a gay spot. This man’s name was Harvey Blanchard, and he was to own the Flame for 23 years. In 1959, Harry recalled, the “student bar was making good business,” but the owner decided to sell it to a man from Dexter, Michigan.
![obviously gay bar names obviously gay bar names](https://media.timeout.com/images/100776451/750/562/image.jpg)
It would take a few more years for the Flame to become what it was for four decades: the only gay bar in Ann Arbor.
![obviously gay bar names obviously gay bar names](https://hips.hearstapps.com/esq.h-cdn.co/assets/15/11/1426095561-volcaniceruptionsclub-big.jpeg)
When Harry was hired way back in 1953, the Flame was still not a gay bar. Harry was hired on April 14, 1953, through his cousin’s husband who had been working as a waiter at the bar. By the time Harry arrived, the bar’s name had changed, and the Cupid had become the Flame. It started in 1949 as “The Cupid,” a student bar owned by a local businessman, Bill Skinner. In fact, it did not even start as the Flame. The Flame did not start out as Ann Arbor’s gay bar nor as a rallying point for gays and lesbians in the area. Our sailor dropped anchor, in 1953, in Ann Arbor, on Washington street, at the Flame. He wanted to enjoy his new freedom and was anxious to get back to sea. In those years, his relatives in Michigan, wanted him to marry, but Harry did not want to settle down. Christos arrived in this country as an immigrant, as at least in part an outsider and a “foreigner,” and took the name of one of his uncles: Harry Tselios. Christos visited his uncle in New York City and then went to visit another uncle in Michigan… and 60 years later he is still yet to re-board that ship.
![obviously gay bar names obviously gay bar names](https://nightlifelgbt.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/best-lgbt-bars-newcastle-upon-tyne-queer-nightlife-650x440.jpg)
However, after three years of constant travel, in 1950, he decided to spend a 29-day leave in the United States. Our young sailor traveled the world, visiting ports of call in France, Spain, Russia, Germany, and the Caribbean. Christos lost his father as a young child and when he turned 16, his wealthy and well-connected uncle found him a position as a chief steward in the Merchant Marine. Christos Pasaportis was born on December 25th, 1930, in a small town in Greece. The history of the Flame is an odyssey, one that started in the late 1940s, with a young Greek sailor in the Merchant Marine.