flip-book-test

Victoria’s Restaurant operated
for twenty long years from 1984
up until its closure in 2004.
Currently, a small reservation
only restaurant, Pigeonhole,
operates in the location. The
original sign for Victoria’s still
hangs outside the building but
has been modified with a neon
addition for the Pigeonhole.
Located in the same building as
Victoria’s Restaurant were a
number of gay bars that operated
at the same time. Separate
entrances to the building were
available for bars like Detour,
Arena, and the Loading Dock.
Then club owner, Rudy Labuhn,
had been operating gay bars for
just over 21 years. Detour was
originally Dick’s and then another
gay bar named 318. After it
closed it was renamed Detour.
306 17TH AVE SW
“We should have called
it ‘Frankenstein’ because
we brought it back from
the dead! It took about
three years to get people
in there on a regular basis.
I am glad we opened it.”
—Rudy Labuhn, Gay
Calgary, 2003
Arena and Detour were part
of the same club. Arena had
the ability to be rented out or
opened up for full access. The
Arena ran a few popular events
such as Girlz Night and a
Sunday night drag show called
‘God Save The Queens’.
VICTORIA’S
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