The uproar has caused leaders at MARTA to respond and make clear plans are not final for the bus line expansion. “When a building is put on the National Register of Historic Places, which this could be in the near future, federal monies are no longer allowed to demolish it,” Paine said. Paine said the building where the club is located could be eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, which would prohibit certain renovations and demolitions. Paine, who chairs the LGBTQ historic preservation advisory for Historic Atlanta, told Atlanta’s PBS station the site is one of few of its era still central to the Atlanta LGBTQ community The disco became a key draw as Atlanta’s gay and lesbian community of the era came together in the Southern metropolis, according to the Georgia Voice.
But the location's long history serving the LGBTQ community of the region makes it more important than that date implies.īefore the site housed the Heretic, it was home to the Sports Page in the early 1970s. Now, it serves the gay community as home to the Heretic, for over two decades." It was one of the earliest lesbian clubs in the city of Atlanta's history. “The problem with putting a location here is that this is a historic LGBTQ site. "Historic preservation is one of my passions,” said Chris Paine of Historic Atlanta. Woofs prides itself on giving our customers a friendly environment where all individuals of the. Woofs sponsors several local gay sports teams and organizations and also supports a variety of non-profit organizations and programs. But city historians are trying to cut that plan off at the pass. Since 2002, Woofs Sports Bar has been the nation’s leader in full-service sports bars serving the LGBTQ community. The expansion of bus lines in Atlanta could mean the end of the road for one of the city’s oldest gay bars.Ī plan for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s future includes shuttering the Heretic to make room for a bus station, according to the CBS affiliate in Atlanta.