When I drove into town and spotted this old bar, a smile came to my face and I laughed out loud. The bar, located in the fading hamlet of Gay, Michigan, was still open and popular, judging from the Harleys and battered pickups parked out front. A live band rocked the place on this warm autumn evening.

And, no, it is not a "gay bar" in the current sense of that term. The name predates the gay rights movement by decades, but the owner clearly enjoys or ignores the double entendre.

Gay, Michigan was once a mining center, but its hopes faded with the closure of its major industry. Now the town is just a quiet hamlet; its beautiful old school lies vacant and old industrial relics litter the Lake Superior shore. The Gay Bar was the only business still open during my autumn 2000 visit.

Lee Rentz