Scotten is not going to squeeze out gays, he said, but it's hard to make a living these days catering solely to gays, and so he would like to broaden his clientele. 'You going to turn this into a sports bar?' one snarled at one of the new owners, Danny Scotten. Only one is open, English Ivy's, and earlier this year it sold to a partnership of straight people, causing some regulars to worry about the place's future. In a 17-year bartending career, LaFary has worked at six Indianapolis gay bars.

'Guys my age stopped going out to bars all the time,' said LaFary, 48, 'and the new generation never did catch on.' Jack LaFary poured the last of the drinks at the 501 in October but had seen the end coming well before then. In the past six months Talbott Street, long-known for its drag shows, closed, as did the 501 Eagle, a bar favored by leather enthusiasts since 1986.