June 1967 to ~ February 1975

2305 S Shepherd

See the story of the rest of the battle, ending in 1980

Above is the Banner Project entry for the Roaring 60's, and it opened in June 1967.
It had a colorful run right from the beginning. Now, there are few places to look,
but the earliest ad I could find was in the Albatross, Houston's earliest publication,
really not much more than a newsletter....in the Summer of 1968.

A word about the research on this bar...
as I said, research was a challenge because gay media in the community
was not really developed yet. In addition to the Albatross, the Nuntius
began in 1970...which gave me most of the results. TWT did not begin
until just after the bar closed, in early 1975. So, this data is more for
tracking purposes than really info about the bar.

Rita Wanstrom was the formidable Papa Bear.
See her Obituary for much more information.

Rita was already partnerd with Ricci Cortez
who had a colorful career on her own, see link

Below, listed in the bar guide of the 1970 Houston magazine Gayboy

Below, our ownly gay newspaper from this time was The Nuntius, the source of most of these ads

August 1970

September 1970

Her ads varied little over time, but I'm showing them anyway for continuity.

October 1970

May 1971

June 1971

October 1971

November 1971

Note the separate ad for Ricci's clothing/costume business,
Same address though

January 1972

February 1972

March 1972

April 1972

There were gaps in the publications available at this time. For example, no issues of the Nuntius after April 1974,
and it reappeared in December 1975 as Nuntius Southwest. There were never any Roaring 60s
ads in the Nuntius, or mentions other than in the bar guides...again, last one April 1974

Contact was the only other Houston newspaper, and it only mentioned
Roaring 60s in the bar listing, and none after Feb 5, 1975.

So, it appears the club closed around this time.

Our most reliable gay publication, TWT, did not begin until April 1975.
Also, Point Blank, a Houston lesbian/feminist publication got started
in the Spring of 1975. After a few issues they began listing distribution
points (ie, women's bars, like Just Marion & Lynn's, and bookstores), and
Roaring 60s was not mentioned at all.

there are some short video clips including Rita on this page