Novakowski stands behind the club's bar with a cup of coffee in one hand, occasionally putting it down to pour a drink for a daytime patron, or to fold bar towels in preparation for the evening rush.Īt the height of Tucson's gay-bar era-the late-1970s into the mid-'80s-there were about a dozen bars, and Novakowski recalls most of their names: the Graduate, the Venture, Sir James, Hair Tiz, the Joshua Tree/Backdoor, the Stonewall Eagle, Michael's, the Fineline, Rita's, Colette's, Venture, Lucky Pierre's and IBT's.
More specifically, he's tending a gay bar.Īway from the glare of the summer sun, IBT's on Fourth Avenue offers a dark, cool respite. on a weekday afternoon, and Tom Novakowski is doing what he's done almost every day for the past 40 years-tending bar.
