Paddock Club
Encyclopedia
The Paddock Club was a dance/night club located at 1008-B Dickinson Avenue in Greenville
Greenville, North Carolina
Greenville is the county seat of Pitt County and principal city of the Greenville, North Carolina metropolitan area. Greenville is the health, entertainment, and educational hub of North Carolina's Tidewater and Coastal Plain and in 2008 was listed as the Tenth Largest City in North Carolina...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
which catered primarily to the gay and lesbian
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
community of Greenville and all of Eastern North Carolina
Eastern North Carolina
Eastern North Carolina is the region encompassing the eastern tier of North Carolina. It is known geographically as the state's Coastal Plain region. Primary subregions of Eastern North Carolina include the Fayetteville Metropolitan Area, the Lower Cape Fear , the Sandhills, the Inner Banks and...
. The club was in operation for 30 years and 6 months from June 1973 until December 23, 2003 and was, at the time it closed, the oldest continuously operating LGBT club in the state. After the December 2003 closing, the club reopened for one night for a final farewell party on January 31, 2004.
The Paddock Club, founded by Bill Brock, was originally a Country Western
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
. In 1973, Brock decided to turn it into a gay club
Gay bar
A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...
. At that time there were no places east of Durham
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
for the LGBT community to gather socially without fear. The first night after the change, Brock greeted his members at the door and told them The Paddock was now a gay club and that he would be glad to refund their membership fees if they were no longer interested in coming to the club. Many accepted his offer, a few did not.
The Paddock encompassed approximately 5000 square feet (464.5 m²) including the main club room where the dance floor
Dance floor
Dance floor may refer to:* Sprung floor, a floor to enhance performance and reduce injuries* Performance surface or marley floor, flooring suitable for dance or sport* Dance pad, a flat electronic game controller used for input in dance games...
and stage was located, a mezzanine
Mezzanine (architecture)
In architecture, a mezzanine or entresol is an intermediate floor between main floors of a building, and therefore typically not counted among the overall floors of a building. Often, a mezzanine is low-ceilinged and projects in the form of a balcony. The term is also used for the lowest balcony in...
level overlooking the approx. 30 ft (9.1 m) wide stage, a large pool
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
room which doubled as a back stage area, an outdoor patio area, a full kitchen, DJ booth, storage and office areas.
The Paddock Club was the birthplace of the Miss Gay North Carolina America Pageant, which is an official preliminary to the Miss Gay America Pageant. Also born at The Paddock Club was the Miss Greenville Pageant, a preliminary pageant to Miss Gay North Carolina Pageant. After Miss Gay North Carolina was sold to new promoters, Miss Greenville remained a yearly event at the Paddock Club for 25 years.
As a gay club, it was a surprise when in 2002 Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
chose the club as "best place to meet chicks". Friday nights' drag shows drew a large number of heterosexual men, making it a good night to mix.
In December 2003, Brock decided to close the club. The end of a multi-year lease was approaching and by this time Brock was in declining health. The opening of a new gay club in town had also hurt business. On December 26, 2003, Glen Haddock, club manager, made the announcement that it was the last night the club would be open.
The doors opened one more time for a final farewell extravaganza on January 31, 2004. The club was filled to capacity and former bar staff, patrons, and friends all gathered to say goodbye. The bartenders poured out the remaining bar stock throughout the evening free of charge and the entertainers performed while a slide show of images from over the years was projected on the club's screen under the mezzanine.