FACES Nightclub Celebrates 25th Anniversary
It was a cold Christmas Eve morning in the early 1970’s when a young Terry Sidie first stepped foot in Sacramento on a four-year assignment at Mather Air Force Base. Coming from the hustle & bustle of life in the Los Angeles area, Sacramento’s “gay scene” left much to be desired for the young serviceman.
Sidie quickly sought out the designated gay hot spot in Sacramento. When he entered the bar about midnight there were two people sitting at the bar. “I looked around & I thought, what did I get myself into? These are going to be the longest four years of my life.” But at the end of those four years he would not only stay in Sacramento, but while still in the service he would realize his dream of opening a bar of his own: Bojangles, an 18 & up dance club for gays.
It would be almost a decade later Sidie would take his dream a step further and bring FACES Nightclub into existence. Where else would he do this but in the area Chuck Thornley and the Fairy Godfathers had already dubbed “Lavender Heights”. Twenty-five years later FACES has undergone a massive, several million dollar expansion and Bojangles now resides at Club21 on Wednesday & Sunday evenings. The original Bojangles was sold after a fire tore through the building.
Sidie had a dream when opening FACES Nightclub. That dream was to see Lavender Heights – more specifically 20th & K Streets grow in Sacramento’s own Castro-type area. Just five years ago the area still consisted of three main bars: FACES, The Western Pacific Depot & the Mercantile, with the nearby Lambda Community center. During the expansion of FACES remodeling was underway at both the Depot & Mercantile. Headhunters & Hot Rods restaurants quickly sprang to life and the completion of Badlands Dance Bar would soon fill in the gaps. Sidie is elated at the growth, which he said has already surpassed what he hoped for when he began years ago. Sidies restaurant Headhunters located at 1930 K Street across from FACES has one of the best mixed-crowd brunches in Sacramento. Sidie still has a desire to make his resort on the river a gay destination… So keep watching, it may happen!
Sidie has never been one to discriminate against the heterosexual community – a move that has often made him & FACES the center of controversy as over the years many have been vocal about the “open-door” policy bringing in too many heterosexual customers. “Were asking them not to discriminate against us, and yet we’re expected to discriminate against them?” He shakes his head, “I won’t do that, anyone who is respectful of our gay clientele has always been welcome. Lesbians, drag queens, gay, straight – whoever. I believe we’ve finally reached a point in the gay community – in our gay metamorphosis – that we can extend the olive branch to straight people. Some gay people don’t care for that.
After twenty-five years, FACES still continues to be a hot spot with 3 dance floors each with their own music, 15 bar stations multiple smoking patios, an upstairs mezzanine for VIP Parties & bottle service and even a pool in the back! It is very easy to say that FACES will be here for many more years to come, and our dedicated staff is on hand to keep that party going in a clean and safe environment. So as a thank you to our patrons on Friday, August 13th (kick-off to our larger Anniversary party slated for later in the fall) we will have no cover charge for the entire night. That’s right everyone gets in absolutely free! We have Guest Dj Chi Chi LaRue and an array of stars coming to entertain the crowd all weekend long. So we invite one and all to come join us in celebrating 25 years of entertaining Sacramento.
