A Central Florida LGBTQ Cultural Landmark — 4910 Edgewater Drive

The Palace Club

On New Year’s Eve, 1969 (shortly following the Stonewall riots, which had occurred in the summer of that year) the Palace Club opened its doors at 4910 Edgewater Drive. The Palace Club was owned and operated by Bill Miller and Mike Hodge—an entrepreneurial duo better known for establishing Parliament House, a popular gay resort formerly located on the Orange Blossom Trail. However, the LGBTQ History Museum of Central Florida cites the lesser-known Palace Club as “Orlando’s first gay bar, run by gays for gays.”

_{(LEFT) PARTNERS BILL MILLER AND MIKE HODGE AT PARLIAMENT HOUSE; (RIGHT) BILL MILLER AND ASSOCIATE AT PARLIAMENT HOUSE, COURTESY OF THE LGBTQ MUSEUM OF CENTRAL FLORIDA}

_{BILL MILLER AND ASSOCIATES AT THE PALACE CLUB CONSTRUCTION SITE, COURTESY OF THE LGBTQ MUSEUM OF CENTRAL FLORIDA}

According to the museum, the pair “leased half the building from the family who owned Liquor World.” Initially conceived as a “bottle club,” the Palace Club served only wine and beer, encouraging customers to bring their own alcohol. 

_{THE PALACE CLUB CONSTRUCTION SITE, COURTESY OF THE LGBTQ MUSEUM OF CENTRAL FLORIDA}

In Miller’s memorial, a museum representative remarked, “his shrewd business sense provided a safe place for gay men and women to meet, to flirt, and above all be themselves.” Surviving photos of the club’s early years underscore the crucial role it played within the social ecosystem of Central Florida’s LGBT community. Magic Mushroom & Company—a drag ensemble founded by Buddy White, featuring members Magic, Rita and Geri—performed regularly at both the Palace Club and Odds and Ends, its earliest successor, throughout the 1970s; pictured below, their performances illustrate the club’s vibrant and joyful atmosphere. 

_{MEMBERS OF MAGIC MUSHROOM & COMPANY PERFORMING AT THE PALACE CLUB (1970), COURTESY OF THE LGBTQ MUSEUM OF CENTRAL FLORIDA}

_{MAGIC MUSHROOM & COMPANY FOUNDER AND PERFORMER BUDDY WHITE WITH JOAN CRAWFORD (1970), COURTESY OF THE LGBTQ MUSEUM OF CENTRAL FLORIDA}

Also among the Palace Club’s notable guests was Paul Michael Wegman, known by the stage name Miss P. A mainstay at Miller and Hodge’s later venture, Parliament House, Miss P was crowned “Miss Gay Orlando” at the Palace Club in 1972. In a 1994 interview, Wegman explained how a visit to the Palace Club motivated his decision to perform:

“So there we were at the Palace Club and I was mouthing all the words with Miss Honey and my friend Whit said to me, ‘You’d like to be doing that wouldn’t you?’ and I said, ‘I sure would,’ and a month later I was on the stage.”

Watermark Online, 2020

_{MISS P ACCEPTING AN AWARD AT THE PALACE CLUB (1972), COURTESY OF THE LGBTQ MUSEUM OF CENTRAL FLORIDA}

Sadly, Wegman passed away on Aug. 24, 2004 due to complications from AIDS. At least one drag artist credits Wegman as a significant inspiration; upon seeing Miss P at the Carousel Club in Tampa, “decked out in short-shorts, colored hair and other fashion eccentricities,” Larry Ligori was captivated. Years later, Ligori himself would perform at the Palace Club under the stage name Lorrie Del Mar.  

The original Palace Club was dissolved by proclamation in July of 1972—but Miller and Hodge were far from finished. In the course of the next decade, Miller and Hodge—joined by Jan Koren, Wally Wood and Sue Hannah, collectively referred to as Central Florida’s own “Gay and Lesbian Gang”—would prove “instrumental” in cultivating “the Orlando-area gay bar scene.”

Odds and Ends

While Orlando’s “first gay bar” later reopened at a new location, the building at 4910 Edgewater would go on to house a string of LGBT hotspots throughout the ensuing decades and well into the new millennium. In the mid-1970s, Odds and Ends—owned by fellow “Gay and Lesbian Gang” member Wally Wood—would become the Palace Club’s first successor. A newspaper advertisement published in July of 1976 describes Odds and Ends as a “a moderately priced bar,” for “gay, lesbian [and] bi” patrons. On Friday and Sunday evenings, the entertainment included “female impersonators.” 

_{CLIPPING FROM ALL TOGETHER JOURNAL (1976)}

_{PHOTOGRAPH OF ODDS AND ENDS OWNER WALLY WOOD, COURTESY OF THE LGBTQ MUSEUM OF CENTRAL FLORIDA}

In the fall of 1976, Rhonda Blake—a performer at the Zodiac Lounge, a gay and lesbian club in Daytona  Beach—was hailed as “Miss Odds & Ends,” alluding to a pageant-style competition between Odds and Ends performers. 

_{CLIPPING FROM THE BARB: THE NEWS MONTHLY FOR SOUTHERN GAYS (1976)}

Rusti Fawcett Hurd (pictured below) was honored with the same award at an undetermined date. 

_{PHOTO OF RUSTI FAWCETT HURD, COURTESY OF LGBTQ HISTORY MUSEUM OF CENTRAL FLORIDA}

Perhaps most tellingly—in 1978, Odds and Ends contributed to the Committee for 99, a group of business persons dedicated to raising “$99,000 in annual giving to the National Gay Task Force,” a social justice advocacy non-profit still in operation today. 

_{CLIPPING FROM IT’S TIME NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL GAY TASK FORCE (1978)}

While few public records remain of Odds and Ends’ brief tenure at 4910 Edgewater, its inclusion in the Committee for 99 highlights Wood’s commitment to his community. Odds and Ends would close later that same year. 

Faces

Following a sizable period of inactivity, 4910 Edgewater experienced a revival in 1983 with the opening of Face to Face, known colloquially as Faces. Owned by Sue Hannah, of the ever-enterprising “Gay and Lesbian Gang,” Faces would prove the most enduring of the many LGBT clubs on Edgewater Drive, operating at its initial address for well over a decade. An advertisement for the newly opened Faces reads, “The once dirty, dismal male dominated Odds & Ends is changing, in more ways than one. It has now become Orlando’s largest gay bar for women! […] I say ‘Congratulations’ to Sue and Angie for the work they’ve done and ‘Thanks’ for caring about the women in this community.” 

The advertisement, featured in the February 1985 edition of the LCN Express—a monthly publication from womyn’s organization Loving Committed Network—also notes, “Men will still be allowed in the bar, but they must present an ‘Honorary Lesbian’ card to enter.”

_{CLIPPING FROM THE LCN EXPRESS (1985)}

A former performer and regular at Faces, Sony Smith, described the atmosphere as “dark and smoky,” with billiards tables, a stage, and a lively dance floor. At the time, Smith, now an Orlando local, resided in Brevard County; however, she often commuted to Orlando, as she found few opportunities to experience queer nightlife at home. “It helped us feel accepted,” Smith explained, adding, “We would meet new people and expand our community.” 

Smith’s experience speaks to the nature of Faces’ reputation, like the Palace Club  before it, as a safe, inclusive and self-affirming environment during a time when few such havens were readily available to LGBT individuals. Following Hannah’s death in 2007, an obituary noted Hannah (and her late partner, Angie Spruill) conceived of Faces as “a place where gay women could feel comfortable [as] there were no such establishments at the time.”

_{HANNAH’S PARTNER, ANGIE SPRUILL, PHOTOGRAPHED SHORTLY BEFORE HER DEATH DUE TO BONE CANCER IN 1985, COURTESY OF THE LGBTQ HISTORY MUSEUM OF CENTRAL FLORIDA}

“Faces wasn’t just a bar,” wrote Monica Scandlen, reporter for the Orlando Sentinel. “Hannah held fundraising benefits there for cancer victims. If she learned someone was sick, she would ask what she could do to help. She would offer a place to stay to those with nowhere to go.” A 1987 edition of the LCN Express also acknowledges Hannah’s contributions to the National March on Washington in 1983:

Sue Hannah of Faces refused to be outdone by anyone. Sue and crew donated their door, along with a pledge jar that was kept on the bar all month, and had a game night that was enjoyed by all. Way to go, Sue!

LCN EXPRESS (1987)

Like its predecessors, Faces also featured a thriving drag community—a community to which Smith once belonged. “Everyone I performed with was incredible,” Smith enthused. “Each had a different style and talent.” 

Smith herself performed with Darla and the Rascals, a drag troupe founded by a group of mutual friends. “Our friend Julie was Darla,” she recalled, “And our [other] friends went as Danny Blue and Beau Ames.” Her first performance took place at Faces: “I did ‘Zoot Suit Riot’ by the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. Swing was having a short but popular moment […] I was nervous, but excited. The crowd was amazing!” 

_{CLIPPING FROM THE ORLANDO SENTINEL (2007)}

According to the Florida Division of Corporations, Faces closed its doors in the summer of 2007, following Hannah’s death earlier that winter.  Hannah was posthumously awarded the Zena Award from the Juno Foundation “for her efforts in assisting lesbians fighting cancer,” a disease which had claimed many of Hannah’s loved ones (including Hannah’s partner, Angie Spruill, as well as her mother) before she herself succumbed to lung cancer in 2007. 

Faces would reopen shortly after (June 2009) under the name “R Bar,” now owned by Gayle Lewis, who had served as Faces’ manager for nearly a decade. In an interview with LGBTQ news source Watermark, Lewis explained the rationale behind Faces’ new name: 

“She used to say, ‘It’s not your bar, it’s not my bar, it’s our [R] bar,’

Watermark (2009)

The Later Years

R Bar reportedly operated for only a year, and was replaced by Recko’s Bar in May of 2011. Recko’s website, which remains active, welcomes guests with this memo:

Formerly known as “Face’s” Recko’s was reopened […] with one thing in mind….Give the girls a home again! […] This is a laid back kinda place, where you can be yourself. We offer two pool tables, two dart boards, a top of the line IPOD/Photo Booth Jukebox. As well as a 600 sq ft dance floor with all the frillz. […] We would love to know your feelings on how we can make this an amazing hangout for ALL GLBT!

Recko’s Bar (2011)

An event posting (pictured below) advertises a performance by the all-female rock group Dollface, slated for the summer of 2011. 

_{ADVERTISEMENT FOR A PERFORMANCE BY ALL-FEMALE ROCK GROUP DOLLFACE AT RECKO’S BAR (2011)}

Yet by the fall of 2012, Recko’s Bar, too, had closed. According to an October 2012 Watermark article, Recko’s was immediately succeeded by Castle Knights, a medieval-themed bar owned by Nadia Lazzano, Jackie Gilmore and Kathleen Bones. While Castle Knights featured weekly drag shows, it was not an LGBT establishment, but rather (in Lazzano’s words) “an everybody bar,” making it the first of its kind to occupy the space since the Palace Club opened in 1969. 

“Apparently […] a lesbian bar didn’t work…” Lazzano commented, adding, “So we figured we will give it a shot as an ‘everybody bar.’ We lesbians don’t really support each other, unfortunately, and I think that’s one of the reasons it hasn’t worked.”

Despite the best efforts of Lazzano, Gilmore and Bones, Castle Knights permanently closed just over a year from the date of its grand opening. Castle Knights’ successors include: 

Unity Paradise, a black-owned and operated R&B nightclub featuring mix competitions between local DJs; the Florida Division of Corporations places the club’s operating period between August 2016 and September 2018. 

Drip Hookah Lounge, a smoke shop active between December 2020 and September 2021. 

In 2021, the Honey Pot Lounge took over the well-loved building at 4910 Edgewater Drive. A gay bar and lounge featuring themed drag competitions, Honey Pot marked a spiritual return to form for the venue, however brief. As with Unity Paradise, the Honey Pot Lounge is immortalized primarily in the form of advertisements for past events viewable via the club’s social media, much of which remains accessible today. La Vita Group LLC filed for the Honey Pot’s administrative dissolution in 2023, however the club evidently remained in operation until the Spring of 2024.

Today

_{4910 EDGEWATER DRIVE IN 2022, COURTESY OF THE ORANGE COUNTY PROPERTY APPRAISER}

Currently, the site at 4910 Edgewater Drive is occupied by TRUTH Eighteen, a hookah lounge and event center. Pictured above (c. 2022) and below (c. 2025), the building now bears a fresh coat of paint and still functions as a prime nightspot for Orlando locals—as it has, through a variety of iterations, since 1969. While the building no longer serves as a dedicated space for queer bargoers, the legacy of the Palace Club, Face to Face, and other past occupants lives on through photographs, historical publications, and fond recollections from former attendees.

In Sony Smith’s words: “My best friend was (and still is) a gay man. [At Faces] we both could go and dance and mingle and enjoy a community that was safe and inclusive.” 

_{4910 EDGEWATER DRIVE IN 2025}