04: Slammers | Columbus, OH

SARAH: DEB GORDON MOVED TO OHIO TO FOLLOW A WOMAN. 

DEB: I was young, I was a teenager but I knew I was in love with her and she told me she was in love with me and it just kind of blossomed. 

SARAH: DEB MET THIS WOMAN--LET’S CALL HER JANET--ONE SUMMER AT TENNIS CAMP.

DEB: I was an athlete, and I was very competitive with tennis, and she was my tennis counselor and tennis coach. And that's basically how it began.

SARAH:  AT THE TIME, IT JUST SEEMED LIKE SHE WAS GETTING SPECIAL TRAINING AND ATTENTION AS A TENNIS PLAYER.

DEB: I think she was pursuing me, I didn't realize that was happening because I was very young. I was 15. 

SARAH: JANET WAS 21.

DEB: Nothing happened physically between us ‘til after camp was over. And she ended up moving to New York to be close to me.

SARAH: SO JANET MOVED TO WESTCHESTER NEW YORK, WHERE DEB LIVED WITH HER FAMILY. THAT’S WHEN THEY STARTED SNEAKING AROUND TOGETHER AND BEING INTIMATE. 

DEB: When I would walk the family dog, I’d call her and let her know when I was going to walk the dog. And she'd meet me a couple streets up, she didn't live too far away. But we’d plan certain times to meet even for like five minutes to see each other. And she ended up getting a teaching position at a neighboring high school. So I would see her when my high school would compete against her high school.

SARAH: DEB’S PARENTS DID NOT WANT HER TO SEE JANET. THEY HAD A FEELING SHE WAS A LESBIAN.

DEB: They never questioned my sexuality.

SARAH: BUT THEY THOUGHT JANET WAS PURSUING THEIR DAUGHTER. 

DEB: And they said, well, we forbid you to talk--to see her. And they somehow got her address and sent her a letter and told her to stay away from me. I mean, it was pretty bad with my parents. 

SARAH: WHEN IT CAME TIME TO APPLY FOR COLLEGE, DEB HAD HER HEART SET ON GOING TO SCHOOL IN OHIO. THAT’S WHERE JANET GREW UP.

DEB: And I wanted to be with her, so I only applied to--well almost every college I applied to was in Ohio. 

SARAH: AFTER HIGH SCHOOL, DEB STARTED SCHOOL AT OHIO WESLEYAN. AND JANET MOVED BACK TO HER HOMETOWN, ABOUT TWO HOURS FROM CAMPUS. 

DEBL: She was from the Toledo area, she wanted me to come up there the first weekend. And I'm like, I can't, you know, I said, you know, it's my first weekend. I'm going to go through rush, I'm thinking about joining a sorority. I was a Freshman in college, I wanted to experience the college life. You know?

SARAH: THEIR RELATIONSHIP JUST KIND OF FIZZLED FROM THERE, AS DEB GOT MORE AND MORE ABSORBED IN COLLEGE LIFE. BUT SHE WAS IN OHIO FOR THE LONG HAUL. 

DEB: I loved central Ohio. I love the people here. I like the pace of life. Just it was a completely different lifestyle. I just felt more comfortable here than the East Coast.

SARAH: SHE HAD GOOD FRIENDS AND ROOMMATES. BUT NO FAMILY WITHIN 500 MILES OF HER. AFTER COLLEGE, DEB WORKED IN RETAIL AND ENDED UP MANAGING A PAINT STORE IN COLUMBUS.

DEB: And that's when I met Marcia. She just, she walked in the store one day with her partner at the time, Brenda.

SARAH: THEY ALL STARTED TALKING AND DEB KNEW RIGHT AWAY MARCIA WAS ALSO A LESBIAN.

DEB: Yeah. We call it gaydar. The gaydar went up, you know? And she said, I'm starting to open a bar downtown, if you'd like to come downtown some time and see it. And I said sure…

SARAH: THIS WAS JANUARY OF 1993. AT THE TIME, DEB WAS 39 AND MARCIA WAS 40.

FOR THE NEXT SEVEN MONTHS, DEB SPLIT HER TIME BETWEEN THE PAINT STORE AND MARCIA’S BAR— PAINTING, WALLPAPERING, HELPING OUT ANY WAY SHE COULD.

DEB: We took walls down. And I mean, there was a lot of constructional type type of stuff that had to be done, and, you know, plumbing and all that. That was all new to me. And I just found it fascinating. I'd never really been a part of the beginning or creating something and I just I had a feeling that this is going to be pretty cool.

SARAH: AND DEB WAS RIGHT. THEIR BAR BECAME SLAMMERS. A LESBIAN BAR STILL RUNNING IN COLUMBUS, OHIO. AND MARCIA AND DEB? THEY BECAME FAMILY. 

DEB: Marcia comes from a big family, you know, she has nine brothers and sisters. And they just kind of threw their arms around me because I was around Marcia all the time. We would hang out. And I just liked all of them and they like me…

SARAH:  AS DEB ALWAYS SAYS

DEB: The rest is history.

SARAH: THIS IS CRUISING. A PODCAST ABOUT THE LAST LESBIAN BARS IN THE U.S. MY NAME IS SARAH GABRIELLI AND I’M TRAVELLING TO EACH ONE OF THEM WITH MY TWO FRIENDS AND CHOSEN FAMILY.

THIS IS STOP NUMBER FOUR: SLAMMERS

WHEN WE WALK INTO SLAMMERS, DEB IS THE FIRST PERSON TO GREET US AT THE DOOR. 

DEB: I came with the building. That’s what I tell people.

SARAH: LAST YEAR, DEB RETIRED FROM HER DAY JOB AS A MANAGER AT WORLD MARKET. SINCE RETIRING, SHE ACTUALLY WORKS AT SLAMMERS A LOT MORE NOW.  ALMOST EVERY DAY. 

DEB: I don’t do a lot. I'm here a lot because I you know, I love being here. So it keeps me busy. I was so afraid I was going to be bored. I have not been not been bored, that's for sure.

SARAH: TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS AFTER HELPING MARCIA OPEN THE PLACE, DEB STILL DOESN’T HAVE AN OFFICIAL JOB TITLE. 

DEB: I don't like titles. I don't want a title. I told her I said I just I tell people I'm Marcia's wing man. That’s what I say. I say you figure it out. 

SARAH: SO WHAT DOES SHE DO AROUND HERE EXACTLY? 

DEB: I'm here all on all the weekends. I'm in and out during the week. You know, I do a lot of the ordering. Meet with reps. But I just assist in what you know, whichever way I can.

SARAH: SO DEB AND A LONG-TIME BARTENDER, JACKIE, WALK US THROUGH SLAMMERS. PAST THE LENGTHY BAR, ALONG THE LEFT SIDE OF THE FRONT ROOM. PAST THE KITCHEN, WHERE THEY MAKE PIZZA AND OTHER BAR FOOD, AND INTO THE BACK ROOM, FILLED WITH BAR TABLES.

JACKIE: So we have a whole back room here. Do you guys want to sit down?

SARAH: THE BACK ROOM IS CONNECTED TO THE LARGE OUTDOOR PATIO BY ROLLING, GLASS, GARAGE DOORS. THEY’RE FROM A PREVIOUS BUSINESS IN THE BUILDING. 

DEB: This was an auto repair shop. It did have garage doors like this. 

JACKIE: And then we also have the entire patio. 

SARAH: THAT SECOND VOICE WAS JACKIE THE BARTENDER

JACKIE: I have kind of just been in and out of here for about 11 years, primarily bartending, managing here and there, helping the manager, doing the payroll. Kind of, I’ve just kind of scooted in and out over the last decade. 

SARAH: JACKIE STARTED FREQUENTING SLAMMERS AROUND 2010.

JACKIE: And at the time, Marcia found out that I was a bartender. And if you say that out loud, you have a job here if you want it. So that was a neat little extra side gig for me. And then I just kind of never looked back. 

SARAH:  LAST YEAR, JACKIE WAS IN ONE OF THOSE PHASES OF NOT WORKING AT SLAMMERS. THEN, BECAUSE OF COVID, SHE LOST HER OFFICE JOB.

JACKIE: And Marcia, the owner just said, you know, why don’t you come back. So you know, you can kind of always come back home. 

SARAH: ESPECIALLY SINCE COVID, MARCIA SPENDS A LOT LESS TIME AT SLAMMERS THAN SHE USED TO.

JACKIE: Somewhere around maybe year 16, 17 she definitely didn't come in here as much as she used to. She lived a little further away. With COVID, She's hardly ever in here.

SARAH: AND THAT’S WHAT WE KEPT HEARING FROM PEOPLE.

BOBBI: She's still a little bit afraid of being in super large crowds. 

SARAH: BOBBI MOORE IS THE GENERAL MANAGER AT SLAMMERS. SHE BASICALLY RUNS THINGS NOW THAT MARCIA ISN’T AROUND AS MUCH.

BOBBI: You know she's almost 70 so that--the health risk to her is much higher than it is for someone my age or your age. So she does try to limit it. 

SARAH: ON TOP OF THAT, WHILE WE WERE IN TOWN, ONE OF MARCIA’S SISTER WAS REALLY SICK WITH COVID. SO MARCIA HAS BEEN IN AND OUT OF THE HOSPITAL, VISITING.

DEB: Yeah, I think she's still at the hospital right now. Yeah. I talked to her earlier... I wish she could be here.

SARAH: VERY UNDERSTANDABLY - WE WEREN’T GOING TO GET TO MEET THE WOMAN BEHIND SLAMMERS, THAT WE HAD HEARD SO MUCH ABOUT. HERE’S JACKIE:

JACKIE: She's an angel. She is an absolute angel. She is about five feet of Italian mom. Just she is the most giving and loving person that I've met in a very long time but she will also run you through the wringer. This is her place. This is her baby.

BOBBI: When Marcia comes in here, it's it's crazy. It's like she's a celebrity. People are like, Oh my gosh, Marcia, and they, you know, she sits at the front table, and people walk up and they talk to her and she greets everyone.

SARAH: ABOUT AN HOUR AND A HALF AFTER WE GOT THERE, A SMALL, HANDSOME, WOMAN WITH A DARK BROWN PIXIE CUT QUIETLY ENTERED THE BACK ROOM OF THE BAR WHERE WE WERE SITTING.

IT WAS MARCIA. 

WHAT WE DIDN’T KNOW WAS THAT THAT WHOLE TIME WE WERE TALKING ABOUT HER, MARCIA AND HER PARTNER TAMMY WERE CIRCLING THE BLOCK.

MARCIA: I mean, I can't tell you how many times I was on our way here today. How many times I told her get on the freeway, no, go to the bar. Back and forth, back and forth. And we got in the parking lot. I don't know. I don't know. So we left, turned around and came back. Here we are.

SARAH: AS IT TURNS OUT, PART OF THE REASON MARCIA AVOIDS CROWDS IS THAT SHE’S REALLY QUITE SHY. 

MARICA: There's many times I hid in the closet back there crying because I was so overwhelmed. Because I'm a little farm girl, you know, and it took me a while and I'm I don't do too bad now. But it was it was hard for me, very hard.

SARAH: MARCIA KEPT SAYING SHE DOESN’T DO INTERVIEWS, THAT SHE NORMALLY HAS PEOPLE LIKE DEB SPEAK ON HER BEHALF. 

SO SHE STARTED SIPPING DOUBLE PATRONS, NEAT, FROM THE BAR. 

MARCIA: Yeah, maybe that'll help me. Loosen up a little bit. 

SARAH: IT MAKES SENSE THAT MARCIA NEEDED A LITTLE HELP LOOSENING UP. SHE WAS COMING RIGHT FROM VISITING HER SISTER AT THE HOSPITAL. 

MARCIA: I was up there for the first two weeks by myself with her and they had her sedated so much, I couldn't talk to her. I just, you know, sat there and watched her gasp for air…I played music for her and rubbed her back and you know, rubbed her legs and stuff, but she didn't know I was there.

SARAH: AT FIRST, MARCIA WAS THE ONLY PERSON IN HER FAMILY ABLE TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL. SOME OF HER SIBLINGS AREN’T VACCINATED, AND OTHERS WERE AFRAID OF CATCHING THE VIRUS. BUT NOT MARCIA. 

MARCIA: I pretty much, I didn't care, I--because I had always said when I when COVID first came out and all these people died not being able to be around their loved ones. I said there is no way in hell that I would ever let anybody stay there by themselves. And I just felt I needed to be there with her. It made myself feel better. And I hope it made her feel better too.

SARAH: MIRACULOUSLY, HER SISTER HAS STARTED TO PULL THROUGH. 

MARCIA: little by little, she's getting a little bit of rehab and she will have to learn to walk and talk and swallow and all of that. But she's--she's coming around. 

SARAH: MARCIA’S FAMILY MEANS EVERYTHING TO HER. BUT THEY DON’T ALWAYS SEE EYE-TO-EYE WHEN IT COMES TO THINGS LIKE COVID-19 AND POLITICS.

WHEN MARCIA CAME OUT IN HER 30s, IT TOOK MOST OF THEM A WHILE TO COME AROUND. 

MARCIA: I have nine siblings. So there's very close, we're all very close. And some of them accepted it and most of them did not.

SARAH: SHE HAD STARTED DEVELOPING FEELINGS FOR A FEMALE FRIEND AT WORK. 

MARCIA: It was definitely different. It was like, I I never felt that way around anybody. And I knew there was something going on.

SARAH: AT THE TIME, MARCIA HAD BEEN MARRIED TO A MAN FOR 14 YEARS. THEY HAD TWO DAUGHTERS. 

MARCIA: I just got to where I just needed to move on in my life. You know, it wasn't that I didn't, that I had a terrible marriage, because I did not, but I wasn't happy.

SARAH: THE DIVORCE WAS REALLY HARD ON HER WHOLE FAMILY.

MARCIA: my ex husband went to the school and told the principal that--why we got divorced, well then that started the whole ball rolling about all the kids teasing my daughters and it was a bad scene.

SARAH: MARCIA’S MOM WAS UNDERSTANDING BUT HER DAD...

MARCIA: Obviously he was not fine with it. And you know, we had a long time, you know, maybe two years where we didn't hardly talk. 

SARAH: IN THE END, IT WAS MARCIA’S EX HUSBAND WHO GOT HER DAD TO CHANGE HIS TUNE:

MARCIA: He said something derogatory about who I was seeing. And my dad looked at him and told him that was it. He told him to leave. And from then on dad was on my side. He felt like he had to support me and or wanted to support me because he did not like somebody talking down to his daughter. 

SARAH: ACCORDING TO DEB, SLAMMERS ALSO PLAYED A ROLE IN MARCIA’S FAMILY LEARNING TO ACCEPT HER

DEB: Seeing how successful Marcia has been and how she is such a rock star in this community. Now Marcia's quiet. But she is like the trailblazer. And I think they know that and they see how successful she's been and how many people adore her and follow her.

SARAH: THE ORIGINAL IDEA TO OPEN SLAMMERS CAME FROM MARCIA’S GIRLFRIEND AT THE TIME, BRENDA. BRENDA WORKED IN THE BAR INDUSTRY, AND INTENDED TO OWN AND RUN IT HERSELF. 

BUT IT BECAME CLEAR THAT WASN’T GOING TO WORK OUT. BRENDA GOT SUED BY A FORMER BUSINESS PARTNER OVER A “NON-COMPETE” CLAUSE. BASICALLY, SHE HAD AGREED NOT TO OPEN A BUSINESS THAT WOULD COMPETE WITH HER OLD BAR. 

SO, BRENDA BEGGED MARCIA TO DO IT.

MARCIA:I did not want to do the bar. Because I had two children, I worked and drove back and forth to Columbus from Newark, and it was just a lot. But we talked for a long time, and I ended up doing it. And I’m glas I did.

SARAH: IN THE PROCESS OF OPENING SLAMMERS - MARCIA MOVED FROM NEWARK, OH TO COLUMBUS.

MARCIA: We bought a house and we were doing some remodeling. And we were picking out wallpaper. And we had gone into B and A paint.

SARAH: AND AS WE KNOW, THIS IS WHERE MARCIA MET DEB. HERE’S MARCIA’S SIDE OF THE STORY:

MARCIA: She said she knew we were gay the minute we walked in, I don't know why. I don't know how. But she said she did.

SARAH: I GUESS MARCIA DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT DEB’S GAYDAR. 

MARCIA: Each day we start talking more and more and we just became good friends. And then I told her about the bar and told her to come down and she started coming down to the bar after work and helping.

My family has kind of adopted her as one of their own because no matter what, I've always included her in my family. Easter, Christmas, everything because she had no family here. 

SARAH: EVERY YEAR FOR EASTER, DEB DRESSES UP AS THE EASTER BUNNY FOR MARCIA’S FAMILY. 

MARCIA: Deb is a kid at heart. She's just a kid. She loves to have fun. She's always laughing. And she she shies away from nothing. 

SARAH: THE TRADITION STARTED 25 YEARS AGO

DEB: I wouLd rent a huge Easter Bunny costume and change inside and hide when all the kids were outside. Hunting, you know, Easter eggs, then I'd come out and I would never speak because I didn't want any of the kids to know who I was. 

MARCIA: the kids were always trying to figure out who it was. And one time she tripped and her head fell off. 

DEB: Oh, my god. Yeah, I was outside because it's a body and then there's a head. It's two different pieces. I bent down to hug one of the grandkids and my head just went flying off. And one of her nieces was standing there, laughing hysterically. I said, help me, help me help me. And a couple of the kids, they didn't know what to think. Because they were so little. They just saw this head go flying off. And there's my face. I don't think they really got it. But it was hilarious. Then Summer, her sister said Deb you're fired, you're fired, we can't have a headless Easter Bunny.

SARAH: THEY BOTH REFER TO DEB AS THE 11TH KID IN MARCIA’S FAMILY. WHICH MEANS, LIKE THE REST OF THE FAMILY, DEB TAKES A SHIFT SPENDING THE NIGHT WITH MARCIA’S MOM.

MARCIA: We told her she had to, if she's going to be in this family, she has to take a turn and go out and stay with mom. So we have her on one night too.

SARAH: DEB’S IS NOT THE ONLY ONE TO HAVE FOUND HER CHOSEN FAMILY THROUGH SLAMMERS. IT IS A GAY BAR AFTER ALL.

BOBBI: We have a lot of people who come in here who don't have families, who have been neglected by families, who have been tossed aside from their families because of their sexuality. 

SARAH: THIS IS BOBBI AGAIN, THE SLAMMERS GM. 

BOBBI: this bar is more of a home to a lot of people than just a place where they come, you know, to get drunk and wild, which we have that going on too, of course, but we also have people who come in and they're just like, hey, it's good to see you, you know, and they want to talk and share about what's going on in their life.

SARAH: THIS IS SOMETHING WE HAVE HEARD FROM A LOT OF BAR STAFF--THAT THEY FEEL LIKE THERAPISTS BEHIND THE BAR. 

FOR BOBBI, THIS IS NOTHING NEW. SHE ACTUALLY WORKED AS A COUNSELOR FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS. 

BOBBI: I worked in a women's prison. So talking to women who are sitting in prison who have been sober for years and hearing their stories, hearing how hard it is, once they leave prison...

SARAH: BOBBI’S INTEREST IN THIS KIND OF WORK STEMMED FROM HER SISTER’S BATTLE WITH DRUG ADDICTION

BOBBI: I started realizing that growing up with, you know, a sibling who fought drug addiction her whole life, kind of makes you hate it. And it makes you judge it in a way because being a victim of that, even though I wasn't a direct victim, and then watching her child be a victim of it, you sort of start to hate it, and you think it's something people can control. So once I started learning more and more about it, I think I, I opened up my mind to it a little bit more and was like, Well, I can either hate it and I can judge people who are victims of this, or I can understand it and try to be someone who's like helping instead of just turning my head the other direction.

SARAH: SHE MENTIONED THAT HER SISTERS CHILD WAS A VICTIM OF THE DRUG ADDICTION. AROUND THE TIME BOBBI WAS PREGNANT WITH HER SON, HER SISTER GOT PREGNANT WITH A DAUGHTER: TRINITY

BOBBI: My sister had her around the same time that I had my son. She was 17 and I was 28. 

SARAH: FOR MANY YEARS, BOBBI’S STEP-MOTHER (TRINITY’S GRANDMOTHER) HELPED RAISE TRINITY. AND THEN ONE DAY BOBBI GOT A PHONE CALL FROM HER AUNT.

BOBBI: She reached out to me and said, you know, your stepmom passed away a few weeks ago, and Trinity is sort of flopping around from house to house, and we really need to get her safe. She had ringworm all over her. She had lice, like she just was not. She was not being taken care of. 

SARAH: HER STEPMOM HAD WANTED BOBBI TO TAKE CARE OF TRINITY, IN THE EVENT OF HER PASSING. 

Bobbi 36:30

There was just absolutely no question for me. I was like, Yes. Like, where do we start? What do I do? And she said I need you to get an attorney. 

EVENTUALLY, BOBBI GOT CUSTODY OF TRINITY. 

Bobbi 38:00

It was not an easy transition. I had to put her through a lot of counseling, a lot of therapy. There was a lot of things she was going through like at night, all the house lights had to be on TVs had to be on should have noise. You know, there were things we had to work through with that. She wouldn't take tags off her clothes because she was afraid we'd have to return them. She was sneaking food and keeping under her bed. You know, there's a lot of things that she had taught herself to do to survive, that we had to work through.

SARAH: BEFORE MOVING TO COLUMBUS, BOBBI AND TRINITY LIVED WITH BOBBI’S SON AND PARTNER IN DELAWARE, OHIO. 

BOBBI:I really loved my house. And I really loved being feeling safe and allowing my kids to like, run down to the pool and whatever. But overall as a lesbian couple we were not happy in that neighborhood.

SARAH: DELAWARE IS MORE CONSERVATIVE AND LESS DIVERSE THAN COLUMBUS. 

BOBBI: The neighborhood I lived in was very much white and straight. 

SARAH: THEY WERE THE ONLY LESBIAN COUPLE IN THEIR COMMUNITY. AND THAT WAS HARD ON BOBBI AND HER KIDS. OTHER PARENTS IGNORED BOBBI AT NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGS AND FORBID THEIR KIDS FROM SPENDING THE NIGHT AT BOBBI’S HOUSE.

SO WHEN BOBBI AND HER PARTNER SPLIT UP, BOBBI MOVED TO COLUMBUS

BOBBI: That was really hard on all of us but it was, it was I think the most hard on Trinity because that's the first time she had felt stable. And letting all of that go for her was super hard and then change at that time seemed devastating.

SARAH: BUT BOBBI HELPED TRINITY REGAIN THAT SENSE OF STABILITY

BOBBI: I just had to explain to her and reiterate to her over and over, like, you know, you have a single mom now and you're not going to lose me, that doesn't mean that the partners that I have in my life are always going to remain in yours but you're not going to lose me. So the stability comes through me. And she she's grasped that, she gets it now.

SARAH: BACK IN COLUMBUS, BOBBI GOT A JOB AT SLAMMERS.

SHE STARTED OUT PART-TIME AS A BARTENDER, ALSO JUGGLING A POSITION AS A LEGAL ADVOCATE FOR VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. DURING THE PANDEMIC, THAT POSITION WAS DISSOLVED AND SHE STARTED WORKING FULL TIME AT SLAMMERS, BEFORE BECOMING GENERAL MANAGER.

BOBBI: I think what's made me a good general manager is the fact that I have had so many experiences with people. And I do listen well. And so I've, I've taken the skills I was using in counseling all those years, and I like sort of, I now kind of hone in on my staff and make sure they're good. And things are going well with us. 

SARAH: ONE OF THESE STAFF MEMBERS IS ACTUALLY HER DAUGHTER, TRINITY 

BOBBI: So she works in the kitchen one day a week, she comes to work with me every Wednesday and works eight hours in the kitchen. 

SARAH: TRINITY IS A BIG HIT OVER AT SLAMMERS. 

BOBBI: Everybody really embraced her when, you know, I hired her on. You know, they they tease and say they're gonna take her home. And, you know, ‘she's gonna be my daughter. She's so sweet.’ You know, things like that. Everybody just sort of gravitates to her because she's, she's a good listener. And she’s smiley and she’s just sweet.

SARAH: SHE’S COME A LONG WAY SINCE FIRST MOVING IN WITH BOBBI.

BOBBI: She is an amazing 16 year old girl. She's going to get her license. She has a ton of friends. She is she's on a bowling league. She's on the track to get a scholarship for bowling. She's just flourished. She's just an outstanding child. She's a hard worker, and life has turned around completely for her. 

SARAH: IT’S ACTUALLY QUITE COMMON FOR MARCIA TO BRING FAMILY MEMBERS ON TO THE SLAMMERS’ STAFF. 

SARAH: FIRST WAS MARCIA’S MOM, BEFORE THE BAR EVEN OPENED.

MARCIA :Yeah she helped me do remodeling on the inside. And she did a lot.

SARAH: AND FROM THERE:

MARCIA: My two daughters, Jamie and Cory. I have two nieces, Carly and Kez. Which you met, they both worked there. I've had many parties that--Christmas parties that we needed an extra bartender or something and one of, maybe my sister or my brother would come in, when it was just a Christmas party for the employees, they worked there. 

SARAH: KEZ IS NOW A TATTOO ARTIST IN CALIFORNIA, BUT SHE WORKED AT SLAMMERS FOR NEARLY A DECADE.

MARCIA: I always knew there was something different about Kez and then I can't even remember what year it was that she finally told me that she was gay. And I said well, come on. I have a job for you. 

SARAH: SHE STILL COMES BY THE BAR WHEN SHE’S IN TOWN. 

JACKIE: Your niece is here.

MARCIA: I know!

SARAH: IN FACT...KEZ HAPPENED TO PAY SLAMMERS A VISIT WHILE WE WERE THERE.

KEZ: I didn't know you were gonna be back here. 

MARCIA: I didn't know I was gonna be.

KEZ: I didn't know we were gonna stop by. all the things just happened.

SARAH: SO WE GOT THE INSIDE SCOOP ON WORKING WITH MARCIA.

KEZ: I think there was a lot of time where I needed a job. And then there was also some time where she needed help. So it kind of worked out both ways.

MARCIA: Most of the time I needed her more than she needed me. An awesome cook. Awesome. And she can handle the crowd. Like by herself. She had it going on.

KEZ: It was fun.

SARAH: BUT IT WASN’T ALWAYS EASY.

MARCIA: We had our downfalls.

KEZ: Well, I had my downfalls

MARCIA: She had her little party in here one night.

KEZ: I got a little I was you know, I started barbacking when I was 18. And, and so by the time I turned 21 and then I was just excited to party and maybe I got a little too...Maybe I had a little too much fun for a minute but she kept me around, didn't kick me out. That was cool. And then we got it back together. 

MARCIA: I made her cry. 

KEZ: Only once. Only once. Yeah, and definitely lesson learned. 

SARAH: IT WASN’T JUST BLOOD RELATIVES THAT FELT THAT FAMILIAL LOVE AROUND SLAMMERS.

DION: You know, making sure I got home okay. Making sure I was here for those important dates for the the anniversaries and including me in the videos.

SARAH: THIS IS DION MILLER. BUT AT SLAMMERS, SHE GOES BY ROADKILL.

DION: Because one day, one evening coming to Slammers, I parked across the street, was coming out, another great friend and regular was leaving the bar. And so I ran up behind her car, hit the back of it, and then laid in the street, and she thought she ran over me. So she parked, jumped out, ran back and was like, Oh my god, oh my god, Dion and I started laughing and she was like, get your ass up before someone really runs over you. And you're roadkill. 

SARAH: DION-SLASH-ROADKILL HAS MADE A HOME AT SLAMMERS SINCE IT OPENED IN 1993. 

DION: what I heard about Slammers is that there's like this new hot lady in town, opening up a bar, still hot, by the way. And it's like, you know, kind of like a Cheers. 

SARAH: ALMOST 30 YEARS LATER, DION CALLS SLAMMERS HER FRAMILY--FRIENDS THAT HAVE BECOME LIKE FAMILY.

DIONI think it was just Marcia being Marcia. I can't say just one particular instance where I knew that this was my framily, where I knew that this was the place I wanted to be. It was it was many.

SARAH: THE STAFF EVEN INCLUDES DION IN THEIR HOLIDAY PARTIES. 

DION: They're like Dion, you gotta come, you're a regular, you're part of this crew, you're part of this group. You know, meeting the families, meeting their families and just being a part of their lives not just in Slammers, but outside as well. 

SARAH: FOR DION’S 50TH BIRTHDAY, SHE WANTED TO HAVE THE PARTY AT SLAMMERS. 

DION: And Marcia was like, of course you can and we'll clear it out. 

SARAH: MARCIA OFTEN LETS PEOPLE HOLD SPECIAL EVENTS AT THE BAR. 

MARCIA: We don't charge them anything, we just you know, they tell us what they need. And we have a lot of different people come in for birthdays, showers, baby showers, weddings, just--graduations. They they just love it there and that's you know, that's their home and that's what they want. 

SARAH: SAME GOES FOR SHANNON GRAMLEY, ANOTHER SLAMMERS REGULAR OF ABOUT 20 YEARS. 

SHANNON: I had my going away party here. I've had my engagement party here. And I had my 45th birthday party here on Saturday. 

SARAH: AS A RESULT, SHANNON’S WHOLE FAMILY, PARENTS, COUSINS, AUNTS AND UNCLES, HAVE SPENT TIME AT SLAMMERS. WHEN WE MET HER, SHANNON WAS STOPPING BY TO PICK UP TAKEOUT, AT HER MOM’S REQUEST. 

SHANNON:  If I have time to come here on a Friday before I go to town, like I'm supposed to pick up a pizza. 

SARAH: SLAMMERS HAS ALWAYS HAD A BIG MENU OF APPS, SANDWICHES, AND PIZZA, WHICH IS WHAT THEY’RE KNOWN FOR. 

MARCIA: Everything that we cook is in the pizza oven. We don't deep fry anything. You know, we don't use a grill. It's just all the subs and everything we do is right from the pizza oven.

SARAH: MOST OF THE MENU IS MADE UP OF MARCIA’S RECIPES. DEB REMEMBERS TASTE TESTING EVERYTHING AT MARCIA’S HOUSE BEFORE THEY OPENED. 

DEB: She says come over, we're going to sample different types of sauces. So we cooked all these pizzas in the oven, and we all came to agreement which sauce we like. So I can't give you the recipe but it's damn good.

SARAH: AS WE BROWSED THE MENU, MARCIA, DEB AND OTHER STAFF MEMBERS POINTED OUT THEIR FAVORITE PIES TO US. WE ORDERED THE SICILIAN, THE WHITE PIZZA, THE BOBBI, AND THE HAWAIIAN, A HOUSE SPECIAL, AND FILLED A BAR TABLE WITH THE SPREAD. MARCIA ACTUALLY WORKED IN THE KITCHEN AT SLAMMERS FOR MANY YEARS.  

MARCIA: I kind of got out of that in the last few years because it's just too, I'm just tired.

SARAH: BUT MARCIA’S ORIGINAL RECIPES CONTINUE TO BRING FOLKS IN THE DOOR.

LAST YEAR, A DRAG BAR CALLED DISTRICT WEST OPENED NEXT DOOR TO SLAMMERS. THE CLIENTELE IS MOSTLY MALE. BUT THEIR BAR DOESN’T SERVE FOOD.

DEB: All the guys come here and eat and have a couple of drinks before the show. And they go next door, go to the show. A lot of them come back, eat more. So it is a type of partnership. You know, they help us, we help them. 

SARAH: IN THE EARLY 2000S, MARCIA ACTUALLY RAN A CLUB ATTACHED TO SLAMMERS IN THE SPACE THAT IS NOW DISTRICT WEST. AFTER A FEW YEARS, SHE COULDN’T AFFORD TO KEEP BOTH OF THE SPACES OPEN, SO SHE CHOSE TO CLOSE THE CLUB. 

BUT BUSINESS AT SLAMMERS IS A LOT BETTER NOW. PARTIALLY THANKS TO THE GUYS FROM DISTRICT WEST. 

DEB: That's when I noticed business really, really, really increased. 

SARAH: NOW, SLAMMERS HAS A PRETTY LARGE POPULATION OF MALE CLIENTELE

DEB: They know they're in a lesbian bar, they know it, but we still want them in here. You know, because we're very inclusive, because our motto is "all walks, one groove". We want everybody in here. 

SARAH: AND THE BAR HAS CONTINUED TO EVOLVE TO STAY TRUE TO THIS MOTTO. HERE’S JACKIE, THE BARTENDER.

JACKIE: we have a lot of friends in the transgender community, a lot of people in non-binary community. Words that we weren’t saying 15 years ago that we’re just so happy to be saying now.

SARAH: SLAMMERS RECENTLY INTRODUCED A POLICY TO USE LAST NAMES ON BAR TABS. THEY REALIZED THE FIRST NAME ON A CREDIT CARD ISN’T ALWAYS THE NAME A PATRON USES, AND PUTTING IT ON A TAB CAN BE HARMFUL. 

JACKIE: that was something that we learned, by doing it incorrectly, you know, and that's, that's not something you know until someone brings it to your attention, and people are forward enough to bring it to our attention.

SARAH: CURRENTLY, JACKIE IS WORKING ON INTRODUCING NON-ALCOHOLIC OPTIONS TO SLAMMERS

JACKIE: Since COVID a lot of people realized how much money they were spending before and also how much they were going out before, how much they maybe were drinking at home alone during COVID. A lot of people are a lot healthier right now. They might not be completely sober but they want options. But it's it's just saying we need people to to see that we care and that we're listening to them 

SARAH: THE CITY AROUND SLAMMERS HAS ALSO EVOLVED SINCE 1993. 

JACKIE: Columbus has definitely changed in a lot of good ways.

SARAH: COLUMBUS HAS WHAT’S CALLED THE 270 LOOP. IT’S A HIGHWAY THAT CIRCLES THE ENTIRE CITY. 

JACKIE: Within that loop is probably the most accepting crazy town of Columbus, it's not the Ohio people who don't live in Ohio think Ohio is. You don't have to go to a gay bar, or what's labeled a gay bar or a queer bar of any type with your person. You can go just about anywhere, which is glorious.

SARAH: AS OF THIS EPISODES AIRING, JACKIE NO LONGER WORKS AT SLAMMERS. SHE’S OPENING UP HER OWN BAR IN COLUMBUS. WHICH WILL OF COURSE, BE QUEER-FRIENDLY. 

BUT IF SHE EVER NEEDS IT, JACKIE WILL ALWAYS HAVE A HOME AT SLAMMERS.

JACKIE: so you know, you can kind of always come back home. 

SARAH: CRUISING IS REPORTED AND PRODUCED BY RACHEL KARP, JEN MCGINNITY, AND ME, SARAH GABRIELLI, WITH MUSIC BY JOEY FREEMAN. FOLLOW US ALONG ON OUR ROAD TRIP AND SEE PICTURES AT OUR WEBSITE: CRUISINGPOD.COM OR FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA @CRUISINGPOD. THAT’S C-R-U-I-S-I-N-G-P-O-D. 

SPECIAL THANKS THIS WEEK TO MARCIA, DEB, BOBBI, AND EVERYONE ELSE AT SLAMMERS. 

YOU CAN LISTEN WHEREVER YOU GET YOUR PODCASTS.