Akard began as a place where hi-fi bugs could sip martinis and listen to recorded music played on “the Southwest’s first and only stereophonic music system.” Not only did it have the sensational Seeburg two-channel stereo system, but it also boasted one of the best signs in town. Gene’s Music Bar (pictured above) at 307-09 S. Akard, in the shadow of the Adolphus Hotel - and The Zoo Bar, on Commerce, “across from Neiman-Marcus.” Three of those downtown bars (which apparently catered to a “straight” clientele during the day and a gay clientele at night) were Gene’s Music Bar and The Lasso - both on S.
There was the well-appointed Le Boeuf Sur Le Toit (later renamed Villa Fontana), one of Dallas’ earliest gay bars, located on Skiles Street near Exall Park in the area now known as Bryan Place, and there were rougher, seedier places, generally downtown. In an interview with the Dallas VoiceAlan Ross remembered what the bar scene was like in Dallas in those days (click for larger image): Those were the days when “homosexual behavior” was illegal, and vice raids on gay bars and clubs were frequent occurrences. In Dallas’ pre-Stonewall days, there were only a handful of gay bars in the city, and they weren’t widely known beyond those who frequented them. Gene’s Music Bar, S. Akard Street (click for larger image)