Book chronicles 1973 arson at gay club that barely made it into the papers, or even into the consciousness of the community
In the early 1970s, on the edge of the historic French Quarter and the bustling downtown business district, New Orleans’ UpStairs Lounge was a destination left intentionally obscure. An oasis for the city’s sizeable but, for the most part, strictly closeted gay male population, a lack of visibility was in many ways its most valuable commodity.
But in 1973 when the club was set ablaze in an act of arson that cost a staggering 32 lives, that lack of attention endured, the news barely making it into the papers or, it seemed, even into the consciousness of the local community.
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