History of Gay and Lesbian Life in Wisconsin - Businesses - Bars and Clubs

 
Scruples
Location: 411 Galloway St., Eau Claire

Opened:
Closed:

 August 1992
March 1996
Clientele:

Male/ Female
Bar/ lounge/ social
 
       
 

Scruples opened in Eau Claire in December 1992. The business location had previously been opened in April 1991 as the nights-only gay bar The Back Door. But by April 1992 Clay Crowley had taken over the lease and held a "name the bar" contest- with the winning name being 'Scruples', first appearing as such in In Step magazine's Guide starting in the August-September 1992 issue (vol. 9-17).

Listings for the bar in the state's LGBT media took some time to be updated; for a time, the business was listed twice, under both the new and old bar names (see examples below). Unfortunately, the bar does not seem to have advertised very much as 'Scruples', with only a single ad being located thus far.

Scruples is believed to have closed in March of 1996, as it was dropped from the In Step magazine Guide after the March 1996 issue (vol. 13-04).

The bar was acquired by Wayne Marek, who was the owner of another operating LGBT bar a block away, Trading Company, and he re-opened the bar as 'Scooters' on January 3, 1997. (By some reports, Marek may have briefly re-opened the bar as Scruples late in 1996 before changing the name, but we have found no corroborating information for that.)
Earliest listings in In Step's Guide included the new Scruples listing at top, but with the hold-over Back Door listing still shown at the end of the section
(In Step vol. 9 #19 - Sept. 1992)
 
Article about Gay Bashings in Eau Claire including a fight at Scruples on Sept. 6, 1992
(In Step vol. 9 #19 - Sept. 1992)
 
Article: Miss Gay WI Preliminaries including Miss Western Gay Wis at Scruples
(In Step vol. 9 #22 - Nov. 1992)
 
Later listings in In Step's Guide showed two Scruples listings, with the old Back Door listing being renamed but the new one still at top of the section
(In Step vol. 10 #7 - April 1993)
 
Article: Three men charged with hate crime for fight at Scruples on Sept. 12, 1994
(Wis. Light vol. 7 #22 - October 1994)
 
Advertisement for appearance by CC Rae
(Quest vol. 2 #17 - Sept. 1995)
 
Northwest Wisconsin News article includes info of dances and shows at Scruples
(Quest vol. 3 #3 - March 1996)
 

 


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Credits: web site concept, content and design by Don Schwamb.
Information on Eau Claire bars contributed by V.K..
Last updated: April-2022.

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