Detour, located in Calgary’s largest and oldest gay space, caters to both gay male and lesbian communities. It also appeals to bi, bi-curious, and straight individuals. This diverse clientele might make some gay people a bit uncomfortable, but there’s nothing to worry about. Everyone who goes to Detour recognizes that it’s a gay space, and they wouldn’t go if they didn’t want to be there.

In addition to its wide-appeal, Detour is the only gay club with two dance floors! Depending on the night, Arena (an additional area of the club where the second dance floor is located) can be used specifically for special events like Girlz night, or the whole space can be opened up for everyone to enjoy.

The lesbian crowd does seem to enjoy the Girlz Nights that are held every first Friday of the month. For the guys, Wet Wednesday’s are a real hit! It’s a wet underwear and T-shirt contest hosted by DJ Krazay Steve – it’s great to have him back spinning in the Gay Community again. Over on the Arena side, there’s a raised stage set up for the Sunday night Drag shows (fondly named "God Save the Queens"), which we highly recommended for everyone. The theatrical quality makes these shows a unique experience. Performances can be viewed from the dance floor or the balcony.

Go down and enjoy yourself. Things have changed a lot over the past 21 years – and expect more to come! We interviewed one of the owners of Detour, Rudy Labuhn, asking him some rather tough questions to finally separate fact from rumor. This is how he answered:

Besides Detour, what other gay bars have been in the Model Dairies building, and in what capacity have you been involved with those bars?

"Well prior to Detour, 318 was there. We had actually opened 318 after we closed Dick’s, which was men only. We had basically lost our crowd because on a few men only bars had opened up First Street, and at the time, they were a little more exciting then we were. It was a good lesson, and we learned from it. People go to have fun, not look nicely decorated up against a wall. 318 came out of Dick’s, and we mixed it [by including both] men and women. I am actually glad that the whole thing happened. At one point we had decided to get out of business [so] we sold 318 to a fellow. Subsequently, he decided to reinvent the wheel, and things did not work out. Our landlord came to us and asked us if we would take the space. We kind of felt obligated, and we reopened it as Detour. We should have called it ‘Frankenstein’ because we brought it back from the dead! It took about three years to get people in there on a regular basis. I am glad we opened it."

How does it feel to have been opening your doors to Calgary’s Gay community for 21 years as of this November?

"I would not have it any other way!"

Detour is perceived as a straight bar by many in the gay community due to the large heterosexual clientele, which on some nights can make up for over 50% of the crowd. Do you think the perception is fair?

"Well I guess it depends on whose perception we are looking at. A lot of my friends who are my age that were kind of 18 in the 70’s aren’t really comfortable at Detour. They are at a point in their life that they want to meet somebody to settle down with, or to have immediate sex with or whatever, and Detour just doesn’t fit the bill. A lot of the straight people come down with gay people, ... a lot of them are straight, but they think like gay people, and they don’t really want to hang around straight people, and a lot of them are curious. I feel that we do help a lot of people that really want to come out of closet. If you are a closeted man or woman and don’t know exactly how you fit in or what is expected of you, you go to Detour and look and see what gay people do there, or [what] straight people do and [still] feel comfortable. And after years of fighting in the back rooms for our rights and wanting to be accepted by straight people, I am certainly not going to turn around and say ‘Well thank you for accepting us, but we don’t accept you.’ By saying that, I am not judging any of my competitors either. I think there is probably room for just one men-orientated bar in the city, and I think that they do a very good job at what they do. And I think all in all that all the clubs and bars in the city really do cater to their customer base, and we complement each other very well. ...It is one of those things that if we allow gay men and women in our space, I can’t sort of take it that one extra step and not involve the same straight people that think the same way we do."

Another common perception is that Detour caters specifically to a younger crowd and does little to welcome seasoned club-goers. Is this the nature of the beast or problem you would like to address in the future?

"I think it is a problem. I think it is the nature of the beast. Again getting back to what I said in the last question there is only so many people in a city. In larger cities with 2 million people there are usually one or two dance bars and they are usually mixed, and I just don’t see it as being a problem. I find our young gay clientele are very happy because they grew up in a society that they were accepted a lot more than maybe I was, and they like to hang around with their friends from school, or friends they have met at work or from wherever, and I just don’t see it as a problem at all."

Over the last year, there have been some major changes to events that occur in the bar like Girlz nights for the Lesbian crowd, Wet Wednesday for the male crowd and God Save the Queens. Are more great nights in the work?

"Yeah, there are always great nights in the work. Mark, our manager, is always working on widening our client base and he has done a good job at it! He proposes it to me, and I [jokingly] say no."

Detour has been catering to more defined groups within Calgary’s Gay community with such regular events as Girlz Night, Wet Wednesdays, Kink Night and special events such as Wigged Out and the Walter Beswick Memorial Show. Do you feel that group-specific events draw lines within the gay community or contribute to a more vibrant GLBT landscape in Calgary?

"Well because we don’t really have a community clubhouse so to speak, or something where people can have a space as a venue on their behalf, I kind of feel really comfortable offering it to different groups. If we can pay our costs and everything like that, and we can still make money while we are helping some other group I can see it as nothing but a positive situation."

With the various special guest DJs and the recent additions of DJ Krazay Steve on Wednesday and Jared K on Sunday, how would you classify Detour’s music style?

"Well I think it is certainly dance orientated... there is no doubt about it, and we are widening it a little more, but it is still fairly dance, fairly current. And the difference with Detour and some of the other dance clubs, ...a lot of people that go to other clubs... go out on weekends and the stuff they play isn’t on the radio, and so a song might have legs for a little longer than we would because the people that come to our place are so into it and follow it. And equally [they] get tired of it quicker. So we tend to have music that isn’t that familiar, and it alienates as many people as it stimulates."

In the past, Detour has flown in performers like Willie Taylor and others from all over Canada. How would you respond to local musings over why Detour doesn’t select local talent?

"They have pretty well all worked in here so I don’t know if that perception that is there. I would actually not mind talking to people that might feel that way because it is surprising to hear that actually. The reason why we call in Willie Taylor and Justine Tyme is that Justine worked here for a long time, and we bring in Justine and Joan E, also from Calgary, in just for people that used to enjoy them here. And the thing with Willie Taylor is that he wanted to see our Pride Week and the shoe kind of fit. And sometimes it is hard to get shoes big enough for those girls – it just worked out. Calgary has a lot of talented queens and I can’t say it any other way, but every once in a while... it is good bring in someone else to mix up the old pot. Shake up the old girls."

What is in store for Detour in the future?

"We are actually going through a renovation program, should be coming up. Mark keeps nagging me about it, and the project plans keep getting backed up."

What is the most positive change that you have noticed in Calgary’s gay community over the past 21 years?

"The most positive change is how comfortable it is becoming within itself. You know that gay people kind of don’t look to anyone outside other then themselves to feel pride or anything like that. They don’t need an endorsement from anyone. I find Calgary a very liberal community, I know a lot of people would disagree with me but it is one of those things that have changed. When I started being in clubs, and I won’t say how many years ago, people were talking in code. They won’t come out and even say "gay." They had some obscure little word; we still have a lot of the "gay" kind of words that everyone uses like ‘nellie’ and ‘butch,’ and all of that sort of thing. I mean that there was an entire dictionary when I came out of the closet and now people just come right out and say it. We went through a period 10 years ago where people would sit down and explain that they were gay and now people just don’t even bother. It is like ‘Why are you telling me this?’ The reaction is that people feel comfortable in their own shoes..."

What do you think Calgary’s Gay Community needs or lacks, and how can Detour help to correct this?

"I think all of the businesses and groups in the city [are] all kind of like making a cake, they are all ingredients to making a good cake or a bad cake – but I think we have a good recipe going here. What I would like to see is a little more interaction between everybody and a bit more understanding between the sexes like gay and lesbian for instance. Not so much that I am saying that we dislike each other, it is just that when I was younger, because it was a very small center, half of my friends were women because they were the only people my age. So I got to understand the lesbian sensibility really young. Now I don’t think a lot of gay males get that opportunity. They tend to now hang out with their groups or whatever, and I think a lot of problems that come up in the community come up because of not understanding the opposite sex and not understanding the different age groups. Or being scared of the different age groups, whether they are young boys being scared of the older ones or older ones being scared of trends that are going on in the younger community. ‘How will I fit in?’ It is one of those personal development things that I am confident that everything will work out."

In what direction do you see Calgary’s Gay community heading?

"I see it going nowhere but up. I just see it growing, and seeing it more comfortable, and I know that this will sound a little odd but I think it is very good that the community is growing and that the emphasis is not on the gay bars. I see that as one portion of the community and 10 years ago it was the only portion that people talked about. Now there are community groups... and I think that is very positive."

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Contributor Steve Polyak |

Locale Calgary |

Topic Detour |

Photo Gallery Detour/Arena |