Since his tenure, Palace has contributed over $2 million to charitable causes including Task Force, Care Resources, Miami Pride, and Meals on Wheels. He also gave back financially to the community.
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He started regular T-Dances and during Pride and White Party Weekends, he created free block parties that eventually grew so large, the city had to shut down the entire street to accommodate the crowds. I wasn’t sure I was up for the task but I knew I could rebrand the place and have it do great things for the community.” Donall introduced daily drag on-the-street shows at Palace and launched its popular drag brunch.
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“It needed major renovation and I was semi-retired. “The kitchen was outdated, the sound was bad,” he remembers.
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By the time Thomas Donall, a nightclub owner and designer from Michigan, took over Palace in 2007, the restaurant and bar was in decline. Stars like Luciano Pavarotti, Elton John, Madonna and Princess Diana were frequently spotted and as Ocean Drive became a hot spot for fashion models, with new photoshoots and music videos being shot every day. He would bring his celebrity friends to eat, too. Around that time, designer Gianni Versace moved to Ocean Drive, a block away from Palace, and became a regular fixture. The community had adopted the 12th Street Beach across the street as their own, and soon the party carried over, with Palace hosting T-dances in it’s parking lot. In the 90s, Palace started catering to the city’s gay population. Palace was the first on Ocean Drive and would usher in a whole new era that would eventually lead to cafes up and down the street. There were no other restaurants on the drive at the time and everyone thought Palsar was crazy to introduce one, but he did. It was older, grittier, gang-ridden as depicted on TV’s Miami Vice, which happened to be shooting on Ocean Drive when Palsar first came upon 1200 Ocean Dr., his “little slice of heaven,” as he called it. Miami was a much different city at the time. In February of 1988, Steve Palsar launched the original Palace at 1200 Ocean Drive. After all, “Every Queen needs a Palace”, and we’ve been home to the most glamorous performers and drag queens in all of South Florida since 1988. But after three decades of unforgettable parties - including South Beach’s righteous heyday as a ‘90s gay mecca - Palace was bound to become a legend.
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I's their excuse and they are sticking to it, but it's hard to believe it's merely poor timing when Pride Weekend was planned far, far in advance.If these walls could talk, they’d tell you how becoming Miami’s #1 LGBTQ+ bar and restaurant was no small feat. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, said his force "are not seers they don’t have a crystal ball that tells them when Albany is going to take up a piece of legislation.” The police are arguing that the bar was slated for inspection through a program known as MARCH and had been scheduled weeks earlier, before they knew people would be out to celebrate the landmark legislation. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, plans on asking the police commissioner to conduct a formal investigation concerning the circumstances around this raid. We are very peaceful.”Ĭops issued six violations, including "unlicensed security," "unnecessary noise," and a "failure to conform" to state liquor laws. “I would just like to know from the police: `Why did they do that?’ To me, it is a blatant sign of intimidation and harassment, I mean, 42 years after the Stonewall riots and we still have to live in fear of the police disturbing our quiet enjoyment of life? I just don’t understand. Borras, who had been at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village earlier that night. "I find interesting the timing,” said Mr.
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Robert Berk, the owner of the Eagle, said officials were “aggressive, but polite." Patrons found it to be a form of harassment. Hmmmm.Īuthorities entered the bar around 10:30pm and stayed between 45 minutes and two hours according to different accounts, turning on the lights and asking patrons to empty their pockets, reports the New York Times. Was there some sort of violent glitter explosion going down that needed intervention by the cops? A fatal injury by leather? Officials say it was part a routine inspection. The Eagle, one of NY's most well known gay bars and one of our picks of where to hang out for Pride Weekend, was raided by police and three other city agencies, as well as the State Liquor Authority, on Friday night as revelers came out to celebrate their new right to get hitched.