Club Basix has brought gaiety to Cedar Rapids since 1997, from dime draws and darts league to drag shows and derecho aid

Since late 1997, you can drive down 1st Ave and and pick out Cedar Rapids’ only gay bar with ease. Club Basix has been out and proud from the start. The first day it was open, original owner David Thompson mounted Pride flags around the entire roof.

“I boarded up that middle window in the front to put the logo and sign up there. And everyone’s like, ‘oh good, you’re covering all the windows?’ And I’m like, ‘No, just that one.’ ‘But you’re on 1st Avenue. Why aren’t you scared of what’s going to happen?’” Thompson recalled. “I’m like, ‘it’s the late 1990s, it’s time.’” 

Thompson had been on the lookout for potential locations for his gay bar, and had cash on hand for a deposit. One day while driving down 1st Ave, he saw workers getting ready to unfurl a “For Rent” sign over the 1968 building that would become Club Basix. He pulled over. 

“They had a ladder up there, so I climbed halfway up the ladder and was talking to them. And I’m like, ‘Would you bring that down and then roll it out on the ground for me, far enough for me to get the number?’ … I rented it right then.”

Over the next weeks, Thompson called on everyone he knew to get the bar in a suitable enough state to open by Labor Day weekend. It was a massive effort, as nearly all the building’s component parts had been stripped and auctioned off, from the kitchen to the restrooms.

“The original bar was there, and that was it. The sinks, the plumbing under the bar … they had sold them and the people had just left holes in the ceiling,” Thompson said. “There was literally nothing. No toilets, no sinks, no nothing, it was empty.”

It wasn’t long before the bar went from an abandoned shell to a lively new nightclub. Wednesday was Dime Draw night, and the lines were out the door for the drag shows.

Fridays were Stripper Nights. The strip shows were at 7 and 9, so in between shows the male exotic dancers would slip away for a sit-down dinner. 

“They’d go across the street and get one of those little call buttons, you know, from Outback,” Thompson said. “And that would light up… And they’d walk over there for their table and then come back for the second show.”

Many gay bars were and are established on second floors or tucked into alleys. Not Basix. Facing a busy street, the bar has been egged and shot with BB guns (two pellet marks can still be seen on a window). Verbal harassment is by far the most common homophobic nuisance.

“If you’re outside smoking, you’re going to be yelled at. I mean, it was kind of just a common joke,” said Andy “Pretty Belle” Harrison, the third owner of the bar. 

Especially when the bar first opened, and really up until Grindr arrived, it wasn’t uncommon for small-town Iowa LGBTQ+ people to make a multiple-hour journey down to Basix. Harrison is from Troy Mills, and found out about the bar from the “Iowa M4M” AOL group of “about 25 people.” 

David Tollefson, who’s been tending bar at Basix for 26 years, would drive two hours some nights just to check out the scene. “I’d be home in Decorah helping my brother on the racetrack and races got done at 10 o’clock. I’m like, ‘I can be down there by midnight,’ so I’d race home instead of spending the night up there because you never know, Mr. Right might be inside the building that night.”

Basix changed ownership in 2001. Rita Wahl and Terry Stevenson purchased the bar, and after some internal disagreements, Wahl bought Stevenson out and ran it solo for 11 years. 

Wahl passed away in June 2017. One of her innovations as owner was starting a darts league, which brought a new crowd to the bar.

“The darts thing was kind of what saved the bar for Rita back then,” said Tollefson. “But then you had the gay community that were like, wow, we’re not coming in there because there’s all these straight people in darts.” 

Rita was at the helm on April 3, 2009, when the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in Varnum v. Brien that same-sex marriage was legal. It’s one of Harrison’s fondest memories of Basix.

“The bar didn’t open until 4, but everybody, for some reason, wanted to be at the bar. So people just started showing up,” he recalled. “We just went in there, and then I remember we went to Michael’s and got a wedding arch … just decorating the bar for a wedding. People were bringing flowers in. I mean, it was just, it was one of the most joyous days ever.”

Harrison bought the bar in 2011, officially becoming the new owner on Feb. 1, 2012. He rebranded it Belle’s Basix in honor of his drag persona Pretty Belle. Between rent, payments on the loan he’d taken out to pay for the building, and a series of needed updates — mostly electrical work and plumbing fixes; one night, a sewage pipe burst directly over his drag wardrobe — it was often a financial challenge to keep the club open. 

“There were a couple of times that I didn’t charge covers because I didn’t have enough money to fill up like the $5 bag, you know, to give change out. I didn’t have any money.” 

Still, Basix was home to some major events for the gay community during that time, most notably hosting CR Pride Fest in their parking lot in 2014 after Club CO2 shut down and Greene Square Park closed for a remodel. Basix would host CR Pride for two more years afterwards; it continues to throw CR Pride fundraisers, afterparties and other events throughout the year.

Basix frequently held viewing parties for major political events. Harrison said up to 70 people packed the bar to watch the 2016 presidential debates. Earlier that year, the bar held a vigil for the 49 people killed and 58 wounded in the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. Harrison installed a panic button behind the bar for his staff in case of an emergency, but it hasn’t been used.

While there have been no violent incidents, Basix has seen renewed harassment during the Trump years. Harrison recalled a November 2020 pro-Trump parade in Cedar Rapids. “A whole bunch of trucks with the MAGA flags … made a point to make a loop through our parking lot, and I was the only one inside the bar,” he said. “I was literally scared for my life.” 

The bar worked with Linn County Public Health to offer nighttime HIV testing, allowing patrons to learn their status and return to the dance floor within a minute. Despite struggling financially during the COVID-19 pandemic, Harrison donated 60 six-packs of beer to area healthcare workers. 

In August 2020, the derecho hit Cedar Rapids, knocking out power for most of the city. Basix regained power within a couple of days, and Harrison announced on Facebook that the ice machines were working. 

“And then people started bringing stuff in, and we had tables and tables and tables of supplies and stuff. And then I started making sandwiches, and then people started bringing sandwich supplies in… At one point, I had 15 people in there making sandwiches and going out, passing them out,” Harrison recounted.

“That went on for two weeks, three weeks … So, when I made sandwiches, it was probably for a full week, and then it was to the point where I needed to sleep.”

In 2022, Harrison announced on Facebook that Basix would close if it did not find a new owner. Running the bar for 10 years had taken a toll, although Harrison got sober in October 2020.

“Sitting there, you know, every day just stressing about what to do, I was drinking a lot,” he said. “I don’t think there was one day I didn’t have any alcohol.” 

Fortunately for the business and Harrison’s health, Spectrum Hospitality bought the bar in 2022. With Harrison’s eager endorsement, Belle’s Basix became Club Basix again.

“I’m focused on preserving LGBTQ spaces in as many places as possible around Iowa,” Jason Zeman, the owner of Spectrum Hospitality, told Little Village via email. “Gay bars are where the gay liberation movement started and continue to hold a special place as safe spaces for our community. I didn’t want to see Cedar Rapids’ only remaining LGBTQ space disappear and thought a refresh and injection of new energy could be just what was needed.” 

Spectrum Hospitality also owns Studio 13 in Iowa City — an enduring LGBTQ+ club in a city that, like Cedar Rapids, boasted three to five times as many gay bars in the late 20th century. Spectrum is also in the process of opening Studio 13 locations in Waterloo and Ames. While there was always cross-pollination between the CR and IC drag scenes, they have never been more in sync.

“We get a lot of the performers from Iowa City up here now, and so that’ll bring some of the people from Iowa City up here, where that wasn’t necessarily always happening,” Tollefson said.

Today, the night crowd is a diverse mix — something that’s been in Basix’s DNA since its inception. 

“We’ve hosted Miss Iowa pageants here before, we’ve hosted, gosh, all the different kinds of pageants, prelims, things of that nature,” Tollefson said. “We’ve had porn stars here before, RuPaul’s Drag Race people… We love Dragula queens here. So we’ve had a lot of people that have come through the doors.” 

The last couple years at Club Basix have seen TV drag stars Auntie Heroine, Onyx Ondyx, Widow Von’Du, Dahli and Saint grace the Basix dance floor. Frisbee Jenkins, Iowa City’s preeminent drag mother, the drag daughter of Pretty Belle and a RPDR alum, is also a Basix regular, hosting a weekly drag competition/game show this spring called The Weakest Twink. When new seasons air, fans can gather at the bar for RPDR and Dragula watch parties. 

Cedar Rapids queen Cecelia Monroe Cavalier hosts Sunday bingo nights, Tollefson does Tuesday poker bingo potlucks, a rotating cast of queens emcee Thursday open stage nights, and employee Nikkie runs Monday karaoke contests and organizes the Basix Food Pantry. Club Basix opens its space to seasonal art markets, “What is Consent?” workshops and other programs sponsored by the CRANDIC Leather Social Club, a Trans/NB Support Group, a Black History Extravaganza, the Mr./Miss/Mx. Basix Pageant, trivia nights, open mics and theme parties galore.

No matter who I talked to in my interviews, their love for Basix was obvious. 

“If I ever moved away and came back and Basix wasn’t here, I’d be like, what the hell?” said Tollefson. “I just expect it to be here, you know? And I think that’s kind of the problem sometimes with our community, is they just expect it’s going to still be there. So I wish they’d come out and support more. Even if it’s just once a month, stop in and have a drink.” 

Club Basix is open seven days a week, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Follow Basix on Facebook and @clubbasix on Instagram for upcoming events.  

Malcolm MacDougall is a writer, sewist and father living in Cedar Rapids on a small proto-farm with his spouse. This article was originally published in Little Village’s June 2026 issue.

More Iowa LGBTQ+ history:

The Blazing Saddle is home to leather daddies, lesbians, cowboys, queens and queer elders who can remember a Des Moines before Pride

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have entertained, aided and provoked for 45 years. Their habits began in Iowa.