The Unicorn Club

The Unicorn Club was a male strip club, catering primarily to gay male customers, located at 122 West 13th Street on the Near Northside. Boyd Hill, a chef, opened the private membership club for a gay clientele in 1985. Two years later, John W. Martin acquired ownership of the club; and, by 1999, Paul Eckert, prominent proprietor of gay establishments, was owner the venue, which he retained until its closure in 2016. Limited documentation exists of Indianapolis “stag houses” and other male-centric private strip clubs of the 1980s; however, the Unicorn Club stands out as the only publicly known male strip club in Indianapolis from this time. 

The Unicorn Club was located in an Italianate residence that had been used by other organizations as a clubhouse since the 1950s. At that time, the Near Northside neighborhood consisted of large, single-family Italianate and Victorian homes built in the 1880s and 1890s. The neighborhood was home to the Lew Wallace Indianapolis Public School No. 11, as well as William Foster Clark, the editor of a local prohibition and temperance newspaper, the Patriot Phalanx. However, the area became more industrial and commercial after many of the historic homes were demolished in the early 1960s. By the end of the decade, Interstate I-65 disconnected the neighborhood from the city center, accelerating the area’s transition from residential to industrial uses. 

Many clubs and lounges occupied the building throughout the mid-20th century. The Waiters and Cooks Club used the structure in the 1960s. In 1969, it was known as The Mess Lounge, though by October of that year restaurateurs Benjamin and Edna Pope had moved their Unicorn Restaurant, also referred to as the Unicorn Tavern, from Blake Street to the structure on 13th Street.   

Boyd Hill acquired the building in the 1980s and kept the “Unicorn” namesake when he opened the Unicorn Club in 1985. As a trained chef, Hill turned the venue into a private membership club where he utilized his skills in food preparation and private dining. The clubhouse had a dining room and bar on the first floor and several private dining rooms on the second floor. It was also known for its fine wine list. The club gained its distinction as the only gay club in Indianapolis with male strippers at the time of its opening in 1985. The venue had two stages where male dancers performed.   

The Unicorn Club was active in LGBTQ advocacy, supporting and sponsoring the Stop AIDS project, Mr. Gay Indiana, Pride Fest (see Indy Pride), the Indy Bag Ladies, and the Indiana Youth Group. John W. Martin assumed ownership of the club in 1987. He continued the tradition of supporting events in the LGBTQ+ community by providing male dancers as entertainment at the 1987 GIGBA Picnic. 

By 1999, Paul Eckert had taken over ownership of the Unicorn Club. In 2013, he tried to move the venue from its location on 13th Street to the vacant former Club Cabaret location at 1341 N. Capitol Avenue. The Marion County Liquor Board rejected the transfer of the liquor license from one location to the other. The inability to move, coupled with a decline in club membership, led to the closure of The Unicorn Club in 2015. The building was demolished in 2016.