In an immediately likable French accent verging, at times, on the burlesque, Colette Gibbs explains the recent closing of Chez Colette. Topping out at 21 years, it was one of the oldest continuously run, single-owner bars in Nashville, and its passing has marked, for some, the end of an era. By all accounts, it was far from a typical watering hole.
For one thing, while not explicitly catering to gay women, Chez Colette was widely regarded as a lesbian bar—one of Nashville’s few—a fact that, admittedly, has limited appeal. But add to the mix the patronage of politicians, strippers, bikers, and bands, and you have a more complete (if, unfortunately, largely confidential) list of the cast of characters on a typical day at Chez Colette. And directing the play for more than two decades was Colette Gibbs herself.
“I’m one of those legends in Nashville,” the 67-year-old says, stretching the word “legends” out into something closer to “lay-zhons.” “Everybody know Colette from here to Germany, you know. Everybody know me.”
Actually, Gibbs’ English is quite good, a few endearing vestigial French tics notwithstanding—the phrase “you know” seems to serve as a linguistic semicolon—and all the more impressive considering she taught herself by watching television. In an age in Nashville when new bars are taking on the patina of the dot-coms of a year ago (popping up from out of nowhere, and fast), Gibbs’ bar—and Gibbs herself—stand out as vibrant relics from a hard-working past.
She was born in France (“I’m from Bordeaux—but not Bordeaux, Tenn., please, no”) but arrived in Nashville in 1966 after six years in Germany.
“I was gonna go to New Orleans, but I got off the plane in Nashville,” she recalls. “I was gonna get me a job and save the money to go to New Orleans, you know. I got off the plane with three kids and $83.”
An experienced bartender, Gibbs found work at a restaurant on Murfreesboro Road called The Round Up, eventually saving enough money for a trip to the Big Easy. But something in the New Orleans air triggered an allergic reaction so severe she couldn’t leave her motel room, so it was back to Nashville. “It was funny because people would say, ‘What are you doing [in Nashville]?’ and I’d say, ‘I don’t know.’ But I make a good choice.”
Gibbs spent several years working three jobs a day, including bartending and a stint as a go-go girl on Dickerson Road, with one goal in mind: “When I came to the States 35 years ago, I always said to myself, someday, somewhere, somehow I’m gonna own my own bar. And I did.”
Chez Colette opened in 1980 at 407 First Ave. S., right across from the police station downtown. “When I started out, it was a straight bar, with [customers from] the Sheriff Department, Metro; there were lawyers and judges—it was strictly a restaurant. A restaurant for the big shots in town, you know. Then it turned into a restaurant/lounge. And when I closed down, it was the only woman gay bar in town. And there’s not gonna be another one.” (Actually, there are others, but by most accounts, only two remain.)
Gibbs recounts the history of her bar with bemused affection, crediting the longevity of the business with a kind of happy fatalism.
“I don’t know what I done in my life to be a straight woman who owns a gay bar for 21 years. It’s really unique. To me it is, anyway. I didn’t open up with [the gay community] on my mind; the gay community moved in on me. But the rest of the people stayed there, so it was a very comfortable place for everyone.
“See, when I was working at the Black Poodle I used to know a lot of gay girls—they’re old now, that was 34 years ago. But they was young and they used to come and watch the strippers down there—the Black Poodle used to be a strip joint. I was bartending down there. When I opened up my bar, they found out that I got it—you know how people talk—so when they found out about it, they just moved in on me. I was good to them, and they was good to me.”
It was, Gibbs says, very unique: the gay girl in one corner, the Harley biker in the other corner, and a truck driver sitting at the bar. “And everybody get along just fine,” she says. “That’s what was so unique about this bar. Everybody was welcome.”
In 1991, Gibbs moved the bar to a building she purchased at 300 Hermitage Ave., and for a few years, business was better than ever. (“I always had a lot of people come to see me because of me,” she notes.) But a few years ago, things started to slide a bit, and she began working at K-Mart to keep up with the bills. Last month, she closed Chez Colette.
“I had a lot of fun, I made a lot of friends, I met a lot of people, you know. I don’t regret nothing. I just can’t believe I was there for 21 years,” she says, a little impressed with her own feat, and then she repeats what she wrote for an advertisement for the bar’s last night. “I said, ‘I’ve really enjoyed you as customers and as friends for 21 years, but it’s time for me to say au revoir.’ A little touch of class, you know. I think it was very appropriate.”
Since the bar’s been closed, Gibbs has been working at K-Mart four days a week, but an operation on her rotator cuff has kept her laid up until recently, a fact that did not prevent her from riding her Harley alongside one of her sons on Mother’s Day, but that may postpone a long overdue visit to France.
“I wanna go back to France—I haven’t been back in 21 years—but I don’t know if K-Mart will let me go again,” she says. “I got back to work [last Thursday], and they gave me a beautiful card, a nice, nice card. And they don’t even do this for people. But I’m a hard worker, believe me. I’m a hard worker. Everybody miss me, they hug me and tell me it’s good I’m back, you know. It make me feel very welcome.”
With all of her children—and grandchildren—settled in the Nashville area, Gibbs may get a chance to visit France again soon, but she’ll be back—and not without a plan. “In the future I might go back as a bartender for somebody on the weekends. I was a bartender for 53 years. I can’t walk away from it. It’s in my blood. I mean, I got to be with the people, I got to be around people, you know.”
