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One of the perverse things about doing this podcast is that when I'm talking to a potential guest and they say that all of the bars that were ever significant in their life are still open, instead of me responding 'Yay! That's great news! Queer spaces are thriving', I'm like 'Damn! Now we have nothing to talk about!'

Anyway, that's a long way of saying that that is exactly what happened when I first got in touch with this week's guest. J.P. Der Boghossian, the founder of Queer Armenian Library and the host of the podcast This Queer Book Saved My Life.

The bar that he first went to when he started going out, Sidetrack in Northern Michigan, is still open.

But, after a bit of back and forth we realised that one of the other spaces that he frequented at that time, the magical world of AOL chatrooms, no longer exist!

So, we're taking a trip back to the late 90s, in the very early days of the internet, to talk to random strangers and take grainy pictures of ourselves with our shitty webcams!

Do you have any memories of AOL chat rooms, or clubbing from your own queer scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos!

You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/lostspacespod)

Find out more about J.P. by visiting his website https://jpderboghossian.com/, the Queer Armenian Library https://queerarmenianlibrary.com/ website or the podcast This Queer Book Saved My Life https://thisqueerbook.com/

Just, Bristol, England (with Jamie Jamal)

Lost Spaces: Memories from Gay Bars, Lesbian Clubs, and LGBTQ+ PartiesBy lost queer spacesAug 19, 2020