When Kendall Swirles first turned 21, her older friends urged her to check out Franky Bradley’s. Within one visit, Swirles knew this was the bar for her and quickly gathered the rest of her friends to turn this visit into a weekly endeavor.
Eventually, Swirles’ Frankey Bradley’s habit got out of hand. Her and her friend’s unwillingness to explore other watering holes begged light-hearted intervention.
“We just had a press call, like a group conference about how we need to branch out because we only go there,” said Swirles, a senior community development major. “Just the vibe that is curated is so incredibly good.”
Franky Bradley’s, located in the heart of Philadelphia’s Gayborhood on Chancellor Street near Juniper, is a booming nightlife hub catering to all ends of the LGBTQ spectrum alongside a consistent heterosexual customer base. Temple students, along with other 20-somethings in the city, flock to their disco-themed rooms weekly for a night almost assured to be a positive experience.
Their whimsical interior, accompanied by talented DJ sets, burlesque performances, drag shows and lively dance floors, caters to every individual who walks through their doors — so long as they’re willing to embrace its quirkiness.
“The rooms are really crazy because every time I go in one it’s a different vibe in there,” Swirles said. “And [my friends and I] all kind of find something that we love in it, whether it’s the music or we’re talking to a random person.”
Described as a “house of the weird” by manager Davy Morreale, the bar-and-club duo features three rooms with bars and seating on the ground floor, along with two dance floors and another bar tucked between them on the top level.
Morreale has been with Franky Bradley’s since its opening in 2015, and his passion for the establishment has only grown during the years. As general manager, he played a key role in the expansion to B. West, a club addition that joined the original building in 2022.
Attention to the particular is the primary method bar management uses to set Franky’s apart from other Philly bars.
“The devil’s in the details,” Morreale said.
Franky’s isn’t a gay or straight bar, he added. It’s rather an open-ended space hosting an array of events for every audience.
“Even St. Patrick’s Day, I think we had a Lady Gaga drag show in here, a Robin Williams burlesque show upstairs, an Irish band playing in the B. West club, and then that was even before we went into club mode,” Morreale said.
Managing six bars in one establishment and producing multiple shows at the same time is no easy feat, but Morreale credits his staff for cultivating a hard-working and supportive community that makes the work fly by easier.
Andrew Compaine, a DJ and sound tech that has been with Franky’s since their opening in 2015, was drawn to the venue for its versatility and opportunities. His roles at the venue allow him to differentiate different sonic identities each dance room has. Compaine colloquially defines the main dance room as the “straight room” and the B. West dance room as the “gay room.”
The main dance floor, located in the original Franky’s building, holds a larger number of dancers and plays more mainstream music, such as the top 40 hit remix, Compaine said. The other dance room in B. West is a bit more off-the-beaten-path and plays more EDM and house music.
“Franky’s sort of developed prior to B. West opening,” Compaine said. “It developed a straight clientele, I think, incidentally, because of maybe, college kids. So B. West is supposed to be the more intentionally queer part of the project.”
While not a part of the LGBTQ community herself, Swirles’ friend group is comprised of both hetero and homosexual identities. Franky’s offers them a safe space where no matter the identity, the overarching aim is to ensure everyone is having a positive and safe club experience, she said.
Morreale echoed the same sentiment and said Franky’s clientele is not intended for one identity, but for anyone who honors their intention to create a safe space for queer identities and beyond.
“As long as you are welcoming and kind and safe and like you’re open to everything, it’s a safe space for everybody,” Morreale said. “It boils down to the exact same thing. We said this when we were first about to open 10 years ago, or more than that now, and we have never veered away from that.”
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