For more than three decades, Club Hippo was Baltimore’s heart of queer nightlife — a place where drag queens, dancers, and dreamers came together under its glowing pink neon sign to move, mingle, and feel free. Opened in 1972, it quickly became a cornerstone of the city’s LGBTQ community, famous for its themed nights, disco floor, and welcoming mix of everyone from leather guys to college kids.
With its motto — “Where Everyone is Welcome” — Hippo offered a rare kind of joy: unapologetic, diverse, and defiantly local. It wasn’t just a nightclub, it was a second home, a safe haven that defined generations of Baltimore’s queer identity.
