Steve Sklavounos

Abstract

Steve Sklavounous was born in Beverley in 1951 and was raised by his grandparents in the Brickyard Neighborhood of West Lynn. He is a 1970 graduate of Lynn Classical who worked at nurseries owned by his grandparents and later at the North Shore Council on Alcohol. Known as Steve “The Greek,” he is proud of his Greek heritage but notes that he grew up in an ethnic enclave of Greeks, Italians, and Poles. He learned his work ethic and grit from his grandmother, who put him to work in the family nursery while still in grammar school. He was first introduced to Fran’s place at age eight by his grandmother, who would go there to gamble. He describes Fran’s as a lesbian bar in the 1960s and 1970s and discusses many of the fights among patrons. He describes a horrific Thanksgiving episode in which her mother shot her father, for which she was sent to prison. He frequented many gay bars in Boston and Lynn, including The Lighthouse Cafe, Fran’s Place, Jacques, Mr. Dominic’s, 47 Central, Northern Lights, Tammany Hall, and Napoleons. He discusses the fears of AIDS in the 1980s and his activism to bring it more attention.