"You could walk among the crowds and at least vicariously share in the excitement," Mr. Jackson said, adding that in winter during the 1930's unemployed men gathered at volunteer firehouses, bars and the headquarters of the local ward bosses.
There are six just in Derby and neighboring Shelton, where three out of the four firehouses have bars.
This was one of the few places to dance and it was a real dance hall -- not a V.F.W. hall or a firehouse or a bar.
The Firehouse Restaurant and Bar was converted from Hope Station, the oldest standing firehouse in the city.
The attraction, besides the cold San Miguel beers and the friendly hostesses, was that the Firehouse was the only bar on the strip with a video screen.
And it doesn't address maintaining a bar in a firehouse.
She says that firefighters remain faithful to their bars, and that once a bar becomes a firehouse favorite, the tradition lasts for generations.
The high point comes when Anthony, on his first "date" with Victor, brings some of his macho firehouse buddies to a gay bar.
By 8 p.m., every seat at the 42-foot bar, in a renovated 1890s firehouse, was taken, and Kentucky-made whiskey was flowing freely.
The actions came after recent violence at a Staten Island engine company, where alcohol may have been involved, and a previously undisclosed case in September in which a lieutenant and two firefighters from another firehouse were caught drinking in a Manhattan bar, in uniform and on duty, while their fire truck was parked outside, department officials said.
