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Although new to the Portland community, Hawks PDX has already been making contributions and supporting Gay-positive non-profit organizations and events including the following:

     Oregon Bears: www.oregonbears.org

     Oregon Safe Schools and Communities Coalition: www.oregonsafeschools.org

     Broadway Bears: www.broadwaybears.org

     Our House / Esther's Pantry: www.ourhouseofportland.org

     Imperial Sovereign Rose Court: www.rosecourt.org

     Pride of the Rose Scholarship Fund: www.equityfoundation.org/scholarships

     Blackout Leather Productions of Oregon: www.blackoutleather.org

     Northwest Sash Bash 2012: www.nwsashbash.org

     Bradley Angle (Domestic Violence programs): www.bradleyangle.org

     Pride NW: http://www.pridenw.org/

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Randy Lange and Michael Morse, owners of Hawks Gym, The Rack, and The Onyx Theatre in Las Vegas, and Hawks PDX in Portland are the subject of 3 revealing articles reprinted from QVegas magazine.

  • Diamonds In The Desert

    It is my belief that to have a successful business, there are numerous qualities and characteristics one should have. Knowledge of business and a personable personality are among those qualities. Having visited with Randy and Mike, owners of Hawks Gym and The Rack, it is clear they both possess those qualities and much more. It is rare for a woman to enter into the depths of Hawks Gym, but I was given that chance the other day. As one of the only gay owned and operated businesses in the Las Vegas Valley, Hawks Gym is both a gym and a private men’s social club dedicated to meeting the needs of gay and bisexual men. An estimated 150-180 towels are used on any given weekend and membership is high, with 1300 active members. Randy and Mike met four years ago at the now closed Wet Lizard. They moved to Salt Lake City, UT and promptly realized it was not the town for them. After returning to Las Vegas, with the help of Mike’s mother who passed away this year, they opened Hawks Gym on August 31, 2002. They celebrated their two year anniversary with a party that began at 8pm and continued on through the night, giving away $1000.00 worth of prizes, food, discounted lockers and private dressing rooms.

     

     

    Hawks Gym has a total of 23 private dressing rooms and 64 lockers. Up front, there is clean semi-large room that is called the smoking lounge, with a couch and TV. Just outside the smoking lounge stands the workout equipment, which they intend on adding to in the near future. Further into the club, there is a shower room, where they layed the tile themselves, an aerobics room, a meditation room, which can hold up to 20 men, a large clean room that has free billiards, darts and snacks in a vending machine, a gymnastic room, which includes a ballet bar and mirror and a few other rooms Each dressing room is equipped with a TV that shows various movies and videos. Having never been in a men’s social club, I asked Mike what the dressing rooms were for,”It is a place where they can dress and undress, dress and undress over and over again” He laughs as he explains it to me.

     

     

    They both tell me that they provide a safe and clean haven for those that seek one. Walking through the club, listening to them talk and banter with me and each other, I’d have to agree wholeheartedly. Up front, you can purchase various soft drinks, water (no drugs or alcoholic beverages are allowed) and other items, like body jewelry and massage oil. These items and more eclectic ones can also be found at The Rack, located just next door to Hawks Gym.

     

     

    After seeing the club and visiting their newest room, my personal favorite, a 1200 foot dungeon which will include a St. Andrews Cross, a 7 foot spider web of chain, spanking bench, bathroom with 2 showers and a locker area, we spoke briefly about the new addition. The dungeon will be accessible to both men and women, private parties and other special occasions. They hope to have it open by the anniversary party.

     

     

    Randy and Mike are two people that are personable, fun loving and witty. They employ between 10-12 gay men and currently have one transsexual, Blair, who is the assistant manager. They call her “the hostess with the mostest.” They are two of the most accepting and tolerant men I have ever met. They continuously give back to their community, through donations to various charities as well as helping surrounding businesses and organizations. They are true diamonds in the desert.

  • Small Business Of The Year

    To the untrained eye, Hawk’s gym- a private men’s social club- and The Rack- a leather and fetish-wear store seem to only appeal to a small portion of the LGBT community. Co-owner Randy Lange disagrees. The Rack, which opened three years ago, recently added the community Onyx Theater. “We {he and his partner of five years, Michael Morse} had an extra 3,000 feet,” Lange says. “We thought a community theater was a great idea.” Indeed, the Onyx Theater has hosted The Centers talent show and will host NeonFest, the upcoming Las Vegas LGBT film festival.

     

     

     

    Likewise, Hawk’s Gym offers more than people think. “I like it because it’s not what everybody thinks it is,” Lange says. “People gather and just hang out, which is what we had in mind.”

     

     

     

    Lange and Morse create a fun and relaxed atmosphere at Hawk’s Gym for guests. Non-adult themed movies are shown. People can also play pool and relax in the recently added sauna and steam room. And the environment is kept very clean. “People have said that it’s probably the cleanest club in the nation,” Lang says. “We hear it from all over.” And although their work between The Rack and Hawk’s gym keep them busy most of the time, they still try to be as active within the community as possible. They give to charities and organizations like the St. Therese Center and The Center. And the happy pair has also started doing work with the Sin City Sisters.

     

     

     

    The Rack and Hawk’s Gym are both located within the Commercial Center (953 E. Sahara Ave., Las Vegas)

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Coming Back Full Circle

    Whether through financial contributions or donating the space of their new community theater, Michael Morse and Randy Lange have given the Las Vegas LGBT community more than it ever could have bargained for.They host a yearly talent show for the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada (on top of donating countless dollars and a new sign to the LGBT resource hub). They host monthly NeonFest mini screenings, as well as putting on community theater productions. And they have donated much-needed funds to the St.Therese Center.

     

     

     

    The St. Therese Center, in particular, has been an entity the couple has supported for years. The non-profit HIV / AIDS support organization was instrumental in helping Lange and Morse-who have been HIV-positive for 15- and 23 years, respectively-since they moved to town. “We probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them,” Lange says. “I remember getting clothes from St. Therese Center, Father Joseph has always been there for us,” Morse adds.

     

     

     

    Patronizing gay businesses is also something the pair feels strongly about. “Because people don’t want to deal with the traffic and the parking, businesses are suffering and they’re closing. We’ve lost that many more businesses because of that. People need to be made aware of that,” Morse says. “It’s all about giving back and making sure that people are OK-that they’re surviving.”

     

    Giving back to the community has always been important to Morse and Lange, who have been together for six years. Lange, who has volunteered since he was 15, gave up his time and energy whenever possible. “I don’t have the time, but have a little bit of money now that I can give back,” Lange says. “Everything you give out comes back full circle. The community is what made us. If we don’t give back, we don’t get,” Morse adds.

     

     

     

    One thing the couple gets frustrated about is the people in the community that take and don’t give anything back. “We see it in the community all the time,” Lange says. Morse feels that the lack of community involvement can be chalked up to Las Vegas being a very repressed society. “This is a very homophobic environment,” Morse says. “Sin City? Bullshit! Show me the sin. We try our best to provide as much sin a possible, but two men can only do so much {laughs}.”

     

     

     

    Lange and Morse would love to see The Center and St Therese Center move into their own buildings and to have their own space. “If anybody’s out there and you’re rich and you’re about to die, those are two organizations to leave your wealth to,” Morse says. “Seriously.”