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Meanwhile, Polk Street, where an explosion of gay bars began in the mid-1960s and continued through the 1990s, has only one sole survivor from that era, The Cinch. Two neighborhoods where gay nightlife thrived in the 1970s, the Castro and SoMa, are still home to the majority of San Francisco gay bars, and Oakland is home to what is likely the longest continuously operating gay bar in the country, The White Horse, which officially opened in 1933 at the end of Prohibition. All donations will go to help Nathan and Michale.Įarly reports indicate that the Lumber Yard Bar space is a total loss due to the heavy damage caused by the fire.While longtime queer spaces may be disappearing in San Francisco and other cities, queer people in most of America, including in the Bay Area, understand that actual, physical social spaces are still vital to the culture. Please consider partnering with White Center Pride and donate to help The Lumber Yard Bar recover from this devastating fire. The Lumber Yard Bar has been a passion project for Nathan Adams and Michale Farrar and has provided a safe gathering space for the LGBTQIA+ community since opening in 2017. Our community is heartbroken by the fire that destroyed The Lumber Yard Bar and affected multiple businesses in downtown White Center the night of July 4th, 2021. Since the news of the broke earlier today, an outpouring of both grief and support emerged on social media from patrons, performers and neighbors of the venue, which had been the only fully LGBTQ bar in that part of the city since the closure of the neighboring Swallow Bar across the street which closed permanently over a year ago due to the Covid-19 pandemic.įrom the bar’s resident drag performer, Dolly Madison:Ī number of GoFundMe fundraisers have been established including this one from White Center Pride to help owners Nathan Adams and Michale Farrar recover from this loss. Original reports indicated that it was believed fireworks being set off near the rear of the building might have started the blaze but since then investigators have released information that the fire originated on the lower level of The Lumber Yard Bar space. The bar was closed at that time and had apparently closed early on Sunday, July 4th due to a power outage in the area. Flames had also spread to the adjoining business Rat City Tattoo and other buildings in the area suffered fire, smoke, and water damage from battling the 2 alarm blaze which included fire units from King County Fire District 2 and Seattle Fire Department.
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Their reporter was able to visually confirm that firefighters were battling a blaze centered on The Lumber Yard Bar at 9619 16th Ave SW, the main stretch of the commercial district in the area known as White Center, an unincorporated part of King County adjacent to Seattle.
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Seattle’s LGBTQ community and the citizens of White Center and West Seattle woke up today to some horrible news an early morning fire severely damaged popular gay venue The Lumber Yard Bar and adjoining businesses.ġ:54 AM : Big Seattle Fire response for what’s described as a structure fire at 16th and Roxbury.