But the E Room was the only PDX lesbian bar I ever knew, and that holds true for most current local dykes.įast forward to 2010 when I’d been back in Portland for six years writing about the local queer community in some capacity, mostly with a blog I started at and then took independent in 2009 called qPDX. There were still several gay bars, that all-ages nightclub was still around, though with a different name in a different location, and there was a coffeeshop that unofficially catered to the gay lady. Lesbians in their 30s and 40s talk about a bar called Choices, but it was either closed or on the wane in popularity by the time I moved back.
In between 1995 and when I returned to Portland in 2004 it’s difficult to discern if there were any other lesbian bars open at the time. Owner Kim Davis recalled this time when “people threw eggs at the building and assaulted the women bouncers outside the door.” I wasn’t old enough to go to bars yet, but I was here and going to a gay dance club for the all ages set called The City, which was fraught with its own perils. There were no monthly dance parties bursting at the seams and taking up prime real estate at a major club on a Saturday night like there are today. The Egyptian Club, affectionately known as the E Room, opened in 1995 at the corner of 37th and Division. It happened here in stages, a half-hearted semi-loss that happens while you aren’t really looking until it becomes just one more thing that has changed Portland to the point of unrecognizability. Conflicted as we may be, we really feel the loss of our lesbian bars as they continue to be picked off one by one due to gentrification, domestication, assimilation etc. But when we heard it was closing last month a collective sigh weaved its way through the queer internet and the feeling of sadness permeated the west coast. Nobody I knew, from the Bay area or not, loved the Lexington over any other bar. In Autostraddle’s The State of the Lesbian Bar, we’re taking a look at lesbian bars around the country as the possibility of extinction looms ever closer.
Stag PDX This "unabashedly Pacific Northwest" gentleman's club often celebrates bodies that stray away from the classic Magic Mike image. There aren’t as many poles as the previous location, but there’s no shortage of sexy male dancers. It doesn’t look like much on the surface, because the real party is in the basement. Silverado The Pacific Northwest’s longest-operating male strip club moved in 2018, setting up shop next to the Star Theater in a former sports bar. Every June during Pride, Scandals shuts down their section of street for an epic block party. You can order food from the neighboring dive restaurant the Roxy and bring it over. Scandals features pool tables, a sidewalk patio, trivia, viewing parties, karaoke, and monthly live jazz. Scandals At 40 years young, Scandals is among Portland’s longest-running LGBTQ+ bars and is the last vestige of downtown’s long-gone Vaseline Alley gay district. It’s technically in the Pearl District but is an easy walk from the Old Town gay bars.
#GAY BARS PORTLAND OREGON TV#
Santé Bar A piano bar offering cocktails, live jazz, TV musical viewing parties, and open mics with everything from storytelling and poetry to live music. Status: Open for takeout, delivery, and dine-in While it shows LGBTQ+ artwork and serves brunch and tasting parties for restaurant pop-ups, Local Lounge has an unpretentious atmosphere with $1 tacos.
#GAY BARS PORTLAND OREGON FULL#
Local Lounge This is a neighborhood bar with a calendar full of drag revues, variety shows, karaoke nights, and dance parties. Escape is probably the closest thing Portland has to a full-time lesbian bar, though it welcomes anyone who wants to have a good time. Status: Open for dine-inĮscape Bar & Grill Escape Bar & Grill serves the LGBTQ+ community and friends closest to I-205 with pool, karaoke, games, and a full menu. Eagle This North Portland gay bar has pool, a covered smoking patio, and no-frills drinks, and primarily appeals to gay men who like Tom of Finland and Robert Mapplethorpe, if you know what I mean.