Jetset bar minneapolis mn
That's a good thing. Jetset, the North Loop gay bar Kirihara opened with business partner Susan Liesch inmade it longer than a lot of bars, closing in a blaze of Madonna and Mariah Carey in after their landlord sold the building at N. First St. After years of searching, Jetset landed a lease in another storied space: the subterranean address on E.
Hennepin Avenue that was home to the beloved nightclub Honey for more than a decade. Jetset Underground opens this Wednesday. LUSH, which closed abruptly and unceremoniously inis also back, operating at the same address but with a new group of co-owners that includes media personality Jason Matheson and Jared Lawrence, a.
Gay bars once played a significant role in queer communities; they were where people met, communed, danced, drank, laughed, shot pool, watched music videos, cried. As rents have skyrocketed, cities have gentrified, and social media and dating apps made it easier than ever to physically and emotionally connect, the number of queer bars has dwindled to near-historic lows.
You can just about count the number in the Twin Cities on one hand.
Minneapolis Has Two New Gay Bars. That Are Also Old Gay Bars. (We’ll Explain.)
The recent return of these two Minneapolis institutions mirrors an emerging movement around the country. From Los Angeles to D. More popped up after the war was over—and for a long time, these minneapolis the main meeting places where queer people could come together and socialize.
But that these spaces existed, and were semi-public, did not mean that their patrons were necessarily safe, either from bigoted passersby or from the police. There was still jetset very real threat of arrest, of being evicted or fired if your sexuality came to light, and of physical violence. And the bartenders had whistles around their necks.
That way when the cops came in it was just a normal bar and everyone was sitting together. Cops leave—back to it. Gay bars like The 19 in Loring Park, which has been open for 70 years and remains a wonderful watering hole for darts and pool to this day, were dark and unassuming. No Pride flags would have flown outside; discretion was, in those early days, the name of the game.
Over time, as laws changed and social attitudes shifted, that started to evolve. The Washington Postciting research by Oberlin College professor Greggor Mattson, reports bar the number started its decline in the s. And the dropoff was steep. At the tail end of that era, the Twin Cities lost several of its remaining holdouts in short succession.
Paul and second-oldest in the Twin Cities, which shuttered that same summer. And then induring Pride weekend, LUSH shut down suddenlywith its former owners informing workers of their unemployed status via Facebook. Is that it? Factors were varied: gentrification, the changing landscape of U. Some bars, like Town House, held on for decades; their owners were ready to ride off into that proverbial sunset.