Some have attributed the decline to the boom of the Internet, where LGBTQ+ young people are more easily able to find a community than in decades past, or more widespread acceptance of gay people in mainstream society.Įven 15 years ago when Sisters Bar closed, Audrey Luce, who had then been a bartender at Sisters since its opening in 1995, told the Phoenix she attributed its declining numbers to the changing community.įormer patrons of the bar at that time, she said, were buying houses and having kids, and the younger generation was having a different experience than their older counterparts. According to a 2019 study, the United States had 1,500 gay bars in 1980 and fewer than 1,000 at the end of the last decade. The late 1980s and 1990s were the heyday of Portland’s gay bar scene, which featured talented pianists like Charlie Grindle playing at the Underground, the Phoenix, and Blackstones in its early days.īlackstones is also one of Maine’s only remaining gay bars at a time when the establishments are dwindling nationwide. Lesbian bars also existed, including the Danforth Street spot Sisters Bar, which closed in 2005. The city once had other popular gay establishments, most recently Styxx (formerly the Underground) night club, which was open on Spring Street for 30 years before closing in 2016. establishment.īlackstones has been a West End fixture since 1987 Pekins bought it in 2014. (Portland Phoenix/Elizabeth Clemente)Īlthough the money underscores the affinity many people have for Blackstones, others have criticized the bar in recent weeks, claiming management has not done enough to prevent racism and other problems at the 6 Pine St.
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“I’m genuinely humbled by it and I don’t quite know how to thank people yet.” Blackstones at 6 Pine St., near Longfellow Square, is Portland’s last remaining gay bar and one of the only ones in Maine at a time when the establishments are also declining nationally.
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“We hoped to get $10,000 and the fact that we hit $25,000 in 10 days, I’m kind of not shocked – and shocked,” Currie said recently. But less than two weeks after he created a GoFundMe page asking neighbors to help save Portland’s last gay bar, they had raised enough in pledges to survive the winter.
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He said the decision was a difficult one that he and Pekins tried to avoid, and that it made him uncomfortable. The coronavirus pandemic has left many local bar owners without a path forward, and reality set in for Blackstones manager Carl Currie last month.Ĭurrie had just come out of a staff meeting with bar owner Matt Pekins where they decided they would have to ask the community for money to stay afloat until spring.