With their increased visibility, though, came increased violence, said Michael Harrington, president of the Rodde Center, Chicago`s gay and lesbian community center named for the slain bartender. The Lakeview area, now a bustling home to gay- and lesbian-owned businesses, was just beginning to take shape, he said, and gay men and lesbians were starting to congregate into social organizations. Riddle and Barnes said that keeping the space woman-owned and operated is “really important.Rodde`s death, one of three similar slayings of gay men at the time, occurred at a time when Chicago`s gay community was just starting to sink its roots, said Dewey Herrington, liaison to the gay and lesbian community for 44th Ward Ald.
Nobody’s Darling is now the only bar that caters to queer women in the Windy City. The other is Jeffrey Pub, a staple of Chicago’s gay nightlife since the 1960s that caters predominantly to men. by population, Nobody’s Darling is now one of two Black-owned gay bars. In Chicago, the third largest city in the U.S. While the exact cause is unclear, many bar owners say the closings were fueled by the gentrification and skyrocketing rent increases seen in cities across the U.S. Between 20, LGBTQ bar listings dropped by an estimated 37 percent, and those catering to queer women and people of color saw declines of 52 percent and 60 percent, respectively, according to the report. plunged from about 1,500 to 1,000, and a disproportionate number of those that closed were owned by women and people of color, according to a 2019 study by Oberlin College and Conservatory professor Greggor Mattson. Since the 1980s, the number of gay bars in the U.S. Assistant Manager Xavier Sumter pours out an A. who are women, and even fewer who are Black. “There’s something very bold about what we’re trying to do as two African American queer women, there’s something kind of going off of maybe a path that people think might be set for us,” she said, referring to the small number of gay bar owners in the U.S. Naming the bar and cocktails after famous Black writers, some of whom were also queer, felt like a way of paying homage to those who wrote about how “strong we can be and what we can do,” Barnes explained. They are considering a fourth cocktail to honor the gay Black writer James Baldwin. Walker Summer Martini, named after the novelist Alice Walker and the Jos Baker Manhattan, named after the famed civil rights activist Josephine Baker. Kincaid Daiquiri, named after the novelist Jamaica Kincaid A. Susanne FairfaxĪt least three of their cocktails are also inspired by famous intellectuals who were Black women: The J. Renauda Riddle, left, enjoys a Pink KItty cocktail while Angela Barnes makes a point with her Hibiscus Mimosa. “I was like ‘OK, yeah … we found the name,’” Riddle said. She shared it with Riddle, who “was ecstatic.” “Oh, my goodness, I love this,” Barnes recalled thinking. It felt like the perfect name for the space they wanted to create. For inspiration, Barnes, a corporate attorney, turned to her home library of books written by famous authors of color, and came across one of her favorite poems, “Be Nobody’s Darling,” Alice Walker’s ode to setting one’s own path unapologetically, regardless of being seen as uncool or an outcast, she said. These openings and reopenings come amid a broader trend of lesbian bars closing their doors since the 1980s.Īt first, Riddle and Barnes, who are Black and queer, struggled with what to call their new bar. Dave’s Lesbian Bar, a pop-up space for queer women in Queens, New York and Hershee Bar in Norfolk, Virginia, an iconic lesbian bar that will soon reopen after being shuttered for nearly three years. The cocktail lounge joins a handful of other new or soon-to-be opened bars for queer women across the country, including Herz in Mobile, Alabama As You Are Bar in Washington, D.C. “The energy as soon as you walk in the door, people say they feel that energy.
“We put our love into this bar, and people feel it,” Riddle, 41, said. The first night was “packed,” according to the owners, and business hasn’t slowed since. in the Andersonville section of Chicago - known informally as “Girlstown” for its once-booming lesbian community - in late May. Nobody’s Darling officially opened its doors at 1744 W. “That’s what we’ve been trying to create.” Nobody’s Darling, as it is now called, “is built to be welcoming,” Barnes, 52, told NBC News.