“You would go to a gay bar and there’d be no windows. There was a door on the back you’d have to go in and there’d be a special knock or something. It was ridiculous.”
Mark Howard’s memory of the LGBT bars and clubs of 20 years ago starkly contrasts the vision he and his fellow co-owners have for their restaurant Bliss/ReBar’s new bar and dance club. Opposed to being exclusive and secretive, their reactivation of the dance club at the old space of previous LGBT bar and club Amsterdam will welcome all.
The proprietors of downtown restaurant Bliss/ReBar bought the property and assets of Amsterdam, located near Central Avenue and Pierce Street, after it closed Aug. 17.
Amsterdam closed after 15 years in the nightlife scene. A new bar and dance club is set to launch at the property on the weekend of Oct. 18.
“I think Amsterdam was a great space, and it still was a great space toward the end of its run,” said Jackson Kelly, one of Bliss/ReBar’s owners and a former Amsterdam bartender. “It’s time for somebody to come in and update it a little bit, which will be us. We’re excited for that.”
Phoenix LGBT activist Grant Miller said he believes the city’s growing sprawl could have influenced Amsterdam’s decision to close its doors.
“There is no gay neighborhood or any other kind of themed neighborhood. It’s all very dispersed,” Miller said. “The lack of density makes it a struggle for places like Amsterdam to hold a loyal clientele.”
Both Kelly and Howard said they see a niche for downtown dance clubs that needs to be filled.
“When you think of nightclubs or nightlife, a lot of people think Mill Avenue or Old Town Scottsdale,” Kelly said. “I think until recently downtown Phoenix has always been lagging in that department.”
“It’s time for something downtown that’s really welcome to a diverse community, that’s a hotspot,” Howard said.
However, the two owners also believe there’s opportunity in the open-mindedness and diversity of the downtown community that’s not offered in the other nightlife hot spots in Scottsdale and Tempe.
“I don’t mean to dog Scottsdale or to dog Mill Avenue, but they have a certain kind of motif about what kind of people go there,” Kelly said. “In downtown Phoenix, we have the opportunity to cater to a lot of different groups.”
Howard said it’s not uncommon to walk into his Bliss/ReBar and see many groups of people enjoying Sunday brunch, be they family, ASU students or a group of LGBT friends.
“Bliss/ReBar tends to be that space that is very welcoming and opening to all communities,” Howard said. “They’re not going to be judged. They’re not going to be thrown out. They’re not going to be looked at in an odd way.”
While both Kelly and Howard said they have worked hard to make Bliss/ReBar and the new club welcoming and inclusive, they don’t feel that the term “gay bar” or “LGBT club” fully describes either place.
“It is 2013 and progress happens slowly, but it does happen,” Kelly said. “We’re not here to change anybody or to make a statement or to raise a rainbow flag. But we are here to support diversity.”
From an activist standpoint, Miller said places that once exclusively operated as LGBT bars or clubs are loosening their roles and are having a less serious impact in the LGBT community.
“On a basic level it provides points of coalescence, where larger groups of the LGBT population can gather on the weekends,” Miller said. “They can only provide so much cohesion. If we are going to progress and be recognized as equal we’re going to have to come together to unite outside of bars.”
Kelly and Howard, while proud of the welcoming environment and support for diversity at Bliss/ReBar, don’t see it as their only accomplishment.
“I don’t want it to sound like we’re shying away from the term ‘gay club’ or ‘LGBT club.’ I just think it has a very different connotation today and very different connotation downtown,” Howard said. “We’re here to provide a great service, a great atmosphere and great product to a large, large community of people who want it.”
Kelly said improving and giving back to the local community is another goal of theirs, whether that’s through the $30,000 they’ve given to nonprofits raised via events and donations or through the taxes that will help to continue to build downtown.
“It’s different down here. It’s probably why we have the majority of our restaurants and our concepts down here,” Howard said. “We love this atmosphere and we love the people who love this atmosphere.”
Contact the reporter at ascoville@asu.edu
