Property Sale to Doom Starlite, New York City's Oldest Black Gay Bar?

One of New York City's nightlife landmarks, and a rite of passage for many black LGBTs, may disappear. The Starlite Lounge is New York City's first black-owned gay bar, the oldest gay bar in Brooklyn and reportedly the oldest black gay bar in the United States. The bar may be forced to close following the sale of its building at the corner of Bergen Street and Nostrand Avenue, Gothamist reports.

The Starlite Lounge has been a Crown Heights fixture since the 1960s, serving gays and non-gays. In recent years, the venue has become a destination for neighborhood folks looking for a casual daytime hangout, as well as revelers who frequent the dance parties and karaoke nights, according to [Starlite Lounge manager Tim Leviticus]. "No one in the neighborhood is happy about it because this is the only place where they can come to relax," he added.

Starlite Lounge manager Tim Leviticus told Gothamist that the future of the watering hole at the corner of Bergen Street and Nostrand Avenue is uncertain at best. "Without us knowing, the old landlord sold the building — not even giving us the right to purchase it," he said. "We haven't met the new owner yet, but we've heard he wants the building to be empty."

The Starlite is an institution in Brooklyn's black gay community. When I first moved to New York City in 2000 and lived in Fort Greene, the bar was a few train stops away.  The drinks were strong, the music was killer and there was no telling who you 'd see there. Martha Wash might be sitting at the bar, singing a few bars. Andre Leon Talley and fashion models rubbed shoulders with neighborhood drag queens. Oh and always fierce neighborhood trade. In the late 1990s to mid 2000s, a trio of sisters tended bar at the Starlite. The Lenear Sisters opened their Bed-Stuy brownstone to black LGBT youth who needed a place to crash. Their weekend-long New Year's Eve parties were legendary.

The bar owners hope to landmark the building and save it. There is a petition circulating in Brooklyn and online.

Comments

[Face and Waist]

OMG

What memories!
Chile...I used to hang out there all day and night back in the day. Those sisters watched over the children like mother hens and hawks. The music and the trade was loooooow baby. SMH

God bless the Starlight. Its always the holes in the walls with the best drinks and fiercest music!

[Nathan James]

How sad. The Starlite was a haven for Bed-Stuy's black gay community (and it completely changed the way I looked at Bed-Stuy...LOL!). I hope the Starlite's owners and the landowners can work something out. It wouldn't be gay New York without the Starlite.

Chi-Chiz is the black gay fixture of the Village, but the Starlite symbolizes black gay BROOKLYN!

[BoNtheatl]

For the record, the Marquett Lounge on Hunter Street in Atlanta Georgia was and continues to be a gay bar. A check of the city directories has the bar on the west side of Atlanta before 1955. The owner the late Cliford Hunter was a gift to Atlanta African-American Community.

Keep in mind most bars have a "Gay" client(s), Most men will pick up a date in any bar.

[Honut SInti]

Reminds me of a similar fate of a 50 year old DC neighborhood bar--Nob Hill-- suffered years ago.

[Procrastination_Xtravaganza]

Wow, lemme get off the A one stop early and go sign this petition, I drunkenly skimmed the original email I received on this and thought it was about building repair shuttering Starlite for a while - now at work (sober!) I realize this is serious! This place has a reputation in my age group (mid-20s) of being a much older crowd, but I have some of the best memories of the place when I was barely legal LOL. Thanks for posting this Rod, hopefully people will act and help save Starlite, it's historic baby!