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Proud history
Longtime Park Slope gay bar
announces July 31 closure
BY COLIN MIXSON
They had a gay old time!
Park Slope’s top queer hangout will
close its doors on July 31 after 20 years
in the neighborhood.
Excelsior owners Richard Kennedy
and Mark Nayden announced the closure
of the Park Slope gay bar in a June
3 Facebook post , crediting community
pride for the watering hole’s longevity
— and rising rents for its closure.
“More than ever, rising costs, like
rent and taxes, make your neighborhood
bars and restaurants struggle every
day,” read the post signed by Kennedy
and Nayden. “Twenty years of
serving this community is something
we are proud of, and in this World Pride
Month we plan on celebrating each and
every day.”
The owners of the queer watering
hole between 15th and 16th streets had
been in negotiations with their landlord
since their lease expired in October,
but the only deal they could settle
on was accompanied by a meager oneyear
extension. Meanwhile, their liquor
license — which can only be renewed in
two-year intervals — is set to expire on
Aug. 1, and the prospect of spending
$10,000 for a permit that might become
obsolete within the year was what ultimately
led the pair to make the decision
to close, according to Nayden.
“It didn’t make sense to stretch it
out for the couple extra months, versus
spending the additional money on our
license,” he said.
And Nayden also admitted that
queer nightlife has changed in the last
two decades, saying the need for sanctuaries
catering exclusively to gay and
lesbian crowds has diminished as the
city at large becomes a more queerfriendly
place.
“The younger LGBTQ community
does nightlife differently than say a 40
year old and up,” Nayden said. “They
didn’t experience that same need for
a space only to themselves. They are
welcome in more places and that’s a
fantastic thing.”
Excelsior fi rst opened in 1999 at another
Fifth Avenue location between
Sixth and Seventh streets, where
Nayden and his partner offered gay
Park Slopers a small, intimate place to
gather, he said.
“In the old space, I used to say it’s an
extension of everyone’s’ living room, a
chance for people to relax and have conversations
and feel safe,” the barkeeper
explained.
The couple were forced to closed
that spot after a 15-year lease ran dry
in 2014, and Nayden recounted how
the property’s owner had agreed to a
fi ve-year lease extension, only to turn
GLORY DAYS: Excelsior bartender Christopher
Gino and patron Patrick Johnson reminisce
about the good old times as the bar
prepares to close July 31.
Photo by Stefano Giovannini
around and sell the place as the then
newly married business partners enjoyed
their honeymoon.
Excelsior’s loss was hard felt amid
Kings County’s gay community. Perennial
LGBT advocate and current mayoral
advisor Matthew McMorrow wrote
an impassioned editorial lamenting the
bar’s loss in Gay City News that year,
calling the bar’s 15-year run a remarkable
achievement for a queer saloon
that existed long before gay marriage.
“By just about any standard, 15
years is a short amount of time. But to
measure history by the life of a local
gay bar, it was a pretty remarkable 15
years,” wrote McMorrow. “When Excelsior
opened its doors, no state recognized
same-sex marriage. But that
didn’t stop gay people from falling in
love.”
Excelsior did not stay closed for
long, and within a year Kennedy and
Nayden had brought Excelsior to the
larger storefront located in a more affordable
part of town, where they’ve
offered the same live acts in a secondfl
oor space — including comedy, drag,
and music — they promise will keep
patrons entertained throughout Pride
Month and into July.
Nayden couldn’t say whether he
and Kennedy would consider opening
a third incarnation of Excelsior, but
suggested that 20 years of serving Park
Slope may be more than enough.
“We are not ready to make a decision
on that at this point, it’s a little to raw”
he said. “We adore the community and
we loved doing what we did, but it’s just
not correct to continue.”
Park Slope’s queer community is
still served by two other Fifth Avenue
watering holes, Ginger’s Bar located
between Fifth and Sixth Streets, and
Xstasy Bar and Lounge between 26th
and 27th streets.
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