The Phase

Cosmic balance returned to Barracks Row two weeks ago when the Phase 1 Bar and Nightclub was reopened after three months of  renovation. Founded in 1970, “The Phase” is said to be the oldest continually operating lesbian bar in the USA and the oldest LGBT bar in the Nation’s Capital. That’s pretty amazing, since America’s lesbian bars are an endangered species.

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Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-l8v

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Endangered Species: Lesbian Bars

“’West Hollywood does not have a lesbian bar anymore. Philadelphia doesn’t have one. Houston doesn’t have one, and I could go on and on,’ Clements [playwright and journalist Alexis Clements] explains. She noted the decline of lesbian and feminist venues of all sorts. ‘That ranges from feminist bookstores, to bars, to arts organizations. All of these spaces are kind of going through a variety of different struggles that in some way are similar.’

In response to this decline, Clements re-adjusted her original theater tour, and will now be combining play readings with documenting some of the remaining lesbian spaces.

But Clements notes these struggles may actually reflect positive changes — people don’t need a lesbian bar as a refuge, because the culture at large is more accepting.”

— “The disappearance of lesbian bars may signal change,” Deena Prichep, Marketplace.org

The theater tour didn’t include Washington’s Phase 1 on Barracks Row, said to be the oldest continually operating lesbian bar in the USA, but Ms. Clements tells us she hopes to show the completed film there.

More:

“Unknown Play Project – Documentary Film,” Alexis Clements, Hatchfund.org

Unknown Play Project website

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Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-jPe

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.