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.