there are 36 lesbian bars left in america. here is every one of them

There are 36 lesbian bars left in America. In the late 1980s there were about 200. By 2019, sociologist Greggor Mattson could count 15. Then something rare happened: the number went back up. The Lesbian Bar Project, which launched in 2020 after NBC News counted 16, now lists 36, and the bars below are the ones still pouring this month, checked one by one. Two on that list have closed, I have added four newer bars, and I have mapped all of it. Gays, these are our sisters' bars. Go spend money in them.

Last updated: October 2026

Photo: Cubbyhole in the West Village, by Jim.henderson via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, taken in 2021.

how many lesbian bars are left in the us?

36, by our count in October 2026. We started from the Lesbian Bar Project's list of 36, took out The Ruby Fruit in Los Angeles and The Pearl in Denver, which have both closed, and added Val's in Philadelphia, which opened in March, and Q-Hall in Asheville, North Carolina, which is now open, plus two queer women-owned women's sports bars, Blazers in Brooklyn and Untamed Spirits in Los Angeles. Two more on their list, Frankie's in Oklahoma City and Honey's at Star Love in Los Angeles, we could not confirm as open with a current address this month, so they are not in the count. If you know either is pouring, tell us and they go back in. By state: New York has seven, California has six, Massachusetts has three. In 10 states (Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin), the bar on this page is the only one, and 33 states have none on it at all.

the northeast

The most bars: six in New York City alone, plus the newest bar in the country in Philadelphia and three in Massachusetts.

Cubbyhole

281 West 12th StreetWest Village, New York

Open under the Cubbyhole name since 1994 on the corner of West 4th and West 12th, owned by Lisa Menichino. Its own line is the friendly neighborhood bar for all.

Henrietta Hudson

438 Hudson StreetWest Village, New York

Founded in 1991 by Lisa Cannistraci, and it still signs its Instagram #builtbydykes. These days it bills itself as a queer human bar, open late Wednesday through Sunday, on the Hudson Street corner it has held for 35 years.

Ginger's

363 5th AvenuePark Slope, Brooklyn

An Irish dive with a pool table in Park Slope, owned by Sheila Frayne and, per its own Instagram, queer and Irish owned since 2000. This May it canceled most of its Pride DJ nights after dozens of noise complaints from neighbors, which tells you it is still loud enough to matter.

The Bush

333 Troutman StreetBushwick, Brooklyn

Its own tagline is a dyke bar for the queers, and it means it. Co-founders Justine LaViolette and Nikke Alleyne run it, and it is open Tuesday through Sunday, 21 and up.

Boyfriend Co-op

1157 Myrtle AvenueBushwick, Brooklyn

A worker-owned coffee and cocktail co-op for gay gals and their pals, open from 7am, so it is the only bar on this list where you can get an oat latte and a negroni without changing seats. It opened in spring 2025.

Blazers Sports Bar

308 Bedford AvenueWilliamsburg, Brooklyn

A women's sports bar on Bedford Avenue that opened in December 2025, and its own Instagram calls it queer women-owned. Founders Caroline Kane, Debany Dávila and Chandler Robertson met on Hinge, which is the most Brooklyn origin story on this page. It bills itself as a sports bar first, but Robertson told Punch that if someone calls it a queer bar, they do not correct them.

Unicorn Bar

224 Foxhall AvenueKingston, New York

A queer performance venue and bar in the Hudson Valley, opened in 2024 by musician and event organizer Francesca Hoffman in the old Beverly Lounge. This week's calendar includes a queer classics book club, which is the upstate version of a big night out.

Val's Lesbian Bar

605 South 3rd StreetQueen Village, Philadelphia

The newest bar here. Val's opened on March 18, 2026, and PhillyVoice called it the first lesbian bar in the city since 2021. Its own description: a bar for lesbians, friends and lovers. Not on the Lesbian Bar Project's list yet.

Dani's Queer Bar

909 Boylston StreetBack Bay, Boston

Founded by Thais Rocha, who ran the Sapphic Nights parties, and opened in September 2024 in the old Pour House. Boston Magazine named it the best new nightlife venue of 2025, and its Instagram calls it Boston's only queer bar.

Femme

62 Green StreetCanal District, Worcester

Owned by married couple Danielle Spring and Julie Toupin, open since March 2023, and billing itself as New England's first modern day lesbian bar.

Last Ditch

10 Fiske AvenueGreenfield, Massachusetts

A lesbian bar, rental venue and community center in Greenfield, in western Massachusetts, opened in 2025 on the licenses of the old 10 Forward. It spent September in the news over its mask policy, which we covered here, and it is still open. Go and buy a drink. That is the whole ask.

dc and the south

Two in DC, then one per city across the South, most of them the only lesbian bar for hundreds of miles. Several have been open for decades.

A League of Her Own

2319 18th Street NWAdams Morgan, Washington

Opened in August 2018 by David Perruzza, right next door to his gay sports bar Pitchers, so a mixed night out in Adams Morgan is one wall apart. This month, The Advocate reported Perruzza is bringing in a business partner to help preserve it.

As You Are

500 8th Street SEBarracks Row, Washington

Opened in March 2022 by Jo McDaniel and Rachel Pike on Barracks Row, a few blocks from the Capitol. Its own pitch: a queer safe space with women's sports and dance parties, open until 3am on weekends.

Babes of Carytown

3166 West Cary StreetCarytown, Richmond

Vicky Hester ran Babes for 47 years and died in September 2025 at 71. This September, Richmond named the block beside the bar Vicky Hester Way. Babes calls itself the oldest lesbian bar on the East Coast and Richmond's everyone bar, and it is still booking shows.

Arcana

331 West Main StreetDowntown Durham

Founded in December 2015 by Erin Karcher and Lindsey Andrews, and ten years old last December. The entrance is around the back, which is the most lesbian bar thing on this entire page. Call them for the accessible entrance.

Q-Hall

81 Coxe AvenueAsheville, North Carolina

Founded by JJ Pope, who told Blue Ridge Public Radio that Asheville did not have a lesbian bar, and that the last one, Club Hairspray, closed in the early 2000s. It bills itself as the women's sports bar of the Carolinas, with women's games on every screen, and the Charlotte Observer calls it Asheville's only self-identified lesbian bar. That makes two in North Carolina, with Arcana.

My Sister's Room

1104 Crescent Avenue NEMidtown, Atlanta

Opened in 1996 and threw its 30th birthday party this August. It calls itself the longest-running lesbian-queer bar in the South. Ignore the old Decatur address you will find online.

The Lipstick Lounge

1400 Woodland StreetEast Nashville

Open since 2002 and owned by Christa Suppan and Jonda Valentine. It is a karaoke bar first, every night of the week, and it lists four Best of Nashville wins since 2021. In a town full of people who sing for a living, that is a real title.

Sue Ellen's

3014 Throckmorton StreetOak Lawn, Dallas

Opened on January 19, 1989, created by Kathy Jack, and the oldest lesbian bar in Texas by its own count, on the Cedar Springs strip.

Pearl Bar

2811 Washington AvenueWashington Avenue, Houston

Founded in 2013 by Julie Mabry, who bills it as the world's largest lesbian bar, and it moved down Washington Avenue to a new building in June 2026. Ignore the old 4216 address on older listings. The VIP sections are bookable, because Texas.

Yellow Brick Road Pub

2630 East 15th StreetCherry Street, Tulsa

A neighborhood pub under this name since 2000. It burned in an accidental electrical fire in July 2022 and reopened, and it is the only bar on this list in Oklahoma. No website, so call before you go.

the midwest

Six bars across five states, from a James Beard finalist to a college-town dive down an alley.

Dorothy

2500 West Chicago Avenue (lower level)Ukrainian Village, Chicago

A lesbian cocktail lounge for every friend of Dorothy, in its own words, through a red door and down the stairs. Owners Zoe Schor and Whitney LaMora opened it in 2020, lost it to the pandemic and reopened in 2022, and this year opened Fathom in Lakeview, too.

Nobody's Darling

1744 West Balmoral AvenueAndersonville, Chicago

A Black women-owned queer cocktail bar named after an Alice Walker poem, and a James Beard finalist for Outstanding Bar Program in 2022. It also runs a book club. This is the bar to take somebody you are trying to impress.

Walker's Pint

818 South 2nd StreetWalker's Point, Milwaukee

Opened in 2001 by owner Bet-Z Boenning under the house rule Be Nice or Leave, and the only lesbian bar in Wisconsin, per WUWM this June.

Slammers

202 East Long StreetDowntown Columbus

Open since August 1993 in downtown Columbus. Its Instagram bio still says it is one of 21 remaining lesbian bars in the US, a number that has since gone up, which may be the only good statistic on this page.

Home Base Tavern

2401 Vine StreetClifton Heights, Cincinnati

A Clifton dive that Cincinnati CityBeat called, in June, the only lesbian-focused bar left in the Cincinnati area. Order the house shot, the Waapow, and ask no questions.

The Back Door

207 South College AvenueDowntown Bloomington, Indiana

Opened on Valentine's Day 2013 by Olive Lykins and Sara Gardner, down the alley behind the Atlas Bar. It calls itself your local queer bar, with trivia, drag and line dancing, in a college town in a state that has not made any of that easy.

the west

Four in San Francisco, one in each of five other cities, and the oldest bar on this list.

Boycott Bar

4301 North 7th AvenueMelrose District, Phoenix

Founder Audrey Corley started it as a roaming party and gave it a permanent home on Seventh Avenue in 2017. It calls itself Phoenix's lesbian and LGBTQ+ bar, open Tuesday through Sunday.

Gossip Grill

1220 University AvenueHillcrest, San Diego

Open since 2009, owned by Moe Girton, and a women-forward safe space in the middle of Hillcrest.

Untamed Spirits

3715 Evans Street WestSilver Lake, Los Angeles

Opened in June 2025 by Stephanie Ellingwood and Janie Trinh, and Los Angeles' first women's sports bar by its own count and Time Out's, which also calls it queer- and women-owned. There is a monthly sapphic trivia night, and it opened in Silver Lake five months after The Ruby Fruit closed there (it is below, under gone too soon).

Jolene's

2700 16th StreetMission, San Francisco

Opened in December 2018 and describes itself as San Francisco's sapphic-centric queer bar. Open Thursday to Saturday nights, with a queer pool tournament on the calendar.

Mother

3079 16th StreetMission, San Francisco

Owned by Malia Spanyol, who also runs Thee Parkside, and in its own words dyke of center, all queers welcome. It is on the same street as Jolene's, which makes 16th Street the closest thing America has to a lesbian bar crawl.

Wild Side West

424 Cortland AvenueBernal Heights, San Francisco

The oldest bar on this list. Pat Ramseyer and Nancy White founded it in Oakland in 1962, named it after the film Walk on the Wild Side, and later moved it to Bernal Heights. Billie Hayes owns it now. Open 2pm to 2am.

Scarlet Fox

1690 Hayes StreetNoPa, San Francisco

A lesbian-owned wine bar run by married couple Kate Maeder and Kaela Miller in what used to be the Hayes Street Laundry. San Francisco has four bars on this list, and this is the quiet one.

Wildrose

1021 East Pike StreetCapitol Hill, Seattle

Seattle's lesbian bar since New Year's Eve 1984. For its 40th, the city proclaimed December 31 Wildrose Day. Wildrose calls itself the oldest lesbian bar in the US, and Wild Side West, above, would like a word.

The Sports Bra

2512 NE BroadwayPortland

The world's first sports bar devoted entirely to women's sports, opened by Jenny Nguyen, and on the Lesbian Bar Project's list. It announced a Boston location on October 13, so it is the only bar here that is expanding rather than surviving.

what is the oldest lesbian bar in america?

It depends who you ask, and both of them are on this page. Wild Side West was founded in Oakland in 1962 before it moved to San Francisco, which makes it the oldest of the bars here. Wildrose in Seattle, open since 1984, calls itself the oldest lesbian bar in the US. Sue Ellen's (1989) is the oldest in Texas, and Babes of Carytown says it is the oldest on the East Coast. Visit all four and decide.

gone too soon

Here because people still search for them by name, and because the count only means something if you see what it costs.

Marsha's, Philadelphia. A queer-owned women's sports bar on South Street. It opened in September 2025 and its last day was Sunday, October 18, 2026. Not a lesbian bar by its own billing, but it belongs on this list of losses.

The Pearl, Denver. Denver's only lesbian bar. It announced its closing in April 2026, and the city seized the building on April 15 over back taxes. Denver now has none.

Doc Marie's, Portland, Oregon. Poured its last drink on Halloween 2025.

The Ruby Fruit, Los Angeles. A Silver Lake strip-mall bar and grill that closed in January 2025, after its owners said the financial hit from the wildfires made it impossible to keep going.

If you are planning a trip around a gay bar instead, we have mapped New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Las Vegas, and if you are drinking at home, here are the queer-owned brands worth pouring.

Bars close faster than anybody can publish. Every bar here was checked against its own website or Instagram and at least one independent news outlet the week this went up, and every one showed signs of life in 2026. Call ahead if you are traveling for it, and if we have something wrong or missed a bar, tell us and we will fix it with a date on it.