New York lesbian bars emerge from pandemic
NEW YORK — At Henrietta Hudson, one of New York City’s most iconic LGBTQ hangouts, co-owner Lisa Cannistraci had long mulled a makeover but put off tackling the changes while business was good.
Then COVID-19 hit. In March 2020, even before authorities ordered businesses to shut down, Cannistraci closed the bar and resolved to use the pause from the pandemic as a chance to transform the historic space in Manhattan’s West Village.
Fifteen months later, Henrietta Hudson is welcoming patrons back to a club reimagined as a lounge with sitting areas and plates of charcuterie to accompany its dance floor.
The re-opening coincides with this month’s LGBTQ Pride commemorations, which also are making a comeback across the United States as the coronavirus pandemic abates and vaccination rates rise.
In New York, a year after the city’s massive Pride march was forced to go mostly virtual, some in-person events are once again planned for June 27, along with a string of online gatherings throughout the month.
“The community needs it now more than ever,” said Cannistraci, surrounded by boxes and new furniture in the bar’s dim light last week. “I just want to give them the best Pride that I can possibly do.”
Henrietta Hudson, which catered mainly to the lesbian community when it first opened in 1991, this year was re-branded by its owners as a “Queer Human Bar Built by Lesbians” as part of an effort to reach younger LGBTQ people who defy sexual orientation and gender identity labels.
Cannistraci said she used all the tools at her disposal to preserve the business, including pandemic loans and contributions from the community.
But COVID-19 dealt a hard blow to the shrinking number of lesbian bars throughout the country, as well as the broader restaurant and nightclub industry.
‘REALLY HARD’
About 90,000 eating and drinking venues remain closed, permanently or longterm, in the United States, according to a recent survey by the National Restaurant Association.
“This past year was really, really hard,” said Lisa Menichino, the owner of Cubbyhole, another historic lesbian bar in the West Village.
The pandemic forced Cubbyhole to close last year for the first time in its 27-year history. Menichino said she wasn’t sure the business would survive.
“I went into kind of a funk and stayed in my pajamas ... Drank a lot of bourbon,” she recalled during an interview.
Then she said she started getting messages from regulars and other customers who shared the milestones they had experienced at Cubbyhole - meeting their future spouse, coming out, someone’s first kiss.
Those memories spurred Menichino into action. The bar set up a Gofundme page and reached its $30,000 goal in less than 24 hours, a sum that would more than double in a year. The money helped keep the bar afloat, said Menichino, sitting at one of the outdoor tables installed beneath paper lanterns and white lights for safer gathering during the pandemic.
She said Cubbyhole also benefited from “The Lesbian Bar Project,” a campaign born to support U.S. lesbian bars.