More than 700 people were partying to ring in 2014 when an arsonist set the iconic gay dance club on fire.
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The club also overcame a terrible arson that shook the neighborhood’s nightlife community. Performer Roxy Doll led the effort to raise funds to clean up and reopen the venue as the club’s longtime owner Moustafa “Moe” Elassiouti remained in Egypt due to COVID-19.
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The city later slapped the building with code violations for allowing the decay to continue. In late 2020, CHS reported about the neglected club’s dilapidated condition after pandemic closure left it vulnerable to break-ins and squatters. Meanwhile in the Capitol Hill dance scene beyond the gay bars, the Rhino Room has continued since 2014 at 11th and Pine, and the Baltic Room became Mint Lounge at the base of Pike/Pine.Ī new start for the old Neighbours might not be the worst idea. And a small empire of LGBTQ+ bars and clubs has formed around The Cuff-Queer/Bar-Grim’s-The Woods family. Nearby, Q, which opened as a glossy queer-focused club in 2012, has transitioned to a more mainstream electronic dance music venue. Meanwhile, the community of gay dance bars around Neighbours has shifted. The building is now lined up as a new headquarters for a neighborhood tech company and a new restaurant project. Losing “Neighbours” would, of course, add to a sense of loss in Capitol Hill’s LGBTQ+ nightlife communities from the pandemic after two challenging years of business, postponed Prides, and the closure of R Place after it lost its lease. The investor said he has “mixed feelings” about keeping the old name in the long run but is still getting to know the neighborhood including sorting out how his new club will be a good neighbor to the under construction Pride Place LGBTQ-affirming senior housing project next door. When the Seattle deal closes, Bruce’s new dance club will remain Neighbours - for now.
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He owns the Badlands in Sacramento along with The Depot plus Splash clubs in in San Jose, Fresno, Modesto and Reno. UPDATE: Bruce doesn’t own the SF Badlands but has provided consultant services to the club for more than 20 years. He is based in Sacramento where he has grown his gay bar empire from K Street’s The Depot. The prospective buyer has been a prolific investor in West Coast gay nightlife with recent acquisitions and openings including an expansion of his Splash family of video dance clubs in Fresno, and an expansion of the Badlands clubs he is part of with a new location in the works in Portland.īruce will also be part of the reopening of San Francisco’s Castro District after years of closures and restrictions where he has acquired has been a consultant for the original Badlands that “permanently” closed in 2020. It was relisted in late 2020 for $5.75 million. We don’t know yet terms of Bruce’s deal for the club and valuable Broadway property. CHS reported on the property hitting the market for $6.9. And TJ Bruce seems like the kind of man who will love the revered but dog-eared disco - or, at least, restore it back to a thriving Broadway business.ĬHS has confirmed Bruce, an investor and backer of gay clubs stretching from Fresno to San Jose to San Francisco to Portland and, now, Seattle, is closing on a deal for the club and the 1911-built, 14,000-square-foot Broadway building it has called home for 40 years.
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Image from the 2019 real estate listing for the property at 1509 BroadwayĬapitol Hill gay dance club legend Neighbours has a buyer.