The last call at the Lobby Bar‘s 916 E Pike incarnation will happen this weekend. Swooping in for the final Thursday at the original space of this “bastion of LGBTQ nightlife” in Pike/Pine, the CHS Crow shared bittersweet moments with a Seattle drag star with words of caution and of hope, a Movember’d IT pro with fond Lobby memories and a student and sound engineer with words about making the most. Cheers friends ~
| Lily |
Who are you?
My name is Lily Armani. I’m a female impersonator. I’m also a stand-up comic. And I’ve been here with The Lobby for five years now. We started with RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 2, and I’ve been co-hosting with Glamazonia, my life partner, ever since then.
We’ve been together almost nine years, and we’ve hosted every single season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, RuPaul’s Drag U. All the things nobody watched, we were hosting.
[And] I’ve been doing #Hashtag with Lily Armani for 74 episodes. Tonight was our final show. And we’re sad to see it go.
What has been your experience here?
The crowd’s been fantastic. The Lobby has been amazing to us. They support the drag community better than any venue in the city. So, it’s very important to put that out there before they go away. They’ve been great supporters of all of us and they’re working really, really hard. So we’re excited to see what they do next.
… and how did the last show go?
We saw a lot of people that were old-timers from the very beginning, all the way up to [people for whom] tonight was the first time they stopped in. We had somebody from Vancouver, and we had two people from Norway — they saw us on Facebook, they saw a clip of the show and they came all the way from Norway to see what we were doing. So that’s very exciting.
What do you have to say to the people of Capitol Hill?
I wanna say, ‘Be safe, always travel with a buddy,’ and, ‘It’s not the same Capitol Hill that we’re used to.’ I moved here 13 years ago, and it’s not the same as it was three months ago, three years ago — it’s not. So always travel with somebody else. Never, ever, ever go home alone. And if you are going to travel by yourself, always text somebody. Let them know where you are, what’s going on, what’s happening. Because you’re not always going to be a news story. So, please, please, please, protect yourself.
What are you going to miss about this bar?
I’m gonna miss the people. The owners, the staff, the crew, the security, they’ve always been great to us. I’m always going to miss them. But they’re not gone and forgotten — they’re moving on to bigger and better things, and we’ll see what happens next time.
| Kevin |
Who are you?
I’m 36 years old, I grew up in the Bay Area — grew up in San Jose — went to a Jesuit high school, went to a Christian Brothers college in the East Bay near Berkeley, then got in to software in San Francisco after that. … Then moved up to Seattle about 2006.
… what do you do up here?
I do IT project management.
What brought you out tonight?
I have a couple of girlfriends — friends that are girls — they also love this place and they knew it was closing down so they wanted to come out for one last hurrah. So I met them out here with my good friend Paul, and just came out here for the evening.
And also #Hashtag with Lily Armani.
… how was the show?
It was actually really good. She was a little sad, as you could tell, but she did really well.
What are you up to next?
Well, tonight is still a Thursday. I’m working tomorrow, so I have to go home eventually … but I often come out here, we hang out for a couple hours and we go home and we just go to bed. It’s a great place to just hang out with people and just talk for a little bit, then we all go our separate ways, we all do our thing. It’s just a nice place to talk and catch up.
You said you’ve been a regular here — what do you have to say about The Lobby?
When I first actually moved on to the Hill I came here and this was the first place I felt, not acceptance, I would say, but comfortability. And throughout the years I’ve seen it, this place The Lobby has been a structure for passing GLBTQA rights … Not just gay rights but all equal rights. …
It’s a place where, you come here and be comfortable with who you are. You sit down, you’re having a drink, you’re talking with who you wanna be with, and that’s what it is. There’s no pretense. … They are here for everybody.
My sister loves this place. My mom loves this place. Like I was saying, tonight a couple of my straight girlfriends knew that they were closing so they came up and wanted to come by. Because they know it’s just a place to come out and hang out. And all my straight boyfriends actually — straight guy friends — they come here for their birthday parties, because there’s no judgement, it’s just be who you are and have fun.
What are you going to miss about this place?
The camaraderie, and the friends I’ve made here.
| D-Nice |
Who are you?
I’m a part-time studio engineer. I go to school. I go to the gym. I skateboard. I rap. I’m very physical. I try to do what I can do. I tried to change my life, moved to Seattle. Trying to better things. …
I drink every day. I smoke a little bud. I hang with my friends, you know. Female life — I hang out at a gay bar although I’m straight. So, my life is very smooth and I go with the flow
What brought you out tonight?
My uncle called me and we don’t really get to hang too often anymore, so any opportunity I get, I will take advantage of that. And, you know, when I come out here I see friends. If I see him, or if I don’t, I see some other friends.
Individuals such as the kind of you might have heard — friends in my background, they are very loud and obnoxious [laughter]. They wanna be a part of something, so I’m there so they can be a part of something. If I got something going on they can be a part of what I got going. And if they got something, I’m a part of what they got going on. But I just want to be there. It’s all environmental, you know. Friendship environment, I will always be there. My uncle environment, family, I will always be there if I can.
You said you’re here as part of a group of straight guys hanging out at a gay bar — what can you say about that experience?
We’re comfortable, you know. And I’ve never actually been hit on. … If I’d been hit on, it’d be ok. As long as you respect how I come back at you.
What are you up to after this?
After this I’m headed home. I should have been home about an hour ago.
What are you going to miss most about this bar?
Man, what am I going to miss most about this bar? Let’s put it this way: since most of these bars around the neighborhood have been changing, and honestly dramatically changing, it’s been a sad thing, because so many people are used to the neighborhood.
And the people who are used to the neighborhood, if there are places that have been torn down and rebuilt, they’re not going to go back there, because … your favorite bartender’s not there, your favorite cook’s not there, your favorite reason you had to go there is not there anymore. You’re gonna go in there to check it out. But the prices are different, more then likely higher because — new place. So you’re not exactly comfortable.
So for me the only place I can find comfort is the place I can find all my friends at, and where I find I can get a price of a drink that settles with my pocket. And that doesn’t really function with too many places around here, so now I just got to deal with what I have. And that is the Lobby Bar. Got a few other bars around here, but the Lobby Bar is one for sure.
Right now I’m here with four of my friends. There’s some bars I go to, and I don’t see nobody I know. Let alone me seeing somebody I’m social with.
What do you have to say to the people of Capitol Hill?
I’ll tell everybody in Capitol Hill: appreciate what you got, appreciate where you’re at, appreciate the time frame you get to use it for, because obviously, good things come and go. …
And, enjoy who’s around here, because the people can always be there. They might change, but they’re not gonna change like the environment changes. It’s not intense like that, you know. … So you still gotta respect where you came from and how you grew up, why you grew up and who you grew up around.
Appreciate everything while it’s there because there’s gonna come a day. And this just shows you. … So just love it while you can man. Soak it up. Soak it up. Gain as many memories as you possibly can.
Previously on CHS Crow
Please do this style of interview with the Tim Durkan photo series.