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Gay bar Union now open in new home after classic Capitol Hill four-block move

(Image: Union)

Gay bar Union has completed a classic Capitol HIll move and reopened just four blocks from its first home in the neighborhood.

“I hope that the community that we service and that has adopted us as a second home joins in the excitement of our ability to relocate and reopen,” Union partner Greg Scheaffer told CHS about the planned move back in September.

Born in the summer of 2018 at 14th and Union, the bar has reopened closer to the Pike/Pine core after an overhaul to the space most recently home to Portland export Sizzle Pie and its heavy metal-hued Dark Bar.

The new tenant has swapped out the rock and the darkness for patio wood and Pride rainbows.

Meanwhile, Union has new food and drink neighbors including Optimism Brewing, Metier, Soi, Gokan, Frankie and Jo’s, and the Renee Erickson trio of General Porpoise Doughnuts, Bar Melusine, and Bateau.

For Scheaffer and Hill gay bar legends Nathan BenedictSteve Nyman — former owners of Inside Passage and Thumper’s — Opening under COVID-19 restrictions means Union customers will need to review the bar’s guide to requested etiquette during the ongoing pandemic including a request that customers remain masked when interacting with staff.

Starting March 17th, Seattle’s Lumen Field mega site and clinics and pharmacies around the city will begin welcoming important new communities to the ranks of vaccine eligibility: essential workers including public transit workers, law enforcement and fire department personnel, and vital grocery, agriculture, and food processing workers — but not food and drink workers. Monday, advocates including the Seattle Restaurant Alliance announced a 3,500-name petition effort calling on Gov. Jay Inslee to add restaurant and hospitality workers to the list in the next phase of vaccine eligibility.

The bar’s move echoes choices many in the neighborhood have made over the years to find new apartments and homes often within blocks of their previous addresses.

Union, meanwhile, isn’t the only LGBTQ+ nightlife venue undergoing important changes heading into spring and summer. E Madison’s Pony is hard at work overhauling its popular patio after a $250,000 deal with the city to make way for a coming bus transit project on the busy street.

Bigger challenges face the neighborhood’s dance venues. Neighbours is hoping to recover from months of closure and break-ins while R Place lost its lease and is on the hunt for a new home after 35 years on the Hill. Pike/Pine lesbian bar the Wildrose is also facing an uphill battle as it has remained open under the COVID-19 restrictions while being buoyed by a community fundraising campaign.

Union is now open at 1009 E Union. You can learn more at unionseattle.com.

 

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7 Comments
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CHqueer
CHqueer
3 years ago

It looks like they have done a beautiful job building out the new space. It is an exciting and hopeful sign that the gayborhood will bounce back. Hopefully R Place also finds a new home nearby. The city needs to do more to help LGBTQ and art spaces survive and thrive on Capitol Hill and citywide.

James T.
James T.
3 years ago
Reply to  CHqueer

The city should save the older buildings that had character like R Place and step in and stop landlords from treating long time establishments like dirt.

Bob
Bob
3 years ago
Reply to  James T.

Why do you hate housing and promote policies that lead to homelessness?

James T.
James T.
3 years ago
Reply to  Bob

Why do you deliberately misconstrue cause and effect? Having a nice space for a gay bar has nothing to do with homelessness when there’s 30% empty apartments in the area as it is due to stubborn landlords who just sit on it until someone pays. There’s no correlation between saving older buildings and homelessness.

Bob
Bob
3 years ago
Reply to  James T.

That’s absolutely not true. You and the people of Wallingford can band together on your agreement that new housing should not be built.

Also the buildings are meaningless, it’s the people that added the character.

lover of the babydoll tree
lover of the babydoll tree
3 years ago

YAY!! So glad to hear this!!

Adam
Adam
3 years ago

Nice to see some signs of life around the Hill. Hoping we can put the pieces back together.