One Year After Starlite's Closing, Still No Substitute

Sunday marks the one year anniversary for the closing of the oldest black-owned gay bar in NYC, but local residents are still left without a watering hole for the gay community in the neighborhood.

Starlite Lounge, formerly located at 1080 Bergen Street at Nostrand, had been a community staple since the 1960s, but lost its highly publicized battle to keep the venue open when the landlord sold the building. Now a MetroPCS, its closing has, one year later, left the Prospect Heights and Crown Heights neighborhoods without a substitute.

“You have to travel into Manhattan or other parts of Brooklyn to go to a gay-specific bar or club now, and it’s just unfortunate,” said Crown Heights resident and former patron Robert Simmons. “Starlite didn’t close due to a lack of interest. The bar was successful and the community wanted it here.”

The lounge advertised itself as the “oldest black-owned, non-discriminating bar/club in the heart of Brooklyn, New York,” and it had a long-standing reputation as a hangout for people of all backgrounds.

Crown Heights has experienced a string of anti-gay attacks in recent years, including and a murder in 2007, and patrons had to be buzzed into Starlite Lounge by the bouncer after a handful of homophobic incidents took place inside. But those who frequented the bar say it was a place where they always felt safe and free to be who they are.

“The place held the promise of an America where people were judged not on their sexual orientation, but on more meaningful criteria," Norman Green, a member of Gay Man of African Descent (GMAD) in Downtown Brooklyn who first frequented the bar in the early 1970s, said via e-mail. 

“There was always a strong connection between the owners and staff of Starlite and the community at large,” he added

Fans of all ages, races, and orientations flocked to Starlite Lounge on Thursday nights in particular for their karaoke parties that were often filled to capacity, and celebrities including Madonna and RuPaul had visited the bar during its history.

However, according to former Starlite owner Dennis Parrott, the new management that took over the building in late 2009 demanded that the building be empty, and that no one was willing to negotiate with them in good faith. The new owner, Khalid Yafir, claimed that he had offered Starlite a different location across the street which was refused.

Local residents held protests outside of Starlite to keep the venue open, and Parrott circulated a petition around the neighborhood to make the building and bar a historic landmark, but it was ultimately unsuccessful. After over eight months of fighting to keep the bar open, Starlite had its final night last on July 31, 2010.

While there are sporadic gay-friendly events at Red Lotus Room, and  on Vanderbilt is gay-owned and very gay friendly, since Starlite closed, there has been no gay bar in the neighborhood.

“With its closing, the neighborhood has lost a unique and strong voice in community relations,” said Green. “Small as it was, Starlite played a huge role in putting to rest the lie that gay and straight people could not co-exist, especially in the Black community.”