I just finished the first draft of a map of all lesbian bars in the U.S. and Canada that closed from 2006 until now. It may not be the most depressing map of the 21st century, but it is seriously sobering:
The Map depicts 93 100 addresses (as of 9/27/2016) that no longer are lesbian bars, comprising more than 100 discrete businesses. When a bar moved, the original address is not mapped. In other words, I’m interested in the absolute number of bars that have disappeared, and took care not to double count businesses that changed names, owners, or location. The map does not mark businesses that have a lesbian night or that are significantly mixed–this is a map of public drinking spots that were primarily patronized by lesbians, at least at one point in time before they closed.
It is inevitable that there are errors in this kind of enterprise – please send me corrections and queries to greggor.mattson @ gmail.com or @greggormattson on Twitter.
And importantly: this map draws heavily upon the amazing and important work of the anonymous author of lostwomynsspace.blogspot.com . I would love to credit you for your work – please get in touch, even anonymously. And thanks also to all the people who wrote in to offer corrections, affirmations, or queries. I really appreciate the time you took to look up the places that once were yours.
Eventually I will merge this with a map of currently-open lesbian bars, which I’ll launch as a crowdsourcing effort.
Greggor Mattson 
15 responses to “Digital project: Mapping lost lesbian bars, 2006-2016”
Hello … great work! I’m from dayton, ohio (usa). The Martinique was a significant womyns bar in the 1980s -1990s. At one point in the early 90s, dayton boasted 24gay bars -2 were male only, and 2 were female only. The rest were small dives, comunity / neighborhood establishments where everyone could hang out. Safely.
I appreciate your project and hope to see your work.
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Another one bites the dust. The Norm in Jacksonville, FL is closing at the end of September 2016 after 44 years as a lesbian bar.
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[…] Most recently a friend living up in Maine directed me to sociologist Gregor Mattson’s map of lesbian bars that have closed between 2006 and 2016, which you can view in the embed above and also on his website here. […]
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Blush and Blu still exists.
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Yes, it’s on the “still open” list, because it’s the current iteration of a previous bar I had listed. Thanks so much for checking and letting me know!
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Hello-
Thank you for taking the time and energy to compile this work. I’m presenting a paper on the decline of lesbian bars since the 90’s and would love to be able to reference this map. I’ll be sure to give credit!
Thank you
Sara
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You’re welcome to reference it!
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[…] 15% of those in cities with gayborhoods. Even in big cities, the bars hit hardest are those for lesbians, people of color, and leatherfolk—hardly the queer folk who are most accepted. In other words: […]
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[…] you’re interested what kinds of things I write, I’ve mapped the closure of lesbian bars and written a few journalistic pieces; including one about Pulse and another about my favorite gay […]
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[…] affects women and people of color, even within the queer community. Between 2007 and 2019, bars catering to women and queer people of color saw declines of 52 percent and 60 percent, respectively, according to […]
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[…] affects women and people of color, even within the queer community. Between 2007 and 2019, bars catering to women and queer people of color saw declines of 52 percent and 60 percent, respectively, according to […]
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[…] affects women and people of color, even within the queer community. Between 2007 and 2019, bars catering to women and queer people of color saw declines of 52 percent and 60 percent, respectively, according to […]
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[…] affects women and people of color, even within the queer community. Between 2007 and 2019, bars catering to women and queer people of color saw declines of 52 percent and 60 percent, respectively, according to […]
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[…] affects women and people of color, even within the queer community. Between 2007 and 2019, bars catering to women and queer people of color saw declines of 52 percent and 60 percent, respectively, according to […]
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[…] Mattson. Between 2007 and 2019, LGBTQ bar listings dropped by an estimated 37 percent, and those catering to queer women and people of color saw declines of 52 percent and 60 percent, respectively, according to the […]
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