Southeast Portland’s long-running LGBTQ+ bar Crush will close on New Year’s Eve after nearly 25 years

Southeast Portland’s LGBTQ+ bar Crush has been serving the city’s queer community for nearly 25 years. According to a social media post announcing the closure of neighborhood bar Buckman on Monday, Dec. 2, New Year’s Eve will be Crush’s last night in business.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because Crush announced its impending closure a year ago to the day. Four days later, an employee’s investment would give John “Woody” Clarke’s Bar another year of serving craft cocktails and upscale pub fare made with fresh, locally sourced ingredients, a block away from Revolution Hall. eater reported at the time.

“We realize this news sounds familiar, as we narrowly avoided closure last year,” Crush’s announcement reads. “But unfortunately this time it’s a reality.”

When it opened in 2001, Crush’s restrooms were radical, at a time when large gender-neutral restrooms were virtually unheard of and bars catered to gay or bisexual men and women, leaving little room for people whose identities and orientations are more fluid. Entertainers can make their mark on Crush’s intimate stage at just about any show or dance party imaginable. It survived the closure of other nearby gay bars, such as: B. Starky’s, and became an institution.

When the pandemic hit, Clarke infamously called the police to unionize employees who were staging a sit-in to protest their impending layoffs. Clarke ultimately settled after the Board of Labor and Industry sided with former Crush employees in her retaliation complaint. Queer Portlanders with long memories still remember the 2020 incident, even though Crush was far from deserted in the four years that followed.