The Lesbian Bar Chronicles by Rachel Karp

Pull up a stool. This one’s worth lingering over.

For more than a century, lesbian bars have been so much more than a place to grab a drink. They’ve been community posts. Political organizing grounds. Sanctuaries. And yet, where the 1980s saw an estimated 200 lesbian bars across the country, today only a few dozen remain.

In The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, Rachel Karp, author and co-creator of the hit podcast Cruising, sets out across the nation with her wife and best friend to capture the living stories of these remaining spaces. The headlines say lesbian bars are dying. But what Karp’s group discovers, again and again, is something far more hopeful: communities thriving, sustaining themselves through decades of change.

Woven from over 100 hours of immersive interviews with owners, staff, and regulars, this book brings you right inside the door. You’ll meet:

• Shirley J, “the mayor” of Chicago’s Nobody’s Darling, who helped birth house music in the 1970s
• The chosen family gathered for “family night” at Frankie’s in Oklahoma City
• The patrons of Redz, an East LA Chicana lesbian bar at the center of a precedent-setting court case

It’s a heartfelt reclamation of queer history and queer lives, a reminder of how these beacons of community teach us to live openly, cultivate connection, and keep taking up space.

A perfect read for a salty afternoon by the window, this is a book about belonging, and about the rooms that make us feel at home. Come browse. We think you’ll love this one.

Additional information