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Beloved Gay Bar Purr is Moving to Montlake

Facing a rent increase, the longtime Capitol Hill gay bar has found a new home.

purr-people-tweak

The writing was on the wall.

Earlier this summer, the Stranger reported on the chatter that longtime gay bar Purr Cocktail Lounge was getting priced out of its Capitol Hill home. In July, the rumors were confirmed when the nightclub announced its closing party, which went down Wednesday night.

Owner Barbie Roberts had previously hinted that the beloved bar wouldn’t entirely ride off into the rainbow-colored sunset after the Capitol Hill sendoff. During the farewell bash, Roberts announced that Purr is moving to a new space in Montlake, according to the Capitol Hill Times.

Apparently, Roberts closed on its new digs, which used to be Pub Montlake, just hours before last night’s party. From the sounds of it, Roberts is looking to take the relocated Purr “back to our roots” as more of a neighborhood bar than nightclub.

“A nightclub wasn’t really our vision, but I embraced it because you get with the times and go with the flow,” Roberts told the Capitol Hill Times.

According to the neighborhood paper, Roberts started hunting for a new location a year ago, anticipating a rent hike. (Apparently, she was right.) She had her eyes on two other Capitol Hill spaces, but ultimately the building owners didn’t want another bar to move in beneath their upstairs apartments.

Look for Purr to reopen in its new location in a month or so.

 

Opening Night: Is Ethan Stowell’s Cut Club Happy Hour Going to Solve the Affordability Crisis?

Opening Night: Is Ethan Stowell’s Cut Club Happy Hour Going to Solve the Affordability Crisis?

At Cut Club, the longtime Seattle restaurateur is going old-school, with steaks made for sharing, no service charges, and a happy hour where $12 still buys dinner. 

Cut Club, the new steakhouse inside downtown’s Hotel Max, feels like a restaurant from the not-too-distant past. The menu leans comfortable rather than ambitious or world-spanning. It serves a typical lineup of steak cuts, some traditional sides like oysters, prawn cocktail, and wedge salad, and some cocktails that are between $15 and $20. There’s a…

Outside the Box: Gourmondo Founder Launches Olivina

Outside the Box: Gourmondo Founder Launches Olivina

Alissa Leinonen’s new venture brings her seasonal, Northwest approach to weddings, milestone celebrations, and elevated events.

After 30 years, Alissa Leinonen—founder of renowned catering and box-lunch company, Gourmondo—has launched a new venture. Called Olivina, the new luxury catering and events company focuses on highly personalized, elevated experiences ranging from weddings or other milestone celebrations to corporate gatherings. What started with $4,000 from a refinanced car (and a tiny café in Pike…

7 Washington Fall Festivals Worth the Drive

7 Washington Fall Festivals Worth the Drive

Autumn is back. Celebrate with fresh-hop beer, apple harvests, returning salmon, cranberries, and more. 

Explore 7 fun Washington fall festivals worth the drive, from Leavenworth's Autumn Leaf Festival and Issaquah Salmon Days to CrabFest and Fresh Hop Ale.

Restaurant Roundup: Brunch With a Side of History, Cardamom Lattes, and Chiew Chiew

Restaurant Roundup: Brunch With a Side of History, Cardamom Lattes, and Chiew Chiew

Here’s what was served up recently in the Emerald City.

Hope you’re hungry for a history lesson. Oliver’s, the cocktail lounge inside downtown’s Mayflower Park Hotel, was a Bartell Drugs store during Prohibition before becoming the city’s first hotel bar in the late 1940s—the Carousel Room, named for the carousel horses hung from the ceiling. When Washington repealed the rule forbidding the service of hard…