Phase 1, also known as ''The Phase'', was a lesbian

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

and

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

at 525 8th Street,

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Located one block south of

Pennsylvania Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue is a diagonal street in Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland, that connects the White House and the United States Capitol and then crosses the city to Maryland. In Maryland it is also Maryland Route 4 (MD 4 ...

, SE near Eastern Market in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, Phase 1 was the oldest continually operating lesbian bar in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and the oldest operating

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

bar in Washington, D.C. until its closure in February, 2016.

History

In 1971, Allen Carroll and Chris Jansen founded Phase 1 and would go on to open another LGBT bar in Southeast, Ziegfeld's. Phase 1 was originally located beside Plus One, a

gay bar A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clientele; the term '' gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT communities. Gay bars once serv ...

that broke the city’s “no same-sex dancing” code when owners Henry Hecht of the

Hecht's Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores that operated mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States. The firm originated in Baltimore, Maryland. By 20 ...

department store family, Donn Culver, and Bill Bickford installed a dance floor.

Events

Phase 1 was a sponsor of Capital Pride, the LGBT pride festival held each year in Washington, D.C. and the fourth largest gay pride event in the United States. Phase 1 also worked with local organizations such as the

Whitman-Walker Clinic Whitman-Walker Health (WWH), formerly Whitman-Walker Clinic, is a Nonprofit organization, non-profit community health center in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan areaBoorstein, "Maintaining Awareness, One Step at a Time," ''The Washington Post'', ...

and D.C. Rape Crisis Center. In August 2007, musician Mara Levi, Phase 1 manager Angela Lombardi, and Riot Grrl, Ink organized the first Phase Fest. The three-day event hosted at Phase 1 featured local and nationwide musical acts such as

God-Des and She God-Des and She are an American hip-hop/pop/soul duo from the Midwest, composed of Alicia Smith (God-des) and Tina Gassen (She). Since they appeared on the Showtime hit series The L Word in 2006, they have sold more than 30,000 albums and toured ...

, Nicky Click, and others which are geared towards lesbians. The event became the largest queer art and music festival on the East Coast.

References

{{Coord, 38.881992, -76.994988, region:US-DC_type:landmark, display=title 1971 establishments in Washington, D.C. 2016 disestablishments in Washington, D.C. Lesbian culture in Washington, D.C. Lesbian organizations in the United States LGBT nightclubs in Washington, D.C. Women in Washington, D.C. Defunct LGBT nightclubs in the United States

History

Events

See also

References