The Sports Bra is a

women's sports The participation of women and girls in sports, physical Physical fitness, fitness and exercise, has been recorded to have existed throughout history. However, participation rates and activities vary in accordance with nation, era, geography, ...

-focused

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 ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. The bar opened for business on April 1, 2022.

Description

Located at 25th Avenue and Broadway in

northeast Portland Northeast Portland is one of the six major divisions of Portland, Oregon. Northeast Portland contains a diverse collection of neighborhoods. For example, while Irvington and the Alameda Ridge feature some of the oldest and most expensive homes i ...

's Sullivan's Gulch neighborhood, The Sports Bra is an

LGBTQ ' 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 is a ...

-owned

focused on

. The menu includes burgers,

buffalo wing A Buffalo wing in American cuisine is an unbreaded chicken wing section ( flat or drumette) that is generally deep-fried and then coated or dipped in a sauce consisting of a vinegar-based cayenne pepper hot sauce and melted butter prior to serv ...

s, and Vietnamese-style

baby back ribs Pork ribs are a cut of pork popular in Western and Asian cuisines. The ribcage of a domestic pig, meat and bones together, is cut into usable pieces, prepared by smoking, grilling, or baking – usually with a sauce, often barbecue – and then ...

. The all-ages bar hosts official

Portland Thorns FC The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Uni ...

viewing parties. Jaylon Thompson of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' has called the business "a unique concept" with an owner who "aims to build community, empower and promote women in sports". According to Erin Rook of

LGBTQ Nation ''LGBTQ Nation'' is an American online news magazine headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 2009 and is currently owned by ''Q.Digital''. The website is primarily marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and que ...

, The Sports Bra "may be the world's first women's sports bar". Similarly, Lizzy Acker of ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

'' said the business at the time "might be the only women's sports bar in the world".

History

Local chef and former basketball player Jenny Nguyen opened the bar in April 2022. She conceived the idea after watching the

2018 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament The 2018 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament began on March 16, 2018, and concluded with the national championship game on Sunday, April 1. The Final Four was played at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. This is the third time that the ...

in a crowded sports bar on mute. Inspired by her girlfriend, the

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's Association football, soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four FIFA Women's World Cup, Wom ...

's fight for equal pay, and the success of the

MeToo movement #MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in ...

, Nguyen started the business with her life savings of about $27,000, $40,000 in loans, and support from a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign, which raised $105,135 by its conclusion in March 2022. She also partnered with female-owned breweries in the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metro area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered on the principal city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies it as the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, ...

, including Freeland Spirits, Herbucha, and Migration. In January 2023, the bar hosted a

Lunar New Year Lunar New Year is the beginning of a calendar year whose months are moon cycles, based on the lunar calendar or lunisolar calendar. The Lunar New Year as a celebration is observed by numerous cultures. It is also named " Chinese New Year" becau ...

celebration and benefit for the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon featuring a performance by White Lotus Lion Dance. In February 2023, the bar hosted an event with United States Senator

Ron Wyden Ronald Lee Wyden (; born May 3, 1949) is an American politician and retired educator serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Oregon, a seat he has held since 1996 United Stat ...

and WNBA commissioner

Cathy Engelbert Catherine Engelbert is an American business executive and Commissioner of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Before joining the WNBA, she had been with Deloitte for 33 years, including as its first female CEO from 2015 to 2019. E ...

to demonstrate support for the WNBA's return to Portland. The league's

Portland Fire The Portland Fire were a professional basketball team in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) based in Portland, Oregon that joined the league in 2000 as the counterpart to the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. They played their games a ...

folded after the

2002 WNBA season The 2002 WNBA Season was the Women's National Basketball Association's sixth season. The season ended with the Los Angeles Sparks winning their second WNBA championship. Regular season standings Eastern Conference Western Conference Season aw ...

. Following the Sports Bra's first anniversary in April 2023, Nguyen said the bar had generated $944,000 in revenue in its first eight months and turned a profit in its first year.

Reception

In 2023, Nguyen was one of 18 Portland industry professionals deemed "rising stars" by the restaurant resource and trade publication ''StarChefs''.

References

External links

* *
Portland’s first women's sports bar plans its opening
(March 7, 2022),

KPTV KPTV (channel 12) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States. affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Vancouver, Washington–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KPDX (channel 49). Both stations s ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sports Bra, The 2022 establishments in Oregon 2022 in LGBT history 2022 in women's sport Drinking establishments in Oregon Kickstarter projects LGBT culture in Portland, Oregon Restaurants in Portland, Oregon Sullivan's Gulch, Portland, Oregon