The first bar in Duluth to cater exclusively to the LGBT community is for sale.
Duluth Flame owner Alvin Berg put the 8-year-old nightclub on the market and has found a buyer. The Flame will remain a gay club, Berg said.
Berg is also owner of Superior Flame (1612 Tower Av., Superior, Wis, 715-395-0101), a smaller neighborhood gay bar across the Wisconsin border. (He and his husband were featured in a 2014 New York Times article about political differences between the Twin Ports.)
The Duluth club (28 N. 1st Av. W., Duluth, 218-727-2344) is two establishments in one building, and Berg, 60, is looking to downsize. He also owns a luxury imports and auto sales company in Hermantown, Minn.
"I'm not selling because business is bad," he said. "It's a lot to maintain and take care of, and I can't keep up."
He will hold on to the Superior Flame.
Berg opened the Superior bar first, "but over here [in Duluth] was the real big thing, because there had never been one before," he said. "I said, 'I'm not just building the first gay bar, but it's going to be the best nightclub ever.'"
The city received it warmly, he said.
