Future of landmark Minneapolis gay bar uncertain after weekend fire

Brian “Bubba” Thurn, a longtime Loring Park resident, has had a tradition on snowy evenings after work — gather up a bunch of neighbors, and trudge to the 19 Bar. Even nasty weather didn’t keep the smokers off the back patio, Thurn recalled.

Not this week. The 19 Bar, one of the first gay bars to open in Minneapolis and one of the oldest continuously operating establishments of its kind in the United States, is closed until further notice after a fire last weekend. The manager said he’s not sure when it will re-open.

“It was just a cool, laid-back place,” Thurn said. “That was like my second living room.”

The bar caught fire Saturday when a garbage truck hit a telephone pole, which fell and landed on part of the building.

The pole struck a gas pipe that sent sparks and a surge through the entire bar, filling it with black smoke. The bartender on duty was able to get out, said bar manager Craig Wilson. The fire department put out the fire and no injuries were reported, he said.

Wilson said the owner is committed to repairing and re-opening the bar. Still, he said, “we’re out of a job and we don’t know for what kind of timeframe. Whether it’s two months or a year, I don’t know. I can’t answer that at this point.”

A post on the bar’s Facebook page said simply: “Unfortunately, with love, everyone is 86′d until further notice,” it said.

But Thurn will remember those chill weekday happy hours the most fondly. Thurn, who uses they/them pronouns, said the bar remained a welcoming place for them even after they quit drinking.

The inconspicuous bar opened in 1952, and in 1957 new owners officially turned it into one of the city’s first gay bars. That was more than a decade before the 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City unofficially kicked off the modern gay rights movement.

Like many gay bars of its era, the 19 Bar has never had windows.

“That was started to keep identities closeted when the times weren’t how they are now,” Thurn said. “We had to kind of be in hiding.”

Thurn created one of two fundraisers to support those hit hardest by the bar’s loss: 19 Bar’s eight employees.