The neon sign at the old Tickles.
Here's what it had going for it: a goofy name and a curious concept (piano/sports/gay bar). But even those things couldn't keep the doors open at Tickles. The downtown Minneapolis bar closed Monday, according to a statement posted on its website.
The downtown location at 4th St. and 5th Av. S. was the second for Tickles. The bar opened in 2008 in a quiet section of northeast Minneapolis. After a slow first year, it moved downtown into the former Little Wagon space.
Tickles is the third LGBT-friendly bar to close in four months. Rumours & Innuendo in St. Paul closed in October. Gladius, in downtown Minneapolis, shut its doors in December.
