“We’re not explicitly just a gay bar, but we wanted to continue to make it an LGBTQ-friendly space,” owner Amy McCormack says. It’s been replaced by Boombox Bar, a space drenched in pink neon light.

A second gay bar, the Swallow, opened in 2019 but closed permanently in 2020. An immense second location of Capitol Hill’s Unicorn was supposed to land in 2020, but has been delayed until, you know, a 15,000-square-foot bar can legally open.

The Lumber Yard, a gay bar, opened in 2017. That shift toward queer and artistic nightlife is happening across the unincorporated suburb just south of West Seattle.