The Lesbian Bar Chronicles: The Living History and Hopeful Future of America’s Dyke Dives and Sapphic Spaces

“The disappearance of lesbian bars is not the tragedy I once thought it was,” Karp, host of the Cruising Karp podcast, reflects in her heartening debut travelogue. In 2020, following a string of closures, the media began sounding the death knell of the lesbian bar, prompting Karp to embark on a road trip to visit the handful that remained. But as she traveled, new bars kept opening; the country, it turned out, “was on the cusp of a lesbian bar resurgence.” Organized by region, the book recaps stories of beloved bars alongside profiles of their owners, employees, and regulars. In Washington, D.C., As You Are co-owners Jo and Coach recall how working together on the lesbian-centric basement floor of a gay men’s bar inspired them to open their own more inclusive space. At the Sports Bra in Portland, Ore., owner Jenny Nguyen recaps the challenging process of opening the nation’s first women’s sports bar, a model now being widely mimicked. Jonda Valentine, founder of the Lipstick Lounge in Nashville, Tenn., reflects on how getting kicked out of her family’s church led her to open a welcoming space of her own. “The contemporary lesbian bar is gender expansive, trans inclusive, intersectional, and accessible,” Karp notes, finding that today’s lesbian spaces have evolved to oppose conservative attacks on LGBTQ+ rights. Readers will find this a bracingly optimistic chronicle of modern queer life. (May)