It's last call at Seattle's Re-bar

Over the past three months, we’ve become accustomed to loss: the loss of lives, of livelihoods, and the loss of the way we used to go about everything from grocery shopping to educating our kids.

Now we’re looking at the loss of Seattle cultural institutions.

The city’s arts venues have been devastated by the public gathering bans; tens of thousands of artists, administrators and technical staff are out of work and hundreds of organizations wonder if they’ll survive the long-term closures officials imposed in March. Nightclubs and other commercial venues are just as worried as nonprofit cultural groups.

The late Paul Allen’s company, Vulcan, announced May 27 it would cease funding its cultural activities. Local cinephiles were dismayed to learn that, as part of Vulcan’s decision, the Cinerama Theater, closed for renovation, would not reopen anytime soon.

Allen bought the Cinerama in 1998 and spent several million dollars renovating the old movie house. He also located old Cinerama-format movie projectors and installed them in the theater. Vulcan’s cultural arm also sponsored the wildly successful Seattle Art Fair. This year’s Fair had been cancelled due to the pandemic; Vulcan’s decision to sever ties with its cultural projects means the Fair’s future is questionable.

The Cinerama closure came on the heels of another blow; in early May, artists and patrons were shocked to learn that owners of Seattle cabaret Re-bar had decided to cease operations at the longtime location in downtown Seattle, just west of Capitol Hill.

The news shocked acclaimed performing artist Nick Garrison, who got his start at Re-bar.

“Re-bar was always on its last legs,” Garrison says. “We thought it would make it somehow.”

But the venerable bar, cabaret and dance club, already threatened by Seattle’s hot real estate market, ultimately succumbed to the pandemic's economic fall-out.

Over the past 30 years, Re-bar earned a reputation for nurturing new artists, as well as hosting regular dance nights that drew wide audiences.

Garrison confesses to sneaking into the club on a fake ID during high school. He immediately recognized it as a place that welcomed people of all sexual and gender identities.

“I really found at Re-bar that sexuality was all over the map, gender was all over the map,” Garrison says.

That was the intent, according to Re-bar’s co-founder Steve Wells. He and his partner, Patrick “Pit” Kweicinski, set out to create a business that would welcome everyone.

“We didn’t want a gay bar, and we didn’t want a straight bar,” Wells says.

Before opening Re-bar, Wells had been producing small shows and he was interested in continuing that work. “I really wanted to keep going producing cabarets,” says Wells. “I wanted a place where hot young bands could play, and I wanted a dance club as well.”

Wells figured people wouldn’t want to come dancing until later in the evening, so Re-bar would book performers beforehand; when the cabaret ended, they'd move the chairs to clear away a dance floor.

The non-traditional formula worked. People flooded into Re-bar for disco nights; they also came to see artists like Dina Martina, Ian Bell’s Brown Derby, Dan Savage’s Greek Active troupe, and Garrison in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”

Although Wells left the business 15 years ago, he’s in touch with Re-bar’s current owners, and he understands the financial pressures that led to their decision to close.

After a recent property tax hike, the building owners raised Re-bar’s rent to help defray their own expenses. With no income this spring, Re-bar couldn’t cover the rent. Club owners across the city are in similar situations; earlier this month the King County Council approved a plan to funnel emergency money to local music venues to help them weather the crisis.

In a Facebook post in early May, Re-bar promised patrons the club would re-open in 2021. Artists like Nick Garrison hope the new Re-bar will welcome back its diverse collection of patrons. More than that, he hopes it will continue to be a launching pad for exciting new art, or at least inspire somebody else to follow the path Re-bar cleared.

“Challenge yourself to create another Re-bar, in your own way,” Garrison says. “There’s nothing like the years I spent there. I couldn’t have had more fun and met a more wonderful group of people.”

Re-bar will celebrate its history and its future in a virtual party, “Last Call at Re-bar” Saturday, May 30, starting at 8 p.m.