Address | 1950 1st Avenue S Seattle, Washington United States |
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Coordinates | 47°35′04″N122°20′02″W / 47.5845°N 122.3340°W |
Owner |
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Opened | 2022 |
Closed | April 30, 2023 |
The Comeback Seattle was an LGBT-friendly bar and nightclub in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, in the U.S. state of Washington. Described as a gay bar and queer sports bar, The Comeback hosted drag shows and RuPaul's Drag Race viewing parties. The short-lived bar opened in early 2022 and closed on April 30, 2023. It was co-owned by Floyd Lovelady, a former general manager of the gay bar and nightclub R Place, as well as John Fish.
The Comeback Seattle was a bar and nightclub on 1st Avenue in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood that catered to the LGBT community. [1] [2] Writers for The Stranger described The Comeback as a gay bar, a queer sports bar, and a "gay-sports-dance bar ... that evolved out of" the gay bar R Place, which had operated on Capitol Hill. [3] [4] The Comeback had go-go dancers, weekend dance parties, and a weekly drag show called "Lashes", featuring local and touring performers. A taco truck often operated outside. [5]
The space was approximately 9,000 square feet and had a seating capacity of 150 to 200 people. The building consisted of modular walls, a game area to play darts and pool, and gender-neutral restrooms. [6] The Stranger's Renee Raketty noted the large open space with an "impressive stage and long bar". She said the venue was ADA-compliant, "with all the public areas on the same floor", and said the space had a large prep kitchen, a walk-in refrigerator, an office, and other private areas. [2]
Co-owners Floyd Lovelady and John Fish [7] opened The Comeback in early 2022, [4] [8] in a building which had housed the bar, event rental space, and nightclub Eden Seattle. Previously, Lovelady was the general manager of the gay bar R Place. [9] In 2021, Matt Baume of The Stranger said that with Lovelady managing The Comeback, he felt as if it was R Place's "spiritual successor". [6] According to Lovelady, The Comeback was meant to match the spirit and mood of R Place by bringing back old activities. [2]
The Comeback was Lovelady's first bar to own. [6] Following R Place's closure, he and Fish (a former patron) formed The Comeback Seattle LLC, acquired R Place's social media accounts, and became co-managing partners of The Comeback. [2] [10] The SoDo location, approximately twice as large as R Place, [11] was proposed by the SoDo Business Improvement Association; Lovelady found SoDo appealing because of its relatively lower cost, central location, nearby parking availability, and limited noise restrictions. [7] R Place's head security host was hired to work at The Comeback. [2]
The Comeback's redesign was led by Andrew "Ace" Grant Houston [12] of House Cosmopolitan. Houston told Seattle Gay News that he was proud of his work, as the bar "represents the continuation of local Capitol Hill history in spirit". [2] The bar raised funds for the renovation via Indiegogo. [2]
In November 2021, Eater Seattle said The Comeback was planning to open in December. [13] In December, the business was hiring bar-backs, bartenders, hosts, servers, and other positions, [6] and aimed to host a grand opening on February 11. [14] In January 2022, The Comeback held a soft launch and moved the grand opening to mid-February due to supply chain issues. [7] Silky Nutmeg Ganache headlined "Lashes" in February. [8] Other events the bar hosted in 2022 included a ten-week drag competition called "So You Think You Can Drag", [3] an after party for a bar crawl held in conjunction with Pride Month, [15] and RuPaul's Drag Race viewing parties. [16]
The Comeback closed on April 30, 2023. [17] According to a social media post, the bar closed as a decision to "step aside" and let others influence the Seattle's LGBT community and scene. [1] The Comeback had a "blowout" liquor sale, [4] and the "Lashes" series was moved to Unicorn. [1]
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