The coronavirus has claimed another small business: The Stud, San Francisco's oldest gay bar still in operation — until today that is.
Wednesday night, a month before San Francisco's 50th annual Pride celebration, the cooperatively owned LGBT venue announced its closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a lack of revenue.
The Stud has operated in San Francisco for 55 years, according to its owners. But don't count it out just yet.
Honey Mahogany, one of the club's owners and alum of RuPaul's Drag Race, said they're all collectively committed to finding a new home for the historic bar, which has played home to so many drag performances, comedy nights and raunchy, titillating events of all kinds.
"Everyone who is an owner feels strongly this is not the end of The Stud," Mahogany said.
The Stud's cooperative owners are seeking new venues, but it will cost at least $500,000, Mahogany said, which they do not have — yet.
The road ahead is long but, "We're working on it. We have not identified any locations, we are committed to finding one in the future, we just don't know when," Mahogany said.
With shelter-in-place orders in mind, The Stud cannot have a "goodbye" event in the bar, so on May 31 a funeral will be aired on Twitch.tv, Mahogany said.
— Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez (@FitztheReporter)