Re-Bar Interior, Seattle, WA, April 1997

Photographer Lance Mercer

Visual image Re-Bar

Date1997

DimensionsOverall (HWD): 8 × 10 in. (20.32 × 25.4 cm)

Credit LineMoPOP permanent collection

Object number1997.170.4

Text Entries

Portal Description

This photograph depicts the busy interior of Re-Bar in April 1997, from the perspective of the DJ booth. Steve Wells and Patrick “Pit” Kwiecinski opened Re-Bar in January 1990 at 1114 Howell Street, which had long been a safe space for Seattle’s LGBTQ community. The Night Hawk Tavern (or Nite Hawk) opened in the 1930s, creating a center of gay nightlife featuring cabaret, followed by Thirsty’s in the 1970s, which then became Axel Rock, a dance-focused venue, in the 1980s, and finally Sparks Tavern, which added full-length stage plays, before Re-Bar moved in. Until 2020, when Re-Bar, like many venues, closed indefinitely during the COVID-19 pandemic, they hosted disco nights, art exhibits, theatre, drag, burlesque, and live bands, supporting generations of LGBTQ patrons and performers. KEXP’s Riz Rollins got his start as a DJ, becoming a big part of Seattle’s Black music scene, David Schmader put on his first three plays, and drag performer and comedian Dina Martina was born at Re-Bar. The venue also hosted one of the longest running poetry nights in the West, Seattle Poetry Slam, and a weekly Sunday dance night, Flammable. On September 13, 1991, Re-Bar also hosted the infamous release party for Nirvana’s second album, Nevermind.

Physical Description

Horizontal photograph with a thick white mat. The image, which is slightly blurry and poorly lit, was taken from a DJ’s booth at Re-Bar, showing two turntables with records spinning and a lamp over each, which makes the table, which fills the bottom third of the image, the most well-lit part of the photograph. People are dancing on the floor in the background, and there is a spotlight coming from the right side of the crowd, as well as a disco ball in the upper part of the image, slightly to the left, which appears purple and is lit by two ceiling lights.

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