Athena Keke’s

Two New Women’s Sports Bars Are Opening in NYC, Athena Keke’s and Wilka’s | Eater NY

"Co-founded by Claudia “Clau” Capriles and Alexandra “Al” Murray, who met while working at the now-closed East Village restaurant the Eddy, this upcoming Clinton Hill bar aims to be both a community hub and a dedicated place to watch women’s sports. Capriles recalls the origin: “It was just so difficult to find a place to watch the games, especially if the U.S. team wasn’t playing,” and after getting community board approval in February they are shooting for a late-spring debut. The namesake cat (Athena, a tabby they adopted in New Orleans in 2018) serves as mascot and logo. The owners frame sports as inseparable from larger social issues: Murray says “Sports is always political ... to say not would be very naive.” They add, “There’s so much money that goes in, and where there’s money, there’s politics and taxes,” pointing to the U.S. women’s soccer team’s equal pay lawsuit, and continue: “it’s just very reflective of society at large,” they continue, “And I think a lot of good can come out of the crossover of sports, activism, and just caring. In women’s sports, you see that a lot more so played out. It seems to always have been part of it.” A friend, Caroline Fitzgerald, founder of Women’s Sports Rally, helped shape the idea that the space should be fun and cool while also “rally[ing] behind something bigger”: “Her whole goal is to really play on that idea of: ‘Yes, this can be fun and cool and we can support women’s sports, but we can also rally behind something bigger,’” Murray says. For pre-opening watch parties (often held at Brooklyn beer bar Berry Park) they’ve partnered with Women’s Sports Rally and the Working Families Party to educate voters. When it opens it will feature lots of screens, a full bar and full kitchen (menu influenced by Murray’s Baltimore roots and Capriles’s Bolivian upbringing — “it’s safe to expect something with Old Bay”), plus a library corner built from books they’ve been collecting about queer spaces, queer history, and women’s sports. Both owners are active fans — they hold season tickets for the Liberty and Gotham FC — and Capriles sums up the feeling they want to capture: “It’s so great to be in a room full of people that obviously are there to watch the sports, to support [the teams], ... There’s a feeling of something greater, something bigger, and that’s important for us. We’re excited to have one space dedicated to it.”" - Nadia Chaudhury