Shelley Brothers, the Co-Owner of Seattle’s Only Lesbian Bar, Has Died | Eater Seattle
"The local LGBTQ community was dealt a devastating blow this week with the unexpected passing of co-owner Shelley Brothers at age 67, who died surrounded by loved ones on Sunday evening. In a social-media statement the bar shared: “It is with profound sadness that the [the bar] family shares the passing of our beloved Shelley, long-term family, friend, and co-owner of the [the bar],” and added, “She gave her life to this bar, ensuring that it remained a safe, welcoming space for generations of queer people to gather, celebrate, and find communion.” The post continued: “A pillar of Seattle’s LGBTQIA+ community, Shelley was a force. An icon. And a protector. Her impact is immeasurable, and her absence leaves a void that can never truly be filled. But her love, her kindness, and her unwavering commitment to this community will live on.” Opened on New Year’s Eve, 1984, the venue is the longest-running lesbian bar on the West Coast and one of the oldest in the country (the Lesbian Bar Project counts only 34 bars in the U.S. catering to gay and queer women). News of Brothers’s death is especially sobering for the local queer and lesbian community who have flocked there for countless DJ nights, karaoke nights, and drag shows, or just to catch up with friends. Brothers and her business partner Martha Manning took over from Bryher Herak, one of the five original owners, in 2003, and Brothers could often be found “working the door on Pike Street in Capitol Hill, getting caught up in conversation with patrons and neighbors.” Manning told the Seattle Times: “She was always at the door, always talking to people. The mayor of Seattle out there,” and added, “She knew all of the dog’s names in the neighborhood and even some of their owner’s names.” Born in East Rochester, New York, in 1957, Brothers lived in California and Carson City, Nevada, before settling in Seattle in 1992. On her first visit she was famously kicked out for ordering a keoke coffee (a complicated drink containing coffee, Kahlua, brandy, and creme de cacao) because the spot was licensed as a “tavern” and could not sell liquor; Brothers recalled to the Times: “I said, I don’t understand what a tavern is, I don’t know the liquor laws in Washington yet,” and, “And they said, ‘Get out!,’ so I left.” After returning the following evening, “no one even acted like they threw me out.” With a background in sound engineering for live events, Brothers began doing sound at the bar and was “the one sure that the TVs were connected when Ellen Degeneres came out on her self-titled sitcom in 1997.” She was proud of the community she fostered; celebrities who have passed through the garnet-red walls include Brandi Carlisle and Mary Lambert and athletes like Britney Griner and Megan Rapinoe, and BenDeLaCreme, the fan-favorite contestant from season six of RuPaul’s Drag Race, previously bartended alongside Brothers before appearing on the show. Reflecting on changing times, Brothers told Visit Seattle: “It’s a more diverse crowd now than it was historically, and that’s important to us,” and added, “Everyone is welcome as long as they’re supportive of one another. It’s important that this be a safe space for our community, but that community is diverse.” Tributes poured in online; longtime patron Jennifer Vandeversaid wrote on Facebook, “I haven’t been in the [the bar] in a minute, but I still remember sitting and chatting with Shelley when I’d be in town from fishing and no one else was in the bar. She’d always treat me like an old friend no matter how long it had been.” A celebration of Brothers’s life will be held on Sunday, February 16, from 2 to 9 p.m.; the venue requests photos or memories to be emailed to hello@thewildrosebar.com for inclusion in the event." - Kurt Suchman
