Madison Pub is a

gay bar A gay bar is a Bar (establishment), drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBTQ+ communi ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington, United States.

Description

Madison Pub is an LGBT-owned gay sports bar located at 1315 East Madison Street in Seattle's

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...

neighborhood. '' The Stranger'' has said the pub is "rumored to be the friendliest and least stressful gay bar on all of Capitol Hill", with loyal clientele. The newspaper has also described the venue as a "popular, crowded, and unpretentious" sports bar "for men who like men". The bar offers

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

pool Pool may refer to: Bodies of water * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a roc ...

pull-tab A pull-tab is a gambling ticket for a pull-tab game. Other names for the game include Break-Opens, Nevada Tickets, Cherry Bells, Lucky 7s, Pickle Cards, Pickle Tickets, Instant Bingo, Bowl Games, or Popp-Opens. Physical pull-tab tickets are m ...

s, trivia, and

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

History

Chet Harold opened the bar in May 1986. Madison Pub did not operate as a gay bar until July 1986. Michael Lull owned the bar starting in 1995, and Roland Hyre became the bar's third owner on December 31, 2010. The pub has sponsored local basketball, rugby, softball, tennis, and volleyball teams. In the 2009 ricin incident, Madison Pub was one of eleven Seattle gay bars that received letters threatening to poison patrons with

ricin Ricin ( ) is a lectin (a carbohydrate-binding protein) and a highly potent toxin produced in the seeds of the castor oil plant, ''Ricinus communis''. The median lethal dose (LD50) of ricin for mice is around 22 micrograms per kilogram of body ...

; the bar was the only one to not participate in a

pub crawl A pub crawl (sometimes called a bar tour, bar crawl or bar-hopping) is the act of visiting multiple pubs or bars in a single session. Background Many European cities have public pub crawls that serve as social gatherings for local expatriates ...

organized in defiance of the threat.

Reception

Madison Pub ranked number 38 on NewNowNext.com's (

Logo TV Logo TV (often shortened to Logo, and stylized as Logo.) is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched in 2005, Logo was originally dedicated to lifestyle and entertainment progra ...

) 2018 list of the 50 most popular gay bars in the U.S.

References

External links

* {{LGBTQ culture in Seattle 1986 establishments in Washington (state) LGBTQ culture in Seattle LGBTQ drinking establishments in Washington (state) LGBTQ-owned businesses in Washington (state) Restaurants in Capitol Hill, Seattle