The Comeback Seattle was an

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

-friendly

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

and

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

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 ...

SoDo Sodo () or officially Wolaita Sodo (, ) is a city in south Ethiopia. The city is a political and administrative center of the Wolaita Zone and South Ethiopia Regional State. It has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation between abov ...

neighborhood, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. Described as 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 ...

and

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

sports bar, The Comeback hosted drag shows and ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the Drag Race (franchise), ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder (company), World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, ...

'' viewing parties. The short-lived bar opened in early 2022 and closed on April 30, 2023. It was co-owned by Floyd Lovelady, a former general manager of the gay bar and nightclub

R Place R Place was a gay bar and nightclub in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington. The business operated in the Teal Building on Capitol Hill. History R Place operated for over 35 years. The original location was at Pike and Boylston. In 1996, ...

, as well as John Fish.

Description

The Comeback Seattle was a

and

on 1st Avenue in

neighborhood that catered to the

LGBTQ community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individu ...

. Writers for ''The Stranger'' described The Comeback as a

, a

sports bar, and a "gay-sports-dance bar ... that evolved out of" the gay bar

, which had operated on

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 ...

. The Comeback had

go-go dancers Go-go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at nightclubs or other venues where music is played. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s at the French bar Whisky a Gogo, located in the town of Juan-les-Pins. The bar's n ...

, weekend dance parties, and a weekly

drag show A drag show is a form of entertainment performed by drag (entertainment), drag artists impersonating men or women, typically in a bar or nightclub as a burlesque-style, adult-themed nightclub event. The modern drag show originated in the speake ...

called "Lashes", featuring local and touring performers. A

taco truck A food truck is a large motorized vehicle (such as a van or multi-stop truck) or trailer equipped to store, transport, cook, prepare, serve and/or sell food. Some food trucks, such as ice cream trucks, sell frozen or prepackaged food, but ma ...

often operated outside. The space was approximately 9,000 square feet and had a seating capacity of 150 to 200 people. The building consisted of modular walls, a game area to play darts and pool, and gender-neutral restrooms. ''The Stranger'' Renee Raketty noted the large open space with an "impressive stage and long bar". She said the venue was

ADA Ada may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle'', a novel by Vladimir Nabokov Film and television * Ada, a character in 1991 movie '' Armour of God II: Operation Condor'' * '' Ada... A Way of Life'', a 2008 Bollywo ...

-compliant, "with all the public areas on the same floor", and said the space had a large prep kitchen, a walk-in refrigerator, an office, and other private areas.

History

Co-owners Floyd Lovelady and John Fish opened The Comeback in early 2022, in a building which had housed the bar, event rental space, and nightclub Eden Seattle. Previously, Lovelady was the general manager of the

R Place. In 2021, Matt Baume of ''The Stranger'' said that with Lovelady managing The Comeback, he felt as if it was R Place's "spiritual successor". According to Lovelady, The Comeback was meant to match the spirit and mood of R Place by bringing back old activities. The Comeback was Lovelady's first bar to own. Following R Place's closure, he and Fish (a former patron) formed The Comeback Seattle LLC, acquired R Place's

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

accounts, and became co-managing partners of The Comeback. The SoDo location, approximately twice as large as R Place, was proposed by the SoDo Business Improvement Association; Lovelady found SoDo appealing because of its relatively lower cost, central location, nearby parking availability, and limited noise restrictions. R Place's head security host was hired to work at The Comeback. The Comeback's redesign was led by Andrew "Ace" Grant Houston of House Cosmopolitan. Houston told ''Seattle Gay News'' that he was proud of his work, as the bar "represents the continuation of local Capitol Hill history in spirit". The bar raised funds for the renovation via

Indiegogo Indiegogo is an American crowdfunding website founded in 2008 by Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin, and Eric Schell. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California. The site is one of the first sites to offer crowd funding. Indiegogo allows peo ...

. In November 2021, ''Eater Seattle'' said The Comeback was planning to open in December. In December, the business was hiring bar-backs,

bartenders A bartender (also known as a barkeep or barman or barmaid or a mixologist) is a person who formulates and serves alcoholic or soft drink beverages behind the bar, usually in a licensed establishment as well as in restaurants and nightclubs, ...

, hosts, servers, and other positions, and aimed to host a grand opening on February 11. In January 2022, The Comeback held a

soft launch A soft launch, also known as a soft opening, is a preview release of a product or service to a limited audience prior to the general public. Soft-launching a product is sometimes used to gather data or customer feedback, prior to making it wi ...

and moved the grand opening to mid-February due to

supply chain A supply chain is a complex logistics system that consists of facilities that convert raw materials into finished products and distribute them to end consumers or end customers, while supply chain management deals with the flow of goods in distri ...

issues.

Silky Nutmeg Ganache Silky Nutmeg Ganache (born December 31, 1990) is an American drag queen, drag performer most known for competing on the RuPaul's Drag Race (season 11), eleventh season (2019) of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and on the RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (se ...

headlined "Lashes" in February. Other events the bar hosted in 2022 included a ten-week drag competition called "So You Think You Can Drag", an after party for a

bar 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 a ...

held in conjunction with

Pride Month Pride Month, sometimes specified as LGBTQ Pride Month, is a List of month-long observances, month-long observance dedicated to the celebration of LGBTQ pride, commemorating the contributions of lesbian, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender a ...

, and ''

'' viewing parties. The Comeback closed on April 30, 2023. According to a social media post, the bar closed as a decision to "step aside" and let others influence the Seattle's LGBTQ community and scene. The Comeback had a "blowout" liquor sale, and the "Lashes" series was moved to

Unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unico ...

. In April 2025, ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'' reported, "Following the closure, local businesses and police say illegally operating nightclubs continued to operate at that building and others in the area, leading to violence and nuisance behaviors. In August, while the First Avenue South building was listed for sale, a 22-year-old man was shot and killed at a party inside." The building is slated to become a

sobering center A sobering center is a facility or setting providing short-term (4-12 hour) recovery and recuperation from the effects of acute alcohol or drug intoxication. Sobering centers are fully staffed facilities providing oversight and ongoing monitoring ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Comeback Seattle 2022 establishments in Washington (state) 2023 disestablishments in Washington (state) Defunct LGBTQ nightclubs in the United States Defunct nightclubs in Washington (state) LGBTQ nightclubs in Seattle SoDo, Seattle