Divas San Francisco

[dc_guy_75]

I personally wasn't there, but know several peeps who were there. A fight between two girls broke out in 2013. A guy tried to break it up (he is 6'4/250 lbs) and lost an eye from a girl's heel, which she was took off her foot and had in her hand.

Brianna had been previously banned from the place, but slipped in. The guy tried to sue Steve for not having proper security (there was never any security, besides Steve), but was unsuccessful. The guy had a really bad reputation among the girls, and he's an avid Trump supporter from Marin County of all places (according to his Facebook page), so fuck that guy.

[crutsinger]

This is sad news, truly the end of an era. There are not many of these gritty fun casual bars left around the country, El Gato in Chicago, Peanuts in LA, Edelweiss in NYC, Jacques in Boston still open but has changed, Le Round Up in NOLA, The Oxwood in LA, the old Ziegfields in DC, .....all gone. A few remain open like Cruisin' on 7th in Phoenix, SRO in San Diego, and the Las Vegas Lounge but with Divas closing those are the only ones left.

[Lorca81]

I was in the service and then school for a lot of the 90s, so I only hit the Motherlode a couple of times and I didn't know Mark. So this is secondhand, but I believe the original concept was that "Divas" was to be the name of the whole complex. The first floor would be the new Motherlode, and the third and fourth floors would be Dragon, a club aimed at young Asian men. But Mark's partner Joe died and Mark got sick, so they canceled the Dragon part and Steve came in as a buyer. Steve told me it took until 2001 before he was finally able to get all the financing together to complete the sale, but Mark was basically out of the picture as of late 1998.


One of the other Divas regulars, a guy a little older than me from out in the Avenues, told me there was a little-known drag bar in the TL called Divas that was combined with Motherlode in the new building, but Steve says that's not true.

Thanks for the info. Even though I'm local, I've never been a regular or met the owner and only been there a handful of times, when then-current girlfriends wanted to go.

That said, I'm still sorry to hear Diva's is closing because represents a vestige of San Francisco's edgy past, which has been largely forgotten with gentrification. Also, I know for many transwomen and crossdressers, Diva's is a very special place.

[Lorca81]

Does anyone have any proof that divas is sold or closing?

The building's sale and impending closure has been confirmed here and here. Although, it sounds like the manager is looking for a new location so they can reopen.

[crutsinger]

This would be a nice development if they could find a new location and re-open but the new building won't hold the memories of the original location. The places like Divas where all pretense is checked at the door are nearly extinct. No place, however, rivaled Edelweiss back in the day. Wild, wild times.

The building's sale and impending closure has been confirmed here and here. Although, it sounds like the manager is looking for a new location so they can reopen.

[gaysian71]

So sad. I heard from Alexis that it's over. The 30th of this month is the closing party. Alexis wants to keep it going somewhere, but I don't think she has the resources to do it.

Such a bummer. I've been going there off and on ad long as I can remember. It's gonna be hard to get a replacement spot. Asia SF is cool but it's not the same. Although who knows, with Divas gone maybe the downstairs bar at Asia SF will become more trans attractive.

[crutsinger]

I hope someone that attends the last night at Divas posts some photos from the final curtain for this legendary bar. At some point we should start a thread on all of the classic gritty bars from the past. When I lived in DC I would take Amtrak up to NYC once or twice a month to go to Edelweiss. Club Edelweiss was just insane in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

[golfingphantom]

I had been planning to go in the near future anyways, but due to the news I went last night. I finally got some dances from the legendary Rose and she is a very sweet lady. I hope something else comes along to replace Diva's, but as times change I will not hold my breath.

[chi73inla]

So many great Asian Tops. I would love to service Sabrina one last time.

[Ben in LA]

...SRO in San Diego...

Even THAT is on the clock. I’m heading there on Saturday so I can get the complete scoop.