The 19 Bar

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The 19 Bar has been operating near Loring Park since 1952, making it one of the oldest continuously operating gay bars in the United States and the oldest in Minneapolis. The bar predates Stonewall, predates the gay liberation movement, and predates the formation of the neighbourhood commercial gay scene that developed on Hennepin Avenue — it was serving the city's gay community when that required a certain courage and a willingness to inhabit spaces that were not entirely safe. Seven decades later, the 19 Bar remains a neighbourhood dive bar in the best sense of the term: no frills, no pretension, no cover charge, and no entertainment programme beyond the people in the room and the drinks at the bar. The clientele is loyal and predominantly local; the atmosphere is the specific warmth of a place that has been doing the same thing for a very long time and doing it well. The Loring Park location connects the 19 Bar to the traditional heart of Minneapolis's LGBTQ+ community — the park where Twin Cities Pride happens, the neighbourhood where the community has been most residentially concentrated. For visitors interested in the history of gay bars as institutions, the 19 Bar is not just a stop but a living document.