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“At the beginning of this, we were trying to stay on top of our online events,” said McIntire. Many fear that paying off the backlog isn’t going to be doable with the expected numbers as the percentage of people allowed inside bars is still incredibly low. But these events have only managed to raise so much money.
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“What the city might now realize is they can’t be so picky about those regulations.” Many of the bars have continued onwards with the support of online events, such as Twitch streams promoted by performers from Drag Race. is very protective of the concept of having enough parking spaces and whatnot, and those kinds of things really hinder a nightclub and a bar,” said Scott Craig, owner of Akbar in Silver Lake. Parking itself has long been a massive issue in Los Angeles, with strict regulations meaning that businesses across the city have long had trouble opening if there wasn’t enough parking nearby. “So many of us when we opened these, having an exposable outdoor space was not near the top of anyone’s list,” said McIntire. Rooftops and parking lots have worked out more consistently for the bars that could afford them.
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We started losing money because the sales weren’t so strong. “We tried to do a to-go model and still sell food, but because of opening and then closing for the riots and protests in Downtown LA, we were closed for another ten days and all the food spoiled. “We were closed for the first month,” said Oliver Apuche owner of Redline DTLA in a phone interview. Many tried various business models in order to try to survive, but most had trouble coping with restrictions, especially in high-density areas like downtown where there was little room for outdoor setups. Many gay bars had not considered having outdoor spaces or selling food, things that would become requirements for the pandemic. The short notice meant that bars had no time to prepare or to make arrangements. “During that time when you’re not expecting something to happen, everything comes to a halt, no income coming in.” “They only gave us a two-day notice we had to shut down,” said Brian McIntire, owner of Precinct DTLA in a phone interview with L.A. Many have shut down, and some permanently. A s Los Angeles starts to show signs of normalcy after a long year of pandemic-induced closures, the LGBTQ+ community has difficulty keeping the community together as gathering spaces and gay bars across the USA hold on by a thread.