Beyond Drinks and Dancing: nYne Bar and Bistro’s Mission to Create Safer Spaces

Walking into the open space at nYne Bar and Bistro, the first thing I feel is a spaciousness and full-body sense of relief. 

The welcoming capaciousness is a luxury—for many queer people, walking into a bar can include a tightness, watching out for glaring eyes, assessing the situation. But here, I immediately relax into all of that room. Rainbow flags hug the wall, small groups of people chatter at tables. 

There is a 40th birthday party happening at one table—rainbow balloons sway above the party sipping drinks and laughing easily. Staff move about, stacking napkins, prepping the bar. It’s not busy yet—it’s early evening, I’ve dropped by for a drink. But in a few hours, this room will be packed with dancing people and queer folks across the gender spectrum, enjoying a drag performance by some of the Inland Northwest’s best drag performers. 

Even before I get to the bar to order a drink, I see familiar faces with big smiles, welcoming me. I’ve been coming here since the bar opened in 2010, and I know some of the people behind the scenes. Back then, I was a new transplant to Spokane and graduate student, trying hard to find queer community. I was not a drinker then, but I came to this bar regularly anyway, for drag shows, dancing, music performances, and even on a first date or two. I did find queer community here. It’s a great place to come for a drink, but, more than that—it’s a great place to be who you are.

Nyne Bar and Bistro has served Spokane for thirteen years and counting. Owned by Kitty Kane, the bar is located in a historic building downtown on Sprague Avenue that was once a public service automobile garage, Bear Frame and Axle, built in 1930. Exposed brick lines the west wall, and a window-paned garage door along the street opens in the warm weather to outdoor seating. The back of the room features a large stage, with capacity for dancing, karaoke, and live bands. 

Why nYne Matters

Creating and preserving safer spaces for all LGBTQIA+ people matters. Gay bars have a long history of being refuges for queer people. They began as underground spaces, and, for decades, their existence spread by word of mouth. They were places where LGBTQIA+ community could gather and find support, friendship, and love—they were places where queer people go to feel less threatened. 

But even inside of gay bars, the risk of violence and oppression lingered. For much of American history, LGBTQIA+ people faced government persecution, and, in the pre-Stonewall era, police regularly raided bars that were suspected of being gay-friendly. It was not unusual for people at those bars to be arrested during raids, and instances of police brutality, assault, and violence were common. 

Still, queer people kept gathering, despite the risks. Seeking community and understanding are a human need, and, even in the era of legal police raids, queer people needed each other. The Stonewall Riots, which are remembered every year in annual Pride celebrations in June, were a direct response to ongoing, systemic police violence, homophobia, and transphobia.

Now, in 2023, it is no longer illegal to dress in drag or to dance with someone of the same sex; however, violence against the LGBTQIA+ community continues in many ways. Transgender women of color face the greatest risk, with an astounding disproportionate number facing fatal violence each year. Queer youth face alarming rates of bullying, parental abuse, insecure housing, and suicide rates. Recent mass shootings, like the one at Club Q in Colorado Springs and the horrific Pulse Nightclub massacre remind us that, even in post-Stonewall U.S., hatred, homophobia, and transphobia still run deep.

For many LGBTQIA+ people, gay bars represent a place to find community, to explore love, to feel free and celebrated.  I remember being a young bisexual woman in college in Minnesota and looking forward to Friday nights at a St. Paul Frogtown district bar called Lucy’s, a queer bar that featured cheap drinks and packed dance floors. I met my first girlfriend there, a professional football player for the Minnesota Vixen, who asked if I wanted to dance, gave me her number, and swaggered away with my heart. I had learned early on that being anywhere on the queer spectrum—even for a cisgender, white, femme-presenting woman like me—meant sometimes encountering homophobia, but far less of that happened inside of the gay bars. They felt like a refuge and a space of freedom. For people who face even more marginalization and violence in the outside world—queer people of color, transgender and gender non-conforming people—having access to spaces of refuge and community like gay bars can be life-saving.

Making nYne an inclusive, safe space matters to Kane. Inclusivity for all LGBTQIA+ people is part of what keeps her passionate about running the space. Nyne is welcoming to everyone—women, men, nonbinary folks, lesbians, gay men, bisexual people, transgender people, and all queer identities.

Hardships and the Future

It is notable that nYne is a woman-owned bar. Women still receive far less financial support and investment in business ownership than men, and the pandemic years have disproportionately affected women entrepreneurs. For sure, the pandemic years have not been easy on nYne. The sudden closures and shut-down times have made profits slow. Still, Kane looks forward to the future, and she is actively making plans to keep nYne going strong and expanding access to safer queer spaces. The building space east of nYne, beloved former music venue The Bartlett, closed in late 2019, and Kane saw an opportunity. So she leased the space, and she is now making plans to create another queer venue in the neighboring spot. 

Kane envisions a quieter room connected to nYne, where people who want to be in queer community but who don’t want to be immersed in the throngs of people and pumping dance party bass can gather in a gentler spot. She says she wants to make it cozy, like a lounge vibe. There will be a full bar there, too, and she envisions an expanded kitchen, where people can order food and take it into either spot.

When I asked her when she thought the new space might open, she said enthusiastically that she hopes for it to be open by June of 2023—by Pride.

Regular and Upcoming Events

Nyne has regular, weekly events like Taco Tuesdays and Trivia Thursdays. There’s Karaoke on Thursdays, too, and there are Queer Comedy Nights on Tuesdays and Open Mic with Matty on Wednesdays, where local musician Matthew Danielson backlines the stage and you can sing your own songs with a live band. There is a monthly Retro Rockin’ Ladies Night, and nearly every weekend, there is a phenomenal drag show and dance party. The space is all-ages until 9:00 pm—an important note, since safe spaces for queer youth are both lacking and lifesaving.

Food and Drink at nYne

Featuring a full menu with a rotating weekly fresh sheet and weekly Taco Tuesdays, nYne can be a dinner spot or a great place for a bar snack. You can grab a beer on tap or enjoy a cocktail from nYne’s cocktail list. Feeling naughty? Try the nYne drink, with Kinky pink liqueur, lemon vodka, soda, Sierra Mist, and lime.

There is a wide variety of appetizers like nachos, pretzel bites, and edamame. The menu includes a spectrum of salads to a hearty list of handhelds, including tacos, burgers, and classic cheese on brioche. There are plenty of vegetarian options, like a black bean burger or a veggie wrap. Plus—bonus—since Kane is a co-owner of Halletts Chocolates, there are frequently chocolate and chocolate-inspired desserts on the menu, too.

Details:

Nyne Bar and Bistro is at 232 W Sprague Avenue, and they are open Tuesday-Saturday. Come by for a drink, a snack, dinner, or dancing. Learn more at their website here.

Liz Rognes (she/her) is a writer, musician, teacher, and mom. She is a songwriter, a composer and an essayist, and she co-founded Girls Rock Lab, a youth music program that amplifies the voices of girls and queer kids. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Eastern Washington University, where she is now a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and Philosophy.