Gay bar in allentown

Owner Candida Affa expects the transfer to be complete by the end of summer. News of the sale surprised bar patrons past and present who have frequented the spot the last 37 years.

‘Stonewall Memories Project’ Preserving Landmark Gay Bar’s Legacy

Affa said she has already received dozens of messages on social media. So many found their significant other here. The extra hours attracted gay and straight clientele. For the first year and a half, Affa said neighbors called the police times in an attempt to shutter allentown bar. Affa said she threatened to sell the business to a less desirable owner who might turn it into a rowdy bar or worse.

Eventually, the case landed in court. Affa persevered. Louie Belletieri, who now owns the restaurant, said he advised Affa to stick with it. He said the neighborhood had been equally unfriendly to the Italian Belletieri family when they moved there in Belletieri said he cautioned Affa to keep the street and grounds around her bar spotless.

Gay never failed, he said. In the mids, as the AIDS crisis shattered the gay community, the bar became a place for people to talk about the mysterious disease claiming the lives of their loved ones. She worked alongside other city activists for years. More recently, Affa, now an Allentown councilwoman, volunteered the bar as a rallying spot for a solidarity march in the wake of a gay nightclub shooting in Orlando that killed In a more subtle show of support to the community, Affa also moved into an apartment she built above the bar.

Now 73, she and wife Kim Danish plan to continue living there after the bar is closed. Affa said she has no plans to rent out bar bar space. Bradbury called Affa Wonder Woman, but said she understood why Affa would like to retire from the business. By Emily Opilo. More in News.