The Starlite Lounge Says Goodbye

i am a lesbian and have lived a couple blocks from the starlite for about 3 years. i pretty much walk down the street everyday holding hands with my girlfriend. i’ve never personally had any problem aside from occasional comments (which pretty much happens everywhere when you are openly gay – homophobic people are all around us). i think the notion that this neighborhood is particularly more homophobic than others is untrue and usually based in racism and classism.

i often patronize the starlite. to call it a gay bar is not totally accurate. they advertise that they are a “non discriminating bar” which i think suits them very well. gay people come there but so do straight people, and so do young people, and older people, new residents and old residents, and black, white, latino etc. it is a welcoming establishment.

this bar is a gem in the neighborhood. i met so many wonderful people whom i never would have gotten to talk to if not for the starlite. i will be so sad to see it go.

hope everybody comes out on saturday to give it a proper goodbye. hopefully we will see it reopen in the neighborhood.

I have to agree with Rob, partially.

There are parts of Crown Heights I do not enjoy walking around because of the looks, stares and occasional comments.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t safe, but comfort levels are different for everyone and I haven’t had great experiences walking around Crown Heights.

I feel safer walking around the projects in Boreum Hill than I do around Crown Heights actually. Those dudes down there seem a little more comfortable with their sexuality than the ones who seem to enjoy making comments on the streets of Crown Heights.

You know what they say….

No, *rob*, she was just trying to save some of his salary to feed the family — and pay the rent.

Those old Park Slope bars were notorious for the working-class drinkers who’d blow their week’s pay on a Friday night, their wives and kids be damned.

There’s a whole world of poor white New York folk that’s disappeared since World War II.

And in its place we have the “brownstone belt.”

Enjoy your latte. Your coffee shop may once have been just such a joint.

Thanks for the info, Montrose. I don’t remember the Starlite or any bar in the neighborhood.

Liquor stores were the other great fear. I don’t remember any of those, either.

But what kid looks for such places? (Except Pete Hammill, who’d be sent by his mother to drag his father out of Park Slope bars. Then again, Park Slope was considered less “good” than Crown Heights way back when!)