19 Bar was rebuilt after a recent fire and remains a cornerstone of Twin Cities Pride

A week before crowds flocked to Loring Park for the annual Twin Cities Pride Festival, Grace Seelinger pulled up in front of a nondescript gray building just a few blocks away: 19 Bar.

“I don’t really feel like there’s another place like it,” Seelinger said. “I haven’t found a place that really scratches that itch in the same way.”

Passersby may not notice it at first glance. It is a low building with no windows and only one sign with the name on it at the front. It has been a gay bar since the 1950s, when discretion was a necessity.

The bar’s more than 70-year operation has been at a standstill since it closed following a fire on March 22, when a garbage truck struck a nearby utility pole. Electrical wires hit the building’s gas supply, causing a spark in the basement, which eventually spread to the bar upstairs.

No one was injured, but bar manager Craig Wilson explained the inside was charred.

“Everything had to come out,” Wilson said. “The bar itself, the bar top. It was removed down to the studs.”

The bar is in the process of reconstruction. Wilson said crews are cleaning the inside and repairing the roof, but due to uncertain permitting timelines and weather delays, he’s not sure how long it will take. Wilson said insurance will cover the costs.

In the meantime, the bar’s absence is hitting hard, especially during Pride weekend, when it is normally busy with people passing by from the Pride festivities in Loring Park.

“It feels like we’re at a loss now that ‘The 19’ is gone,” Wilson said. “It’s like the entire community is at a loss.”

Before the fire, the inside was a classic dive: bar in the middle, pool tables on the left, darts and a few tables on the right. The atmosphere has not changed much in 70 years. The bar only accepts cash payments and there are no drag, karaoke or dancing facilities. The bar is simply a place where friends can meet and chat.

Seelinger found 19 Bar after moving to Minneapolis in 2022. She was just starting to come out as transgender and didn’t have much community here – until she found the bar, where she met her best friend.

They became regular customers and even got jobs there together.

“I wasn’t able to fully come out until I met her and started working with her,” Seelinger said. “She was the person who really helped me sit down and say, ‘Okay, how are you going to create your wardrobe for work?’ And I really needed that in a friend.”

Wilson has heard dozens of stories like this about friends and partners meeting at the bar. He describes 19 Bar as the living room of the neighborhood. Wilson says people who live in the area often come in, attracted by the low prices, late hours and central location.

Ryan Patrick Murphy has been part of that community since the mid-90s. He discovered 19 Bar as a student. After graduating, he moved into the red brick apartment building just around the corner.

“I’ve actually been at 19 at least once a week for 20 years,” Murphy said.

Murphy is a professor of history at Earlham College in Indiana, but calls Minneapolis home when he’s not on campus. He has studied the role of bars in LGBTQ+ movements.

On the 19th he met local activists, people older than him who had promoted gay rights; it is also the place where he heard stories about attacks on gays in the neighborhood.

“You had this kind of activist passion, but you also had this intense backlash,” Murphy said. “A lot of that scene revolved around ‘The 19.’”

Those years also marked the end of the darkest part of the AIDS epidemic in the United States – something that, according to Murphy, hung heavily above the 19 Bar. Regulars had died.

He has seen 19 Bar change over the years, along with the LGBTQ+ community. When he started going, the clientele was mostly older white gay men. He says it’s more diverse now, in terms of age, gender and race.

“I’m just really excited about the queer community in general,” Murphy says. “People have fought their way in from a much larger part of the community that used to be more on the margins.”

The 19 Bar community responded quickly as news of the fire spread.

Two online fundraisers have raised more than $30,000 for the bar’s eight employees, who Wilson said are picking up side jobs while out of work.

Several other bars around the Twin Cities — gay bars and others — stepped in to help. Black Hart of St. Paul hosted a drag night fundraiser; Eagle MPLS invited the staff as guest bartender for an evening. The proceeds went to the employees.

“Everyone has reached out,” Wilson said. “It was great to see the community come together and show the love and support for us.”

Wilson wants to bring the bar back with the same atmosphere it always had. Staff have salvaged most of the old posters, neon signs, the jukebox and a stained glass lamp that hung over the pool tables – it’s all now being thoroughly cleaned, Wilson said.

Wilson says they will update the paint, but the simple coziness will remain the same.

“I want to get the bar open again and bring everyone back, and I want to give everyone a big hug to keep them safe until we get there,” Wilson said.

He says people will hear about it once 19 Bar is ready to reopen.

“Let it be known: as soon as we find out, I will be standing on the roof and screaming.”