After lesbian bar Hepburn’s closed its doors in late 1995, local women were left with a dearth of nighttime activities. They could choose to cross the thresholds of the many male-dominated bars in the Gayborhood, attend some of the weekly or monthly lesbian-centered parties or just opt out of the social scene. That is, until a new women’s bar was born in the summer of 1996.
Sisters is now entering its 15th year in business and has, for the past decade-and-a-half, proudly embraced its distinction as the city’s only lesbian club.
“It’s a blessing and a curse,” said Sisters manager Denise Cohen of the club’s claim on lesbian nightlife. “It’s hard to be everything to everybody all the time, but that’s what we try to do.”
When Sisters opened on June 19, 1996, Cohen said the management team had a vision for a club that would offer both innovation and comfort.
“What we wanted to do with Sisters was really take it to the next level,” she said. “We were really state-of-the-art for the time with the sound system, the look of the bar, the events we were doing. There was a space of probably eight or nine months from when Hepburn’s closed and Sisters opened, so we really wanted to give women a space to call their own but also just take it up a notch.”
Cohen said Sisters has been committed to providing a “clean, safe and comfortable” atmosphere since its opening but noted that the look of the bar has changed over the years — going from a more ’90s gray and neon pattern to the current warmer orange and brown décor — as has the clientele.
“We have people who are coming out younger and younger and coming in,” she said. “I think it’s easier for young people now both to come out and to find us, with Facebook and websites and everything. I don’t think we even had a website when we opened.”
The 15th-anniversary launch party last month, however, drew in both the younger generation as well as women who had turned out for the club’s opening-night party, Cohen said.
While Cohen said Sisters welcomes the diversity of its customers, those differences — coupled with Sisters’ status as the city’s only lesbian bar — often pose some challenges.
“With the men’s bars, they all have their own niche — Bike Stop, 12th Air, Woody’s, all of them have their own type of crowd. But at Sisters, we have to be everything for all these different types of all people all the time. It’s hard to please the older crowd, the younger crowd, the guys that come in, the different ethnic groups. Some people think we don’t do enough hip-hop, or oldies, or Latin music, so it definitely is a struggle.”
Finding the proper balance between all of those elements has been key to Sisters’ success.
“I like to look at it as four corners: We have a different demographic audience in each of those corners, a lot of different audiences at any given time. And two of the groups may be rocking out and two are going, ‘This isn’t my scene.’ With every bar in the city, sometimes you miss the mark and sometimes you freakin’ hit the moon, with everyone walking out saying how great the party was. One night may not be someone’s cup of tea but then the next night would be something they’d enjoy. So we’ve tried to mix it up a lot to appeal to all types of different people, and since we’ve been able to do this for 15 years, I think we’ve done a damn good job of that.”
Sisters will continue to mix it up throughout their 15th year with a host of new and traditional parties.
Cohen said the club is working on recruiting cast members of the “Real L Word” for a fundraiser for a local cancer survivor later this month, and all of the club’s celebrations will have an extra anniversary component to them.
“We want to tie our anniversary in with all of our annual events, so OutFest, Halloween, the night before Thanksgiving, all will be the 15th time we’ve held these parties so we want to celebrate that,” she said. “We’re going to have some pretty wild theme parties, great drink specials, our Sirens Dancers putting on shows and great giveaways. It’s going to be a really fun year for us.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].