Instead of announcements of decorations and parties at its Saturday staff meeting, Venture Inn staff will instead receive notice that the decades-old institution is shuttering its doors after the first of the year.
Venture Inn has one of the longest gay histories in the city, dating back to the 1970s. Its location on Camac Street just north of Spruce has been a fixture for generations.
Let’s go to Venture
For years Venture Inn was the go-to place for dinner and brunch if you were gay or lesbian. A favorite “date place,” couples could enjoy a meal, hold hands and feel at ease at a public restaurant when openness and fear went hand-in-hand. Saturday nights meant prime rib and you had to order it with your reservation to guarantee getting some. Sunday brunch went for hours every week to accommodate patrons. It wasn’t uncommon to go in looking for dinner and be asked to wait 30 minutes or more. Most of the time, people waited.
In 1977, long before it was the Gayborhood, Ted Wasserman purchased the then “gay-friendly” establishment from Hans Lang and promoted it as a gay bar and restaurant. The few other LGBT bars were scattered around the area and on the other side of Broad Street. The area had very few nice dining spots, mostly bar-food places and diners.
Over the years, the number of businesses and foot traffic increased until the Gayborhood became a thriving, vital nightlife destination as well as a solid daytime business area. The opening of the Pennsylvania Convention Center a few blocks away and office buildings converted into apartments and condos added more foot traffic.
But over the years as the neighborhood flourished, LGBT visibility and acceptance grew with it. Soon the quaint little bar with the fine-dining restaurant was no longer the only haven for dining dates, and celebratory dinners and patronage began to decline.
In the early 2000s, Wasserman, after 30 years of ownership, was rumored to be looking for a buyer. In 2007, Bob Berkowitz, the present owner, bought the establishment. He gave the restaurant a makeover and infused some fresh vitality into what had become considered an “older-crowd” bar and got it back on track.
Now, Venture Inn is about to become another casualty.
The bar and restaurant will remain open through Christmas and New Year’s Day, and the final “La Cage Aux Beach” drag show will be 11 p.m. Dec. 19. Reservations for dinner that night are highly recommended.
If the bar has a memory for you, or if you think fondly of the staff, “Venture Inn” one last time before the end of the year to thank them and show your appreciation.
Some information is thanks to The Gayborhood Guru. For a more complete history of the building and block, you can find comprehensive info and photos by William Way LGBT Community Center archivist Bob Skiba at thegayborhoodguru.wordpress.com.