D.C.’S DYKARIES: PHASE ONE – D.C.’s LAST DYKE BAR (1971-2016)

Abstract

This project focuses on Phase One, a lesbian bar open from 1971 to 2016, which, before it closed, became the longest continuously operating lesbian bar in the United States. This project seeks to answer the question: Why did the “The Phase” stay open for 45 years while other lesbian bars, clubs, and bookstores open in the city during the same time period fail?

This ethnographic-centered project looks at intangible and tangible cultural heritage, theories of space and violence, and previously defined LGBTQ history in order to provide a framework in which to tell the history of Phase One and to understand its success. D.C.’S LAST DYKE BAR aims to document previously untold lesbian hxstory in the city, using oral histories and archival research to create a historic and graphic narrative of these spaces in order to preserve both the cultural and architectural heritage of lesbian space in Washington D.C..