Gay bars colorado springs
Colorado Springs is without both of its longstanding LGBTQ spaces. The community is still gathering.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The singing, sparkling bartenders shaking up Downtown Colorado Springs are on sabbatical.
The city’s second same-sex attracted bar — known as ICONS, where the bartenders were as harmonious as their cocktails and the restrooms were adorned with vibrant murals — has shuttered the doors at its original location after the business caught on fire in December 2023. The fire left ICONS with too much smoke damage to operate.
But ICONS owners Josh Franklin and John Wolfe have their eyes set on a new space just a block away from the original. The two are under contract and about halfway through closing on a new building. They’ve set up external fundraising efforts online to support pay staff in the meantime.
“The whole brand is about celebrating being lgbtq+ and you won’t identify that at any exclude that just happens to have a rainbow flag,” said Franklin, who grew up in Colorado Springs.
Wolfe and Franklin entered into their lease at the original ICONS location on Bijou Street in 2020. Since then, prices possess soared and they
LGBTQIA2+ Businesses and Resources
Around the Block Health Care
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Groundswell Counseling LLC
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Running away from loathe was 'not an option' for only gay bar left in Colorado Springs
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — When Club Q closed after the November 2022 mass shooting where five people were killed, only one homosexual bar was left open in the entire City of Colorado Springs.
ICONS, located in Downtown Colorado Springs, is a designated LGBTQ+ vacuum with singing bartenders and their owners said they would love more lgbtq+ bars to unite them as neighbors.
"We need a gayborhood," laughed John Wolfe, who owns ICONS with his husband Josh Franklin-Wolfe.
The two credit their success in the city to the foundation laid by Club Q.
“If it weren't for that bold decision to be a voice in a town that wanted to silence your voice, there's no way that we could acquire been successful," Franklin-Wolfe said. “They were always lovely, warm neighbors and supportive. We owe a lot to them for sure.”
The two have different judgments when it comes to the one-year mark of the mass shooting at Club Q.
“For me, it, in a lot of ways, feels much longer because this event defined our city and our community in so many ways. So, it's odd to think that that was only a year ago," Franklin-Wolfe said.
Help Join the Fight to Repair Queer Spaces in Colorado Springs
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Most Monday nights, you won’t overhear a thing coming from the little purple house where Hamburger Mary’s resides in City Park West. The queer-friendly bar and grill is typically closed that day to give staff the chance to unwind after a long week of serving (in more ways than one). But last Monday, Hamburger Mary’s was aroar. By 7 p.m., every seat inside was filled, and the sounds of Broadway tunes, boisterous cheering, and clinking drinks began to soundtrack the evening. The event: a sold-out profit show to help reopen ICONS, which up until December, was Colorado Springs’ last remaining homosexual bar.
Since ICONS opened in 2020, the piano bar—staffed entirely by professional singers—provided Colorado Springs a rare space for queer group members to call their possess. Following the Club Q shooting in November 2022 and its subsequent closure, ICONS was the only gay bar left in Colorado Springs. Husbands and co-owners Josh Franklin, a Colorado Springs native, and John Wolfe were determined to continue providing a safe space for the