NYC's last Black-owned gay bar fights for survival

Alexi Minko, owner of Alibi Lounge, reportedly the last gay bar in New York run by a Black owner, is asking for help to prevent the permanent closure of the bar.

Minko opened Alibi Lounge in Harlem back in 2016. “I fell in love with my neighborhood. I fell in love with my street,” Minko tells Now This. “[But] I walked about 20, 30, blocks, and I didn’t see anything that represented the LGBT image whatsoever.”

Alibi fixed that inclusion problem. Minko created a venue where New Yorkers could feel “automatically accepted, understood, and embraced.”

With the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in March, Minko had to close the bar for what he hoped would be a temporary period. He managed to secure a government loan, which, in New York City, couldn’t cover the bills for long.

“All of a sudden, we had no revenue, no income, no activity, and unfortunately, it put a dent on something that was already very precarious,” Minko says. “Running a small business, especially like a bar/restaurant, it’s a lot of work for no money.”

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