Southern Nights goes down
South that is. On January 24, co-owners to Southern Nights Orlando announced they would be opening a Southern Nights Fort Lauderdale.
Originally opening more than three decades ago as one of Central Florida’s favorite gar nightclubs, the location on Bumby Avenue has gone through many makeovers and name changes from Southern Nights to RBarr to the NEW Southern Nights then Revolution, eventually re-opening as RBarr, but didn’t sit too well with locals.
After three months the RBarr shut its doors and rebranded itself as Southern Nights, although not much to the bar had changed with the exception of some staff shuffling. In early 2015, Watermark reported rumblings of GBar in Tampa’s Ybor City possibly closing and selling to Southern Nights; this was confirmed by Rick Kowalczyk, one of the owners of Southern Nights, but later retracted by the Orlando staff. Although, Southern Nights Tampa became a reality soon after in June 2015.
Several months ago, our staff reached out to the management of Southern Nights Orlando regarding the Boutique Bar, which was scheduled to open a few doors down from SN Orlando. At the time we were told the ownership was busy scouting for new locations for Southern Nights; looks like Fort Lauderdale will be getting a taste of Orlando’s first LGBT chain bar! We reached out to Rick regarding the exact location of the third bar and opening date, as this issue went to press we didn’t hear back, but it’s safe to say after sharing it on Facebook we doubt they will retract the announcement. So will this be Southern-er Nights?
So, Mardi-Gay!
Universal Orlando Resorts released its full list of entertainment for its annual Mardi Gras celebration, which includes Mardi Gras floats, beads, Zydeco bands, Cajun food vendors and the concert series. Two acts stand out, Fifth Harmony (Feb. 25) and then there’s Olivia Newton John (March 5) who has us wondering what to wear: our Bad-girl Sandy look from Grease or our sparkle rollerskates from Xanadu? Although, Universal security may say the latter is a Xana-don’t.
Why we tell the story
The Family Equality Council, StoryCorps, WMFE and the Center have teamed up planning a story collection project in March to record the stories of LGBTQ families that were affected by the Pulse tragedy. For more information contact Tatiana Quiroga with the Family Equality Council, tquiroga@familyequality.org.
