(Logo courtesy Kurt King)
TAMPA | Kurt’s Place, a new concept from LGBTQ+ entrepreneur Kurt King, will officially begin operating at City Side Lounge March 3 after the LGBTQ+ bar closes March 2.
City Side has served Tampa Bay’s LGBTQ+ community since 1991 and was purchased by owners Delon Cunningham and Michael Rivera in 2020. They announced its closure Feb. 10, citing operational costs.
“A lot of people would love to have the space and I would love for it to stay open, but we’ll see,” Cunningham told Watermark Out News Feb. 11. “… please continue to support gay businesses. If you don’t support them they’re not gonna survive.”
King, who returned to Tampa last year after moving to Michigan, first teased he would open a new bar in the area Feb. 13. He subsequently confirmed it would be Kurt’s Place at the former City Side Feb. 26.
The entrepreneur has a long history of providing safe spaces in the region. In addition to co-founding the current iteration of Tampa Pride and other organizations, he owned and operated the former Hamburger Mary’s Tampa, St. Petersburg, Brandon and Clearwater franchises as well as LGBTQ+ bars like Baxter’s and Chambers.
King currently works for a wholesale retail company in a corporate position. He says he had no plans to open another bar, something that changed when City Side announced its closure.
“I got home from work one night, I read the post about City Side and I know [owners] Mike and D very well,” he explains. “They bought the bar during COVID and kept it open for five years and it’s really hard to do that now.
“So I was really upset over City Side and called them,” King continues. “We talked and this is helping them out. It’s going to help the community out.”
King also says he’s known the building’s landlord for decades and that he expects a smooth transition between the two businesses. It’s among the reasons he plans to attend City Side’s final weekend.
“The younger generation, they don’t need gay bars and safe spaces [the way older generations did] and don’t know what we had to go through,” King says. “But they’re going to need them now. In the next few years I’m going to get very political again … we need to get our power back. We need to get our rights back.”
Kurt’s Place will retain City Side’s hours, daily from 11 a.m.-3 a.m., with a renewed focus on its happy hour. King also says he’ll utilize the bar’s entertainers and employ as many existing staff members as possible, another reason he wanted to take over the space.
“I didn’t want these people to lose their jobs,” he explains. “It’s hard to find a job, especially if you’re transgender. At one time we had 18 bars in Tampa and now we’re down to four — I just want to have a safe place to go, a bar for open-minded people where everybody’s welcome.”
Kurt’s Place will begin operating March 2 at the former City Side Lounge, located at 3703 Henderson Blvd. in Tampa.
