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Scandals, a stalwart bar of the Portland LGBTQ+ community for 46 years, announced it will be closing the doors on its Southwest Harvey Milk Street location on Sept. 21.
“It’s been a rough year,” says Munro Rost, general manager of Scandals. “Ever since COVID it’s been an uphill struggle financially....It seems like downtown is about to turn a corner, and then something else happens to set it back.”
The owner, David Fones, decided not to renew Scandals’ lease at 1125 SW Harvey Milk Blvd. It is one of the last businesses standing of Portland’s original “pink triangle” of spaces for the gay community.
It’s not a complete end to the party, though: Rost confirmed that plans are still on for an eastside Scandals this fall on Northeast Alberta Street. That will be an all-ages, family-friendly queer space. Also, the downtown Scandals will host a closing weekend party.
“For nearly half a century, Scandals has been more than a bar. It’s been a safe haven, a gathering place, a dance floor, a stage and a home for so many in our LGBTQAI+ community and beyond. We’ve laughed, cried, celebrated and stood together through times of joy and times of challenge,” the bar said on social media.
The queer community is still smarting over the loss of a number of nightlife spots, including Sissy Bar and Crush departing Southeast Portland’s Buckman neighborhood at the end of 2024. Also, CC Slaughters’ will-it-or-won’t-it-close saga has been going on this summer. (It’s set to remain open, after an eleventh-hour buyer stepped up.)
Rost has worked at Scandals for 26 years.
“I’ve seen the community change and heard the stories and been there through lots of ups and downs with people,” Rost says. “It’s been a second living room to a lot of people.”
