Park slope gay bar
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“This sounds cliche, but we compare it a lot to ‘Cheers,’” said Chris Christman, who happened to be there on Excelsior's opening day. Nayden recounted how the property’s owner at the time had agreed to a five-year lease extension, only to turn around & sell the place while the then newly-married business partners were off enjoying their honeymoon.
Kennedy & Nayden quickly reassured the community that it was not the end for Excelsior.
Meanwhile, the original Excelsior location is now home to a multipurpose event space for rent called 390 Social. Such great guys & bartenders ❤️.”
David Zinn (misterdavidzinn): “The best, truly. Good Judy is also the sister bar to Clinton Hill's C'mon Everybody, so you know you're in good hands.
So, what are you waiting for?
Excelsior officially closed for good on July 31st, 2019, crediting community pride for the watering hole’s longevity & continuously rising rents for its ultimate closure.
In a beautiful twist, the second Excelsior address lived on as a queer space, however, when Good Judy took over the location, opening its doors in 2020 and managing to hang on through the Covid pandemic.
❤️ sorely missed.”
Liam (lsean): “We used to call it Ex-Chelsea-Whore.”
Reyrose (rey__rose): “LOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The cleverly named cocktails and jello shots are a must-try, and the classic drinks are always on point. “‘Excelsior’ means ever onward & upward, & that’s what we plan on doing,” said Nayden at the time, "we’re going to find a better space & we’re going to continue to serve the community.”
Not much later, Excelsior did in fact reopen, this time just a few blocks south at 563 Fifth Avenue between Fifteenth & Sixteenth Streets.
Right in my born and raised Park Slope 💗.”
Bar Details
Good Judy is located in Park Slope's Fifth Avenue in New York City, occupying the space previously held by another LGBTQ+ bar called Excelsior that went out of business in 2019.
Timing Your Visit To Good Judy
Good Judy is open every day of the week, making it the perfect spot for a night out with friends or a weekend party.
"I used to say it’s an extension of everyone’s’ living room, a chance for people to relax and have conversations and feel safe", said Nayden.
Excelsior offered gay Park Slopers a small and intimate place to gather & quickly became a local favorite hangout.
The two Fifth Avenue bars are named among 17 LGBTQ spots on the list — including some steeped in history for their gay-rights advocacy — which was released Wednesday by Eater in honor of the start of Pride Month.
Find out what's happening in Park Slopefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Editors described Ginger's as a "lesbian hangout at its core" that "welcomes all members of the LGBTQ+ community and attracts bargoers of all ages and genders."
The bar — located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifth Street — closed for over a year during the pandemic, reopening at the end of 2021 to a good deal of fanfare.
Find out what's happening in Park Slopefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The low-lighting, cheap drinks, kitschy decor and pool table make Ginger's a "legit dive," editors said.
It was owned and operated by Richard Kennedy & Mark Nayden, who in '99, had moved into the building shortly after their landlord bought it and soon thereafter opened Excelsior on the ground floor.
But, thanks in part to the outdoor enclosed garden, the bar doesn't have a club-vibe, and instead is an "ideal spot fora chill night of pool and music," according to Eater.
A bit further south, on Fifth Avenue and 15th Street, is Good Judy.
Patrons recounted their love and longing for Excelsior:
Steven Bednasz (stevenbednasz): “Excelsior was one of the first gay bars I ever went to here in the city when I moved in around the corner!
“It’s a neighborhood bar that happens to be a gay bar.” In his review, Paul L. perhaps summed up the Excelsior experience best: “With no good bars in my area I jumped on the Q to the R and rode into a place I would eventually call home and my family.
And, as editors pointed out, the bar-slash-venue often has events, making it a good spot for a drink or a dance party alike.
It ran at that location for another five years, providing Park Slope with a homey queer community space for a combined twenty years.
"Good Judy in Park Slope feels like a good balance between a dive bar meets a disco with a loyal local following," Eater said. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
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Located first at 390 Fifth Avenue and then at 563 Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn, Excelsior was one of the longest running gay bars to exist in Park Slope, operating as a community watering hole for over twenty years in a neighborhood where gay bars were otherwise few and far between.
Excelsior first opened its doors in 1999 at 390 Fifth Avenue between Sixth & Seventh Streets in Park Slope.