Legendary Long Beach Gay Piano Bar Paradise to Close in April

After 30 years, Long Beach’s iconic Paradise Bar and Restaurant will close in April. According to LongBeachize, the neighborhood gay bar was purchased by the owners of Black, a quiet LA bar not far from the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Paradise Bar is Long Beach’s oldest gay piano bar and has maintained a steady presence within the city’s LGBTQ community, which leaves some fans of the place wondering what will come next. Black is owned by Bethany Black and Shannon McManus, and they cater to a straight, skate-focused customer base. The pair also ran the famous Viper Room back in the 1990s. It is unclear what changes might take place at Paradise Bar. Eater has reached out for comment, but the new owners are waiting to take possession before speaking any further.

As for the reason behind the shutter, it’s hard to say. LongBeachize speculates that Paradise had struggled to fill its room nightly since 2013, but the gay piano bar scene overall in greater Los Angeles has been struggling for years. The Other Side in Los Feliz had been a gay piano bar situated under the Flying Leap Cafe on Hyperion Avenue since the early 1970s, until it’s shuttering in 2012. That address went on to become Hyperion Public.

Paradise Bar & Restaurant
1800 Broadway Avenue
Long Beach, CA

• Long Beach Queer Staple Paradise to Close in April; Space Acquired by Hollywood Bar Black [Longbeachize]
• Hyperion Public Almost Ready to Serve Silver Lake [ELA]

Correction: an earlier version of this article did not have the comments from Black’s owners, Bethany Black and Shannon McManus.