The younger lesbians politely pay respects to Star Gaze, but in reality the closing barely registered as a blip on their radar screen. When the Andersonville lesbian mainstay Star Gaze closed, the demographic of lesbians similar to its 62-year-old owner Mamie Lake felt the hit the most. Soon, Spyners doesn’t look like the last surviving lesbian bar in Chicago-it just looks like a bar trying to survive. As the night wears on at this divey watering hole (often referred to by heteros as “Lesbian Karaoke Bar”), the college kids start to outnumber the sapphic regulars. A handful of middle-aged lesbians halfheartedly clap at the song’s close but never really break conversation with their old friend Jack Daniel’s.
It’s a little after 10pm on Saturday night, and two fresh-faced girls are belting out Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me” at Spyners Pub.
