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‘We’re still here’: Historic gay bars in Palm Springs see light at the end of the tunnel
Despite more than a year of closures, many of the bars on Arenas Road are open again. "These bars are more than just drinking places," one owner said.
Story by Amanda Ulrich | Photos by Taya Gray
Published
2:55 pm UTC May. 7, 2021
Bartenders at Chill Bar are slinging drinks — a vodka soda here, a couple “margarita martinis” there — beneath two glittering, life-size mannequins suspended from the ceiling.
Outside, a group of women in all pink and matching cowboy hats arrive on the back of a bar bike. Up the street, a server at Hunters offers up a tray of neon Jello shots to customers sitting on the patio. Masks, occupancy limits and social distancing aside, it could be any pre-pandemic Friday night on Arenas Road, an entire block lined with gay bars and businesses in downtown Palm Springs.