Robert’s Lafitte is the oldest gay bar in Texas and it’s on the verge of closing down. Here’s how you can help.
Texas’s oldest gay bar, Robert’s Lafitte, has been a safe haven in the Galveston community for over 60 years. Terry Lynn Fuller, who is an events coordinator and bartender at Robert’s, told Chron that the bar, “has always been a mixed crowd: gay, straight, bi, trans, people of all walks of life — People come off the cruise ships and go there. It’s the oldest continuously running gay bar in Texas, and there’s so much rich history.”
Now, that history may be coming to a close if the dive bar is unable to raise badly needed funds to complete a “laundry list” of renovations that need to be done within the next 30 days. Fuller explained to Chron that ceiling and plumbing issues needed to be addressed and the back bar needs to be brought up to code as well. “They’re things that cost quite a bit of money,” Fuller said. The accelerated timeline has come as the result of someone reporting the bar to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and the Galveston County Health District.
Work has already begun, but it’s mainly being funded by Tiffany De la Vega, Robert’s show director. She’s dipping into her own cash reserves to complete the repairs but is financially unable to handle the rest of the projects by herself. “Poor Tiffany has done her best to make sure that we’re getting Robert’s Lafitte back up to what it used to be. But she realized that day when this happened, she can’t do it on her own anymore. And we really need the help of our community to keep Robert’s Lafitte alive,” Fuller said.
The bar was originally opened under the name “Lafitte’s” back in 1965 and has operated in the same building (located on 25th Street and Avenue Q) ever since. Robert Mainor bought the business in 1970, hence the name change to Robert’s Lafitte, since it was technically his at that point. If Mainor’s name sounds familiar, that’s because he was featured in “Before You Know It,” a documentary that came out in 2015.
That documentary focused on Mainor, as well as two other gay seniors, Dennis Creamer and Ty Martin, as they navigated the later years of their lives. Mainor spoke about how he always wanted to create a space for members of the queer community and beyond to gather safely and comfortably. Robert’s Lafitte has been the realization of that dream.
Now, the bar’s employees are hosting a fundraiser to hopefully keep Mainor’s dream alive for years to come.
The bar is hosting a fundraiser on May 9
This Saturday, May 9, Robert’s Lafitte is holding a combination benefit/auction/drag show to help raise at least $10,000 to cover the cost of repairs, as well as the permits needed to conduct the work legally. The event starts at 8 p.m. and the drag show is slated to begin around 10 p.m. Additional details can be found here.
Michael Fuller said of the benefit, “We had to do something now to get the ball rolling.” He added that the team previously hosted an afternoon drag show and raised roughly $2,000 from that thanks to patrons and to the drag queens who donated their earnings to the fund.
As he told Chron, “Me and the other queens in the cast yesterday, we all just decided, ‘Nope, we’re gonna give every amount that we make today,’ which a lot of them really can’t afford that. But they are like me. They’re like, ‘If we don’t save the bar, then we’re really gonna have no place to go.’ So the outpouring of love and support yesterday was just really amazing.”
For those who are unable to attend on Saturday or who would like to lend financial support in the meantime, Robert’s Lafitte is accepting donations via GoFundMe, PayPal, and Venmo.
For additional queer bars you can support in Texas, please click here.
