As the Lexington Club Says Goodbye, A New Archive Will Preserve the Memories

This weekend was the grand finale for the 18-year-old Lexington Club, San Francisco's last remaining lesbian bar, and it was appropriately flooded with patrons streaming out the door to get in one final drink and one final selfie in the bathroom. The Chron reports that a packed crowd sang goodbye to Pat Benatar's "We Belong," as owner Lila Thirkield and the bar staff hugged and cried. Beginning this week, ownership of the Lex will transfer to Hilary and Gavin Newsom's PlumpJack Group, which has yet to announce specific plans for what the space will become.

But while the Lex may have served its last drink, it's not going to be forgotten anytime soon: five locals have teamed up to create the Lexington Club Archival Project, which aims to capture the "stories, sounds, and images" that defined the bar. Anyone with old photos, videos, and ephemera is encouraged to contact them; the collected information may end up appearing in a new documentary, for which two of the founders, Lauren Tabak and Susie Smith, are trying to raise $20K on Kickstarter. They've already premiered a 10-minute short from their footage, titled "Never a Cover," at this week's SF International Film Festival. And while the Lex can never be replaced, lesbians interested in finding other Bay Area community events should take a look at this map of bars and parties to check out in the post-Lex era, curated by Robyn Exton of lesbian dating app Her.