New gay bar to open in Denver

As the Denver queer nightlife faces a slew of changes, a new bar opens this week to fill a void that the Denver Eagle left behind.

Trade, located on Sante Fe and 5 th, is taking over the building that formerly hosted the Barker Lounge, but has an entirely new and different attitude that will fill the quaint space.

Trade, as defined by Urban Dictionary, is a man who messes around with other men, but no one would ever know by looking or talking to him, or A theoretically straight man who likes to “sit back and get serviced” by gay/bi men, with little or no sexual reciprocation.

This is fitting, as Trade will be the newest Levi’s & Leather bar in town, but welcomes all with open arms. The importance of being open to all in the queer community and its allies is highly stressed by the owners, Ray Hurtado and Chris Newell.

“We want everyone to feel comfortable here,” Ray said. “We decided on the Levi’s and leather theme because of our own personal affections for that certain community. Chris was always in the leather scene and was Mr. Leather Colorado 2009, so it’s something we know well. ”

“We want to harbor a gay community not just for gay men,” Chris said.

It was early this year that Ray, alongside his business and life partner Chris, saw an opportunity to pursue one of their dreams: owning a gay bar. For the past decade, Chris has been a bartender in Denver working first at the Eagle for three years before moving on to The R&R, where he has bartended for seven years. But he knew that he always wanted to open a bar of his own.

In January, when the building went up for lease, Chris and Ray called the landlord right away. At the time, The Eagle had yet to announce that it would be closing its doors, but they knew that the bar would eventually be moving.

“We saw this transition period in gay night life happening, so we sat down with each other and talked it over and eventually decided that now was the time,” Chris said. “Since then everything has been just falling into place.”

Even though the plans have been “falling into place,” the amount of work that has been put into the building is huge. Although they kept the carpet, the layout, and even some of the bar stools and tables, Ray, Chris, and a handful of willing volunteers have been working endlessly to whip the bar into their own space.

In a month, the team of renovators has completely repainted the bar, installed paneling in the bathrooms, which give the bar a bit of a rustic Colorado vibe, reworked the liquor shelves and the fireplace, and added some upholstery to match the theme of the bar.

“We just threw some lipstick on the pig if you will,” Chris said.

Trade will open on Wednesday, April 20, and while they work out the kinks will not be hosting any big events for a few weeks. But, once the bar conquers its opening weeks it will be hosting regular events such as Underwear Night, which has been missed by many in the community since the Eagle closed its doors.