Florida’s historic gay bar HG Roosters has reopened its doors and is ready to serve its community once more, following a US$2.5 million renovation. Olivia Palamountain reports

H.G. Roosters, which has served as a pillar for the LGBTQ+ community in Florida's Palm Beaches community for some 50 years, has reopened with an expanded interior and bold new look after years of historic restoration.

The bar faced significant challenges in 2020 when COVID-19 closures were followed by a fire that destroyed its interior.

The community rallied around its beloved bar, raising more that US$75,000 to help bring the venue back to life."Roosters has never been just a bar. It's a sanctuary - a place where masks come off and true selves shine," says HG Roosters co-owner A.J. Wasson. "It's where generations have come to be seen, be heard, and be free."

The venue's journey spans some eight decades, beginning in the 1940s as Club Sirroco before becoming Turf West in the 1970s – one of the first bars to identify as exclusively gay.

In April 1984, H.G. Roosters opened under its current name during the height of the AIDS crisis, quickly becoming a refuge offering healthcare, housing, comfort, and fundraising for those affected by the virus. Visitors to the reopened establishment will find a show-stopping cristallo quartzite bar top, larger kitchen and wall-sized historical collage honouring its vibrant past.

A revamped cocktail menu pays homage to LGBTQ+ trailblazers and historic venues, including the "Harts Desire" (an old-fashioned nod to Harts Nightclub of the late 1930s), "My Apartment" (a Bombay Sapphire gin concoction named after a 1960s lesbian bar), and the "Heidi and Greta" (a rum-based drink toasting the drag queens who put the "H.G." in Roosters).

The reopening serves as a cornerstone of Pride Month 2025 in West Palm Beach. On June 29, 2025, HG Roosters will host its inaugural Pride Brunch, followed by the Compass Community Center's Stonewall Ball event on June 30, at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.

"Roosters has held us through heartbreak and hardship, witnessed the spark of new love, and given us a place to grieve our losses and celebrate our victories," says Julie Seaver, executive director at The Compass Community Center. "To see its doors open again is to feel a piece of ourselves come home."

Designated a historic site by the City of West Palm Beach, H.G. Roosters represents living LGBTQ+ history and stands as a testament to community resilience and the enduring power of safe spaces for marginalised communities.