Rebar: Closed Until Reopening in South Seattle
Rebar, the host of Flammable Sundays (Seattle’s longest running house music weekly) and DnB Tuesdays, will be closing until reopening in a new location in South Seattle in Fall 2021. Sunday evening live streams of Flammable Sunday will continue via Twitch.
All good things… First of all, thank you Re-bar family for supporting us for 30 years in downtown Seattle. So happy that we were able to celebrate our 30thAnniversary just before the Covid 19 virus lockdown started. Re-bar opened up in 1990 and featured Nirvana, Seattle’s Hedwig premiere, and the birth of Seattle luminaries Riz Rollins and Dina Martina along with countless classic Seattle performers. We have long been on the cutting edge of raw art in the Pacific Northwest.
30 years later finds us host to 2 of the longest running electronic music nights in the world- Flammable and DnB Tuesdays. We are home to long running theater, film, and performance art shows like Brown Derby, Ms. Pak Man, Collide-O-Scope, and Bawdy Storytelling. We have banging dance nights that leave the walls sticky like Night Crush, Bootie Mashup, and Ceremony. We have hosted drag legends and game shows. Fundraisers for kids and memorials for our friends. People have met their soul mates here and had terrible break ups in the middle of the dance floor. Some people come here to meet friends. Some people come here to dance by themselves. You’ve stuck with us on nights with 10 people on the dance floor, and you waited in line for an hour to get in when it was packed to the walls. We were the first club in Seattle to offer free water at the counter, free Mass Shooter training, free CPR/ First Responder training, and free Narcan training as well as providing a safe space for all sexes, genders, races, abilities, nationalities, belief systems, and all loving beings.
We survived losing a beloved show, survived a nightclub moving in directly behind us, lived through 4 years of constant construction with no aid from developers or the city, survived every block around us turning from parking lots and local businesses to 40 story skyscrapers. In the face of increasing gentrification, we pushed our story to survive. This year Re-bar was featured in the Seattle Times, Stranger, KIRO7, KUOW, KEXP, KOMO4, Q13, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal about performance art venues and iconic historical businesses that create community in their areas.
We have and will continue to continue providing Re-bar content online as our nights continue as livestreams like Flammable, DnB Tuesdays, Ceremony, and other one off shows. Look for upcoming livestreams of our performance art shows.
With the phased reopening plan, we wouldn’t be open until fall with severe restrictions. Its been costing the venue $10,000 a month to stay closed and we cant sustain this any longer. We are super proud of our community for the fund raising that has allowed us to finish paying our employees and function during the lockdown. But adding in other financial issues, we will not be reopening at our Howell St. location. Re-bar will be taking an 18 month hiatus and reopening Fall 2021.
You’ve supported us for 30 years. We would like you to meet us in Spring 2021 to be involved in the process of reopening Re-bar for our 31st Anniversary on Seattle’s South side as a 7 day a week bar and nightclub with full food service. We’ll be rising like the phoenix.
We love feedback. If you feel called to, let us know at [email protected]. Love to you all!
Owner Dane Garfield Wilson also noted:
I’m going to try to come back in the spring, lets meet back in Seattle in 2021. I’d like you to be a part of reopening Re-bar with me. Because you know that first Flammable at the new spot is going to be off the fucking chain. -Dane
2018 Flammable Sundays flyer:
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