The site of the new Pitchers Sports Bar – Photo: John Riley/Metro Weekly
Pitchers, a new LGBTQ sports bar, will open in Adams Morgan in June. David Perruzza, the longtime manager of JR.’s Bar, has signed a 10-year lease for a building that for years housed Adams Morgan mainstays Spaghetti Garden, Roxanne Restaurant, and Peyote Karaoke Cafe.
“I feel like I’ve done all I can by running [a bar] but not being an owner,” Perruzza told Metro Weekly. “So I said, ‘It’s time to move on. It’s time to start my life fresh and do something new. I’m not going to lie. [Leaving JR.’s is] a little heartbreaking for me, but…I’m happy I’m starting something new.”
Encompassing 10,000 square feet, Pitchers will have five different individual bars and will include a sit-down restaurant on the first floor that will serve tavern-style food, such as burgers and chicken sandwiches, until closing. One of the bars will double as a meeting area where local charities and community groups can hold events and fundraisers.
A separate English basement-style entrance will lead to a bar catering to the lesbian community, while the remaining two bars — each boasting its own rooftop patio — will cater to sports lovers, with TVs broadcasting the latest games.
“The reason I wanted to open a sports bar is because we know sports teams come as they are,” he says. “When you come to D.C. and you don’t know anybody, you join a sports team, they become your family. Then you have a whole new outlet of friends, and then when they all go out [together]…you see how great they are. They can wear their jerseys in here. I’m like, ‘Oh, my god — I love when you wear your jerseys in here. You have pride in what your sports league is.’
“I think those sports leagues are what makes the city amazing,” he adds. “If they want to come to me to raise money or sell things, they can come in. You want to sell Jell-O shots? Perfect. Come in. I’m more than willing to help out.”
Site of the new LGBTQ bar Pitchers – Photo: John Riley/Metro Weekly
Perruzza estimates he will need about 20 to 35 employees, and will put out a notification on the bar’s Facebook page in the coming weeks. But don’t expect to see the familiar faces of JR.’s behind the bar.
“I’m not robbing all the other places that I know and taking away bartenders,” he says. “I’m going to put an open call out there, and if they’ve worked for me and they want to apply, they can apply.”
Perruzza is donating the furniture from the bar’s past iteration to Casa Ruby’s new house on Georgia Avenue NW. Anything that the organization does not need or take will be donated to other local LGBTQ organizations.
Reflecting on the past two decades, Perruzza says he never expected to work full-time in the service industry.
“When I moved to D.C. twenty years ago, I thought I was going to get a job at the Pentagon,” he says. “I had a top-secret clearance. They said, ‘You’re golden. They’ll teach you what to do.’ I started working at JR.’s at coat check, and I worked my way up, but it was the people that kept me there. We have some of the best customers in the world at JR.’s.
Site of the new LGBTQ bar Pitchers – Photo: John Riley/Metro Weekly
“I think what I’m going to be most sad about is the customers,” he adds. “Our customers are just very generous, good people, and that is what I’ll miss the most. I know they all live locally, so I’m hoping that some of them will go to both places.”
Perruzza emphasizes that Pitchers will be a place for the LGBTQ community to relax in a positive, safe space.
“I don’t want any negativity,” he says. “I don’t want hate in here. I don’t want drama. I want a friendly staff, so that anytime somebody walks through that front door, they’re gonna feel welcome. That’s my goal. That’s how I want to run this place, and that’s how it’s gonna be.”
Pitchers, located at 2317 18th Street NW, is currently aiming for a soft launch on June 5 to 7, with a public opening planned for Friday, June 8.
The strangest thing Pixie Windsor ever sold was a stuffed cat.
“I was like, oh, my god, I can't believe I sold a dead cat,” laughs the longtime proprietor of Miss Pixie’s Furnishings & Whatnot. “But it was early on, when I wanted to be just as weird as I could possibly be. Selling that cat -- I mean, that guy moved to New York, and every once in a while he’ll send me a picture. He goes, ‘Fred is still around.’ I think his story was he always wanted a pet but didn’t want to have to take care of it, so there you go!”
Pixie adds she also “sold the big taxidermied groundhog that they used for the Groundhog Day celebration at Dupont Circle.” She has long since moved away from selling stuffed animals at her antique store, known for its eclectic tchotchkes, offbeat art, and gorgeous vintage furniture sourced from regional auctions and estate sales.
The owners of Pink Pony, a new gay nightclub in Sydney, have apologized and vowed to change the club's name following backlash from the local LGBTQ community.
Kevin Du-Val and Michael Lewis — the owner and manager of the popular gay club Palms — had planned to open their new multi-level venue on Oxford Street, the main drag in Darlinghurst known for its vibrant LGBTQ nightlife, in early December.
But the club's name — which the owners said in a since-deleted social media post was "unashamedly inspired by its namesake song that resonates so profoundly within our community," referring to lesbian singer Chappell Roan's hit "Pink Pony Club" — sparked controversy after they described the type of patrons they hoped to attract, seemingly at the expense of others, according to 9News.
Capital Pride Alliance Board President Ashley Smith has stepped down, effective October 18.
Smith was elected board president in 2018, succeeding longtime leader Bernie Delia, who passed away in 2024.
In a brief emailed statement to Metro Weekly, Capital Pride Alliance confirmed Smith’s resignation, saying the organization was recently "made aware of a claim" regarding Smith but offered no details about the nature of the claim or the circumstances surrounding his departure.
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