To 'Excelsior' & Beyond: Park Slope's Gay "Cheers"
Located first at 390 Fifth Avenue and then at 563 Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn, Excelsior was one of the longest running gay bars to exist in Park Slope, operating as a community watering hole for over twenty years in a neighborhood where gay bars were otherwise few and far between.
Excelsior first opened its doors in 1999 at 390 Fifth Avenue between Sixth & Seventh Streets in Park Slope. It was owned and operated by Richard Kennedy & Mark Nayden, who in '99, had moved into the building shortly after their landlord bought it and soon thereafter opened Excelsior on the ground floor. "I used to say it’s an extension of everyone’s’ living room, a chance for people to relax and have conversations and feel safe", said Nayden.
Excelsior offered gay Park Slopers a small and intimate place to gather & quickly became a local favorite hangout. “This sounds cliche, but we compare it a lot to ‘Cheers,’” said Chris Christman, who happened to be there on Excelsior's opening day. “It’s a neighborhood bar that happens to be a gay bar.” In his review, Paul L. perhaps summed up the Excelsior experience best: “With no good bars in my area I jumped on the Q to the R and rode into a place I would eventually call home and my family. By yourself or with friends, Excel kind of leads the pack as an easy hang in the gay bar scene in NY. The bartenders are friendly, sweet folk, especially that Jim guy and it's impossible to not find yourself making one or two new friends [on] any given night.”
Excelsior operated at its 390 Fifth Avenue location for over fifteen years before it announced its temporary closure in July 2014, when its lease expired. Nayden recounted how the property’s owner at the time had agreed to a five-year lease extension, only to turn around & sell the place while the then newly-married business partners were off enjoying their honeymoon.
Kennedy & Nayden quickly reassured the community that it was not the end for Excelsior. “‘Excelsior’ means ever onward & upward, & that’s what we plan on doing,” said Nayden at the time, "we’re going to find a better space & we’re going to continue to serve the community.”
Not much later, Excelsior did in fact reopen, this time just a few blocks south at 563 Fifth Avenue between Fifteenth & Sixteenth Streets. It ran at that location for another five years, providing Park Slope with a homey queer community space for a combined twenty years. Excelsior officially closed for good on July 31st, 2019, crediting community pride for the watering hole’s longevity & continuously rising rents for its ultimate closure.
In a beautiful twist, the second Excelsior address lived on as a queer space, however, when Good Judy took over the location, opening its doors in 2020 and managing to hang on through the Covid pandemic. It continues to operate today, keeping the teal colored doors that once served as the entrance to Excelsior. Many patrons who frequent Good Judy these days were of course once Excelsior folk, but the bar also excels at attracting a newer and more diverse queer community with drag shows, dance parties, and other recurring events. Meanwhile, the original Excelsior location is now home to a multipurpose event space for rent called 390 Social.
Patrons recounted their love and longing for Excelsior:
Steven Bednasz (stevenbednasz): “Excelsior was one of the first gay bars I ever went to here in the city when I moved in around the corner! Such great guys & bartenders ❤️.”
David Zinn (misterdavidzinn): “The best, truly. ❤️ sorely missed.”
Liam (lsean): “We used to call it Ex-Chelsea-Whore.”
Reyrose (rey__rose): “LOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Right in my born and raised Park Slope 💗.”
