Fave Los Angeles Lesbian Bar The Normandie Room Goes Under

The Normandie Room, one of West Hollywood’s landmark lesbian bars, has become the latest victim of the recession and will close its doors for good “around the end of July, beginning of August,” owner Jason Shokrian said.

Shokrian, who is straight, opened the bar Oct. 28, 1993, and said he initially didn’t plan for The Norm, as it is commonly referred to by regulars, to be a lesbian bar.

“I opened it with the mindset that everyone be treated equally, no preferential treatment due to gender or sexual orientation,” he said. “Due to the fact that women were not treated very well at other establishments at the time (in West Hollywood) they started to gravitate here.”

The Norm joins a list of smaller businesses to close their doors in the region in the past few years including novelty store Don’t Panic, coffeehouses Swing Café and Little Frida’s as well as LGBT bookstore A Different Light, which shuttered this year.

Owner Bill Barker said in February that two factors led to the bookstore’s demise: a major construction project renovating Santa Monica Boulevard that lasted nearly two years and “killed foot traffic”; and the fire that burned down neighboring bar Mickey’s in August 2007. And then, in a parallel to The Norm, the economic recession was the last straw.

Shokrian said he “cannot give (the bar) the attention that it needs to thrive and in many different ways, She — yes, it’s always been a ‘She’ — is telling me it is time to move on.

“It has been a struggle since the end of last year and business never picked up enough to justify my continuing to do this,” he added. “I have shed many a tear and will continue to do so long after I have handed the keys to the new owners.”

While no final date is set for the bar’s last bash, he said it will be around month’s end or early August.

Shokrian said a place called Gym, a boy-oriented sports bar, “being opened by two very nice guys” will take over the location. “At the very least I had to like who was taking over,” he added.

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