Pegasus closing downtown; reopening in new venue

by Timothy A. Strother

After nearly three decades, a symbol of LGBT pride and history will soon close its doors for the last time.

Scott Noxon, owner of three Pittsburgh nightclubs, said Pegasus Lounge, located on Liberty Avenue, will permanently close on Dec. 6.

Noxon, who has owned the popular nightspot for five years, said that despite its popularity and notoriety in and around the city, the nightclub had been suffering heavy financial losses for several years. Although those losses have been minimized since he bought the business, Noxon said continued financial losses would be an inevitable consequence of keeping the bar open.

“My choices were to either scale back or close, and we’re only open three nights a week as it is now,” Noxon said. “I just can’t keep trying to make this go.”

Noxon added that he projects the club has lost at least $100,000 this year, a number too costly to justify its continued operation.

Noxon also noted that although he owns the business, Pittsburgh’s Cultural Trust actually owns the building where Pegasus is housed, which adds rent to an already long list of monthly expenses. In addition to Pegasus, Noxon also owns the Pittsburgh Eagle on the North Side and There Video Lounge on Liberty Avenue.

Despite the unfortunate news of its demise, Noxon said Pegasus has served a variety of functions, and leaves behind a legacy of service to Pittsburgh’s LGBT community and its allies.

 The Pitt Men’s Study, which is the world’s oldest, ongoing epidemiological study of HIV in gay and bisexual men, was formed by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, who set up shop at Pegasus. Even though the Study could not offer much in the way of incentives, many of the club’s patrons immediately signed up to participate in the Study and donate blood samples.

Noxon added that the Pitt Men’s Study actually prompted the formation of the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force, which offers free and low cost services for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.

In addition to its charitable significance, Noxon said the bar also served as an escape for LGBT teenagers and young adults who feared harassment and retribution because of their sexual or gender identity.

“Everyone could always think of Pegasus as a safe place,” Noxon said. “Young men and women could go there and be who they were and just have fun, without worrying about [having to act] too butch or too feminine.”

Like so many other businesses that have failed in recent months, Noxon said he blames part of Pegasus’ demise on the economic woes that have plagued so many U.S. citizens in recent years.

Noxon added that the Internet has also been especially detrimental to the nightclub industry in general because of the simplicity of meeting people online.

Noxon said his biggest concern is these factors will lead to the demise of other LGBT nightclubs, which could cause an adverse ripple effect throughout the gay community.

“Gay bar owners are responsible for every worthwhile organization in the city. The Pitt Men’s Study, PATF, the Delta Foundation—all of these [organizations began] at the bars,” Noxon said.

And because of the fund-raising by the gay bars and clubs, Noxon wonders, “[I]f the bars start closing down, where are all the gay charities going to get their money?”

Although Pegasus will no longer be operational after Dec. 6, past and present patrons are paying tribute to its legacy via the Internet. Noxon said patrons have actually posted Web sites where people can share memories and photos of the bar.

“It’s an awesome tribute to the bar,” Noxon said.

 “Pegasus is probably most well known for the wide variety of entertainers and cabaret performers lip-synching to the songs they loved best,” he said.

Noxon also recalled one of his own memories from the bar’s heyday back in the mid 1980s, when he actually saw a group of city council members having a meeting at one of the tables in the lounge.

“Who knows what they were doing, or what they were talking about,” Noxon said. “Back then, it was the place to be if you didn’t want anyone else to find you.”

After the bar closes, Noxon predicts the building will remain vacant for quite some time. He estimated that the building would probably need $500,000 just to bring it up to code, so that it complies with current city and state laws.

Whatever the case, Noxon said he was honored to have been a part of what has become a staple in Pittsburgh’s LGBT history.

“Everyone knows this place. I hear so many people say ‘Pegasus was the first gay bar I’ve ever been in,’” Noxon said. “I hope that’s how it will be remembered: The home of everybody’s first gay bar.”