The Palace, a South Beach gay bar of legend, notoriety, debauchery, and giddy fun is closing its doors at its current Ocean Drive locale because its new landlord is renovating Palace’s home of 30 years and wants the bar out. With an uncertain future ahead, the owners of Palace are currently looking for a new home.
The Palace, which is often just called ‘Palace’ by those who know it well, is legendary for many reasons. Here are just a few of them. For one thing, Palace is an institution, having been around practically forever, always packed with locals and tourists up for some good old gay fun. Palace’s drag shows are famed around the world. Palace was where the iconic fashion designer Gianni Versace had breakfast the day he was murdered on the front steps of his nearby mansion, as he was walking home from the bar. And Palace’s drag shows were the inspiration for the classic movie ‘The Birdcage,’ with Nathan Lane and Robin Williams.
Yesterday Palace posted a notice about the impending change to its Facebook wall for friends and family to read. That notice has been reposted in full, below.
UPDATE: An earlier version of this post said Palace was 20 years old. It is actually 30.
All photos by Phillip Pessar
