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For me personally, a little while ago we were out at a location here in Harlem. Richard: I think Charles and I have different outlooks on what kind of launched the idea of the lounge. Were there any other contributing moments to opening the lounge? We kind of killed two birds with that stone because the urban LGBTQ+ community in New York City doesn't have a lounge specifically for us. So, not being able to move into a lot of liquor stores and bars, gave us the idea of well, why not have our own bar and sell our spirit to our clientele in that bar. We were able to constantly to private events with them. We were able to get into a few stories in Harlem and we did find a lot of opportunities with a lot of the LGBTQ organizations here in New York. How has the reception been with the vodka?Ĭharles: A lot of stores weren't initially receptive due to it being a new spirit brand, and it didn't have a big name behind it. It's the same with the bar: we did everything is on the side and we have to do it after 5 p.m. We started the vodka brand and we do a lot of private events and we continued to work our full-time jobs. So we thought that would be a really good name for the product to give a little nostalgia.Īt the same time, you're still working full-time in insurance?Ĭharles: Yes, we're still full-time insurance now. So we did a little research on the community and found the significance with the Lamdba symbol in the community. Initially, the name of the brand was going to be Rainbow Vodka.
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I found a distillery in Florida that would be able to create the product for us, and they were humble enough to walk us through the entire process given that we didn't have any previous experience with spirits. So I started doing a little research online. One day I saw an advertisement for Ciroc while I was at work and I thought to myself, well why doesn't the LGBTQ+ community have a spirit that's created by us and targets us directly. We decided we wanted to move into a different type of business. We purchased multi-family home and then we wanted to purchase another home but, you know, things didn't pan out the way we wanted them to. You guys getting into business together was interesting, right? You launched a vodka line and got your first shipment the day you got married?Ĭharles: We initially started investing in real estate. Here, we talked to the married couple behind Lambda Lounge, Charles Hughes and Richard Solomon, about getting into the business and the importance of the space. And though the new Harlem-based spot had to delay its opening, this month it finally opened in a limited capacity. Alibi, which was saved from closure last month by crowdfunding, was set to be joined before quarantine by a Lambda Lounge. In New York City, there has been one Black-owned LGBTQ+ nightlife space, Alibi, after the 2019 closing of Langston's. And for the most intersectional of those spaces: the pandemic has been a death knell. The social distancing guidelines have had an outsized impact on queer and trans night life in particular. With the ongoing global pandemic, businesses are shuttering left and right.