Eagle gets 4-month reprieve on move

The D.C. Eagle (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The D.C. Eagle, one of the city’s oldest gay bars, can remain in its current location at 639 New York Ave., N.W., until March 30, four months beyond an initial Nov. 30 deadline set by the developer of a high-rise office building that will displace the Eagle and other businesses in the area.

Eagle manager Carl Domer told the Blade this week that the bar continues to search for a new location in D.C. and is hopeful that the popular leather-Levi establishment will have found a suitable building prior to March 30.

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Alexander Padro, who chairs the ANC with jurisdiction over the area where the Eagle is located, said officials with the Douglas Development Corporation agreed to his request that the Eagle and a few other businesses in the footprint of the planned office building be given more time to find a new location.

“They graciously agreed to extend the Eagle’s departure date to give it a little more breathing room to find a new place,” said Padro. “We were able to convince them to adjust their schedules so they weren’t putting in an unnecessary earlier departure date for them.”

Another Eagle manager, Ted Clements, told the Blade last month that the hoped for new location would be the fourth home for the Eagles since its founding 41 years ago.

“We’ve been in a four-block radius for the past 40 years,” he said.