Local
Double L bar in Rehoboth Beach sold
Venue to reopen as ‘Diego’s Hideaway’
Owners of the Double L Bar in Rehoboth Beach sold the business on March 29. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
John Meng and Mark Fernstrom, longtime owners of the Double L Bar, Rehoboth Beach’s leather bar, sold the business on March 29. The new owners, Darryl and Joe Ciarlante-Zuber, are also longtime Rehoboth business owners, having owned the restaurant Dos Locos for 17 years. In those years the partners (in business and life) expanded their business from a small location where the former Seafood Shack was located on Baltimore Avenue, to increasingly larger spaces until it moved to Rehoboth Avenue. They sold Dos Locos in March 2017.
After taking some time off, they said they wanted to stick to their roots in the hospitality business at the beach, and contacted Meng and Fernstrom, who had been interested in selling their bar, and told them of their interest in purchasing the business.
The bar has a unique and rare tavern license, which means it need not sell food. This interested the new owners, so when they opened it during the Easter weekend it retained its status as a tavern.
According to Joe Ciarlante-Zuber, “we will make some changes including fixing up the outdoor patio to give it a more tropical feel and revamping the bar design by adding a new draft beer system.”
The bar will be renamed Diego’s Hideaway and will reopen soon. The new owners plan to continue the popular Saturday night Man Dance, Gear it UP Friday night and will bring in Thursday night performances by Bearlesque, a popular group out of Philadelphia.
Owner Darryl Ciarlante-Zuber said, “The Hideaway has the largest gay dance floor in Rehoboth Beach and provides off-street parking.” He is “pleased at the overwhelming support we received when word got out that we had purchased the bar.”
The bar is located on Rehoboth Avenue, next to Crystal’s Restaurant.
Photos
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony
The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.
A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.
The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade
WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.
Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.
2025 D.C. Trans Pride was held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on Saturday, May 17. The day was filled with panel discussions, art, social events, speakers, a resource fair and the Engendered Spirit Awards. Awardees included Lyra McMillan, Pip Baitinger, Steph Niaupari and Hayden Gise. The keynote address was delivered by athlete and advocate Schuyler Bailar.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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