Marsha’s will close for good after its final shift on Sunday, Oct. 18. The South Street bar, which opened in September 2025 as Philadelphia’s first queer women’s sports bar, announced the decision in an Instagram statement on Thursday.
That is just under 13 months open.
“It is with heavy hearts that we have decided to close.”
Marsha’s closing statement, Oct. 15, 2026
The statement gave no reason for the closure. Owner Chivonn Anderson has not publicly explained one, and Philadelphia Gay News reported that her team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The bar asked regulars to come back for one last weekend.
Thirteen months, start to finish
- Sept. 19, 2025Marsha’s opens at 430 South St., named for Black trans activist Marsha P. Johnson. Anderson and chef Trisha Eichelberger buy the building and the liquor license outright instead of leasing.
- Feb. 20, 2026About a dozen Philadelphia police officers, city Licenses and Inspections staff and state Liquor Control Enforcement agents enter the bar during a late-night compliance check. No violations are found and no citations are issued.
- March 18, 2026Val’s Lesbian Bar opens two blocks away at 605 S. Third St.
- April 2026A former manager publicly alleges a hostile workplace involving racism, transphobia and retaliation. Marsha’s denies the allegations. The general manager leaves the role, and Philly Black Pride moves a Pride weekend event to another venue.
- September 2026On its first anniversary, the bar posts that it has changed management and trained staff on biased language and microaggressions. Anderson takes part in a community listening session.
- Oct. 15, 2026The closing announcement goes up on Instagram.
- Oct. 18, 2026Final shift.
What queer women in Philly still have
Val’s is still open at 605 S. Third St., and it is the only dedicated lesbian bar in Pennsylvania. The Lesbian Bar Project counted about 36 lesbian bars nationwide before Val’s opened, down from more than 200 in the 1980s.
Marsha’s was never formally one of them. It was a sports bar built to put queer women, trans people and people of color at the center, with a portrait of Marsha P. Johnson above the bar and bleacher seats pulled from an old stadium. Anderson has said the idea started in 2019, when a bartender at another South Street sports bar argued with her before agreeing to put the Women’s World Cup on the television.
Philadelphia’s dedicated spaces for queer women
Three venues since 2021. One is still open.
- Toasted Walnut closed 2021The city’s last lesbian bar before the gap. Closed during the pandemic.
- Marsha’s 2025 to 2026430 South St. Closes Oct. 18.
- Val’s Lesbian Bar 2026 to now605 S. Third St. The only lesbian bar in Pennsylvania.
The closing statement did not ask for sympathy. It asked for a replacement. The bar wrote that it hopes “someone is able to step up and fill this void.”
That is a hard ask. Marsha’s was not a pop-up or a monthly party in a borrowed room. Anderson bought the property and the license to make it permanent, and it still lasted 13 months. After the Toasted Walnut closed, the city waited more than four years for the next one.
Marsha’s is open through Sunday at 430 South St.