'A Different Kind of Ladies' Night'
By Fritz Hahn
Washington Post Weekend Section
Friday, May 12, 2006

Washington has one of the largest and most active gay communities in the country and an appropriately diverse nightlife scene that includes sleek lounges, large dance clubs and leather bars. Want a cozy pub, drag show, trivia night or a DJ spinning the latest electronic music from Europe? Not a problem -- unless you're a woman looking to meet other women.

Since the Hung Jury closed a few years ago, the District has only one full-time lesbian bar, Phase One on Capitol Hill, and a smattering of weekly events for women, such as the Liquid Ladies dance night at Apex. There's really not a lot of choice, but that's changing, thanks to Bridget Hieronymus, who's shaking up a sleepy scene with a series of happy hours and parties she has dubbed "A Different Kind of Ladies' Night."

Hieronymus moved here six years ago, when she was serving as a member of the Coast Guard. She liked the area so much that she decided to stay after leaving the military, even though she found herself wanting more from the city's lesbian scene.

"During those six years," Hieronymus says, "I saw a lot of bars and events for women come and go. And as I got older and matured a bit, I got tired of dance clubs and loud music." She wanted something different, beyond shouting in bars or the same-old beer-and-pool scene she found at Phase One. She also realized she'd have to do it herself. "I'd been to quite a few martini lounge-type bars that I liked," she said, "so I figured I'd call them up and see if they'd let me have events for women."

The first happy hours were held in spring 2004 at Bar Rouge, Helix Lounge and Topaz Bar, three modern hotel lounges known for their inventive (if pricey) cocktails and trendy urban decor. "It was the atmosphere I was looking for," Hieronymus explains. "I wanted a small, laid-back, mature place where women could come in and talk."

Fast-forward two years to a warm Wednesday night at Gazuza, a chic lounge just north of Dupont Circle. Groups of women pack the large balcony overlooking Connecticut Avenue. Cocktails in hand, they laugh and chat on high-backed couches. Some flit from table to table, greeting friends and perching on low crimson chairs.

Inside, new arrivals peruse the drink menu -- filled with sweet "-tini" concoctions or South American libations -- or the special A Different Kind of Ladies' Night selections, including pomegranate martinis. The crowd is mostly but not entirely female. DJs spin funky house and breakbeats.

It's a far cry from those initial Ladies' Nights, which rarely drew more than 20 people, and sometimes, Hieronymus admits, "it was just me and five friends sitting around" every other week. Disappointed by the low turnout, she decided that winter that she was going to cancel the events because it wasn't worth the effort. "My friends would ask me if I was going to do it again, and I'd say no," she says. "But then women would come up to me when I was out and ask me about my events, so there was interest, and I decided I'd do it again."

Before long, A Different Kind of Ladies' Night was drawing bigger crowds. "I don't know [what happened]," she says, sounding a bit baffled. "I didn't do anything differently. The way I got the word out was via Craigslist."

She launched a Web site, http://www.adifferentkindofladiesnight.com/ , with announcements and photo galleries, and an e-mail list that now boasts several hundred members. As the crowd grew, so did the number of events. Ladies' Nights are now as often as three times a week, rotating among several bars, primarily Gazuza and Topaz, every few weeks. (A schedule is on the Web site.) In response to suggestions from regulars, Hieronymus expanded to Friday night events at the Fab Lounge, a colorful, couch-filled nightspot that opened at Florida and Connecticut avenues NW last month. Part of it was the urge to offer something new on weekends, but she also says some regulars had asked for a different kind of A Different Kind of Ladies' Night -- one where martinis didn't cost $10. "Fab Lounge is a cool bar, but it's not really chichi or expensive," Hieronymus explains. Besides affordable drinks, the dance floor also offers more room to dance.

Although the bars do help spread the word about Hieronymus's events, they never become exclusively Ladies' Nights and remain open to everyone. "I can't afford to do a private takeover," she says. "I don't want the women to ever pay a cover charge." This actually leads to more mixing between crowds; you'll find straight couples wandering into Gazuza for seats on the patio, hotel guests at Topaz's bar and crowds of gay men at Fab Lounge. "I've met a ton of straight men and women at my events," Hieronymus says.

After the recent addition of Fab Lounge, Hieronymus says she doesn't see herself offering more events in the immediate future. "If I were to start doing something every night of the week, people would get bored with it," she says. "I've seen that women don't support a regular thing. I think that's why women support my nights, because they're irregular and they move around. I'm afraid to add more nights or switch it up. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, you know?"