King of the Streets (KOTS) originated in Gothenburg, home to Sweden's most popular soccer team, in around 2013. "This is the true UFC!" 'The Most Stressed Out and Fucked Up Environment You Can Find' "This is amazing," reads a YouTube comment beneath a video of Simon's fight with Ronin 030, which drew more than 2.7 million views. Officials swarm the fallen fighter, who remains motionless until the camera fades to black.
Simon stands over his fallen foe, his right fist raised in the air triumphantly as the crowd rages all around him. Ronin's head slams against the concrete with a sickening thud. When he grows bored with his prey, he delivers two punches to Ronin's temple that send the taller man tumbling backwards. One person going out with the virus who gives it to 10 people, and then those 10 people give it to another 10 people.Simon fights like an enraged tiger. “One person can destroy all of this again. “Everyone is in the same boat,” she said. She said she was eager to get back on firm financial footing, but also “afraid of what is to come.” She renegotiated the rent for her Manhattan bar down from $19,500 to $12,000, but the monthly bills for the Brooklyn club are usually $40,000. These community spaces may remain imperiled for years, though, because of the continuing threat of the coronavirus.īrenda Breathnach, who owns the Phoenix in the East Village and 3 Dollar Bill in the East Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, said she expected both establishments to open in July. “I think people are sort of yearning for their spaces and their community again.” “People are really excited to go out, even if it’s in a limited capacity or it’s a little more restricted,” he said. The club, whose rent of $9,500 per month has gone unpaid since April, has raised more than $20,000 on GoFundMe.īut a new bar he is opening in Park Slope, Brooklyn - its planned April start date was delayed by the pandemic - will likely open next month because it is a smaller space.
“We really want to be safe and that kind of means being one of the last spaces to open,” Mr. The question of when to reopen is a complex one for many gay bars, which often house stages, dance floors and areas where groups - sometimes as large as a wedding reception - can meet.Įric Sosa, the owner of C’mon Everybody, a club in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, said his establishment would not reopen for months because dance parties, live music and other types of performance were key to its business model. “Like, I got an email from a stripper who I have never even met: ‘Listen, I am going to do a strip show and donate everything to Henrietta’s.’ It’s incredible.” “It’s different for queer people, because all we have is each other,” Ms. She said there had been “an outpouring of support.” media organizations and raising money from supporters, including more than $32,000 on GoFundMe. That has included renegotiating the rent, talking about the bar’s challenges to L.G.B.T.Q. In the meantime, she has been busy working to keep it afloat.
But Henrietta Hudson may not reopen until next spring, she said.