Bartender Ken Berard pours a drink for a customer at Styxx nightclub in Portland. The Spring Street fixture plans to close after more than 30 years.
Conor Tubbs of Portland, a.k.a. Cherry Lemonade, watches a 2015 American Idol episode with his friends at at Styxx. The episode featured auditions in Kansas City where the well-known drag queen auditioned.
Wendelin Marie of Portland comforts bartender Berard as he talks about the closing of Styxx. Many in the local LGBTQ community will be losing one of their safe spaces after New Year’s Eve, when the club is scheduled to close.
Grace Wolfe of Portland dances with a friend at Styxx. The club first opened as The Underground in 1981.
Styxx nightclub owner Josh Moody watches television at the bar on a slow Tuesday night.
A sign made by bartender Ken Berard sits behind the bar at Styxx.
Lucy Adolphson, left, of Portland and Nishell Ayer of Biddeford outside Styxx bar in Portland where they were celebrating the 2015 Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage.
Wendelin Marie and Grace Wolfe, both of Portland, have the dance floor to themselves at Styxx. Online dating and dating apps have contributed to dwindling numbers at gay nightclubs, which are closing all over the country.
Life & Culture 
