Tonight sees the beginning of Girls’ Nights at Kiki queer club. From now on Wednesdays nights will be girls only. About time to cater to the need of lesbian get-togethers say organizers.
“I can’t count how many girls have asked me: ‘Where are all the lesbians?’ And I simply have to answer the truth: ‘Nobody knows’,” says Alda Karen Hjaltalín, who, along with Hrönn Svans, is planning a series of Wednesday Girls’ Nights at Kiki bar, called Lez-B-Honest.
“We’re trying to cater to the need of lesbian get-togethers,” Hrönn explains. “There hasn’t been anything going on for this specific group for a long time.”
Hrönn was in fact one of the planners of the late Lez Jungle meetings, which were a big hit around 2009-11.
“That’s what we called the lesbian nights at Barbara [the queer bar in Reykjavík city of the period]. They were very popular and fun, but also very work-demanding for a pro bono affair. So when Barbara shut down, Lez Jungle disappeared as well.”
Alda never got to experience the magic of Lez Jungle, since she was both quite young at the time and also living in Akureyri town, in the northern part of Iceland.
“I remember that when I moved to Reykjavík I asked the owner of Kiki the exact same question – where are all the lesbians – and he told me that they moved around. One weekend they we’re at the bar Dolly and the next one at Austur, so they’re hard to catch. You kind of had to be a part of a lesbian group to have access to the grapevine,” Alda explains.
But, how did Alda and Hrönn meet, then?
“Well, I basically asked her out. That’s how we met,” says Hrönn and laughs.
“When you work as a bartender at a gay bar you get asked out a lot,” Alda adds. “I could say I’m a part-time matchmaker, even. On one side of the counter a girl is maybe asking me out and another one at the other side [all of them looking for the lost lesbians] and I end up leading them together.”
So what happened is that Hrönn asked the bartender Alda on a date. They spent the whole day together. Hrönn told Alda about the magic of the late Lez Jungle. And in the end they came to the conclusion that it’s important for lesbians to hang out together. That was the end of that romance – but the start of something else.
“I can’t count how many girls have asked me: ‘Where are all the lesbians?’ And I simply have to answer the truth: ‘Nobody knows’…”
“The beginning of a new series of Girls’ Nights at Kiki,” says Alda. “From now on Wednesday nights will be girls only and every other Wednesday we will have something going on.”
No more dates for Hrönn and Alda, but they pay it forward, as the first night will feature an onstage “dating show”, similar to old-fashioned TV game shows such as Perfect Match and The Dating Game. It will be called Djúpa laugin (e. The Deep End of the Pool) – a nostalgic reference to the Icelandic version of that TV show.
There will also be a stand-up comedienne warming up the stage before the show.
– There will be free beer between 21 and 22
– House opens at 21
– Show starts at 22
Be there, if you want to find the lost lesbians of Reykjavík.