Lance Bass has signed a lease to rent the space that Rage nightclub occupied for 37 years.
Located on the northwest corner of Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards in the heart of the Boystown LGBT entertainment district, the Rage space is already being gutted for renovations.
Bass, who came to fame as part of the boy band NSYNC, is also a partner in Rocco’s restaurant/lounge across the street. Several of the people involved with Rocco’s are partnering with Bass again on this venture.
No word on what the new club will be called or when it will open.
However, with Gym Bar opening next door and the new Stache restaurant/nightclub opening a block west of the Rage location, the area will soon have three more LGBT-oriented venues than it currently does.
Promoter Andrew Scott tells WEHOville that property owner Monte Overstreet and his husband John Cole worked hard to find the right business to lease the space.
“Monte and John have been ferociously diligent in securing the perfect businesses to secure the spaces left vacant from the COVID pandemic and to escalate a revival of WeHo for future generations,” reported Scott.
Rage announced in September 2020 that it was closing permanently. Rage owners Robert Maghame and Saeed Sattari reported they were shuttering as they unable to come to terms on a new lease with Overstreet.
Overstreet also owns the property where Flaming Saddles country-western bar and Gold Coast neighborhood bar were located. Both announced in the summer they were closing permanently.
“Despite what naysayers have said, Monte and John are once again proving to be visionaries in the evolution of gay culture in West Hollywood,” said Scott.
Overstreet owns the building where Gym Bar will be opening this summer. Gym Bar owner Rick Schmutzler told WEHOville that Overstreet was proving to be a supportive landlord who was doing everything he could to help the business open.
The promos appearing on Instagram announcing “the biggest gay nightclub in the USA is coming to WeHo this year” seem to be to this new club.
RAGE was and should definitely be reopened as an anchor to The WeHo Gay Bar. Biggest gay bar in the world? Kind funny/dumb promotion, but no harm/no foul. I DO HOPE FOR WEST HOLLYWOOD LANCE IS A GREAT SUCCESS. An inviting gay bar for young people coming out and needing a safe fun bar in the heart of WeHo. (Often forgotten, most gay neighborhoods around the world, began in the most undesirable part of most any city. Having WeHo in one of the most expensive part of Los Angeles is a lucky chance, and gives youth who often are scared… Read more »
…THIS will be fun to watch. I bet Monte cranked the rent (triple net!) up to $50K just for the club space. Bass is gonna blow through money like it was water. No experience in the bar biz? Trap.
“Let’s open a bar, they said….it’ll be easy, they said….” Well, maybe in the ’70s, yeah….
I hope Mr. Bass and his business partners will do good on their “promise” to make the old Rage space a desirable destination.Rage was renovated several years ago,but the space wasn’t being used effective like Micky’s,the Chapel or The Abbey.I hope the new space will be up-to-date with what the younger guys are looking for.
WeHo bars have gotten so bland the last few years, unlike other big cities where I travel like Dallas, New Orleans, Atlanta, Chicago, and New York. All these rules about the go-go boys have taken all the fun out of attending our bars. Women, and the straight men who follow them, complain when they see gay guys doing what gay guys do in THEIR OWN BARS and rather than tell the complainers that maybe a gay bar is just not where they ought to be, management apologizes and tells the gay guys they can’t do that anymore. Maybe Rage (or… Read more »
please be clear when you say women, because you are including gay women in your generalization and these bars are for us too! Majority of us agree that the straight population that flocks to our city are fine until they aren’t. Personally, I find our bars/clubs exceptionally boring and would like to see the old WeHo come back a little. Too much Vanderpump and not enough Revolver!
That said, gimmeabreak, don’t be part of the culture that thinks being gay is only for men.
I’d like to know more details about how Monte Overstreet shut down so many properties during Covid protections, including Oilcan Harry’s. I’ll hold my judgement until I know more, but it stinks like skunk.
LMAO biggest gay nightclub in America huh? The square footage of Rage’s building is far from the biggest anything LOL
I said the exact same thing. Unless they are going to tack on 5 more floors there is some serious false advertising.
Bass said “biggest…(in scope, in teensy tiny letters.) Scope? Mouthwash? Oscilloscope? Telessope?
Monte’s smiling in the pic, because he’s gotta BIG fish on the hook.
Does the area of S.M. Blvd between La Cienega and Robertson really need another bar?
no.
Need? Does a destination area really have limits on needs?
No
Yay! So excited for this!
The largest gay bar in the USA? Really? This can’t be true. Someone prove me wrong. Sidetrack Chicago? Those places in Dallas?
But Honestly he’s the best person to do anything with that space.
If he is moving into the space at Rage, that is def. not even close to being even a medium-sized gar bar in the US
Kudos to Lance Bass for continuing to revitalize West Hollywood nightlife, attempting to replace what has been lost. It takes people willing to step up and invest, we need more like him. Looking forward to what they will create.
Lance? Lance Bass is purely a “name” to produce publicity, lets get serious.
Yep. He’s the headliner and the money source. This is a “full Monte” production all the way. You know who else used to work this way back in my day? Wait for it…
Eddie Nash
If you don’t know who that is, you’re unqualified to write anything
about LA gay nightlife.
Let’s hope they’ll be good neighbors to the adjacent neighborhood
I wish them a lot of good fortune and crowds (once it’s safe)
However, making a deal with Monte is making a deal with the devil. I hope they don’t get burned like so many others have.
Did Monte just use the pandemic as an excuse to kick out legacy tenants in WEHO in order to renovate/charge higher rents?
No, legacy tenants? WTH? If you aren’t paying your rent, you are not a tenant, period. Rage was a lagging situation for years, so take a seat.
Yes.