Pittsburgh council votes against preservation of Donny's Place

Donny’s Place — one of Pittsburgh’s oldest gay bars — will not receive official historic designation, clearing the way for its demolition.

Pittsburgh City Council voted Tuesday against making the shuttered bar a historic landmark amid legal battles over its proposed designation.

The defunct establishment at 1226 Herron Ave. in Polish Hill opened in 1973 and closed two years ago, with the intention of it being torn down.

A grassroots group including Elizabeth Anderson and Matthew Cotter, nominated Donny’s Place for landmark status at the end of October after gathering support from the local queer community.

Anderson’s efforts at historic designation. appeared to contradict the wishes of Donny’s former owner and namesake, Donald Thinnes, who died in January.

Anderson told TribLive Tuesday that she and Cotter are not surprised by the council’s vote.

“Even though we are no longer pushing for the nomination and haven’t been for awhile … we really still do believe in the building and all the stories, relationships, love, loss, safety and care that happened there being preserved,” she said.

The estate of Thinnes and developer Laurel Communities sued Anderson and Cotter in February as they advocated to thwart the building’s demolition.

Thinnes, who died on Jan. 20, 2024, had entered into a sales agreement on March 13, 2019 with developer Laurel Communities to tear down his former bar and build townhouses on the parcel of land where the building stands, as well as nearby parcels. The 34 separate parcels total approximately 2.39 acres of land.

In 2019, the sale price of Thinnes’ real estate was abpit $1 million, proceeds that the estate stands to lose if the sale doesn’t go through. It’s now up to Thomas Yargo, the executor of Thinnes’ estate, to carry out his wishes.

“At the time the agreement was executed, Thinnes and Laurel mutually understood and agreed that Donny’s Place … would be razed so that townhouses could be constructed,” the lawsuit says.

In Thinnes’ will, which is attached to the lawsuit, he directed that all of his real estate be sold at the “best obtainable market price.”

The lawsuit alleges the interference in the demolition of Donny’s Place by trying to get it historic designation was intentional. Laurel Communities and Thinnes’ estate’s representation at Goldberg, Kamin and Garvin did not return TribLive’s request for comment Tuesday.

“It is believed that defendants’ interference is not motivated by a sincere desire to preserve Donny’s Place — but rather a general hostility to any development in the Polish Hill neighborhood,” the lawsuit, which is still pending, states.

Laurel intends to build 19 townhouses on the property. However, the application was opposed by the Polish Hill Civic Association, of which Cotter is a director.

Pittsburgh City Council cast a final vote against the historic site nomination Tuesday with no discussion. However, discussion took place last week during the council’s standing committees meeting ahead of the preliminary vote, which was also no.

Council members Bob Charland, D-South Side, Deb Gross, D-Highland Park, R. Daniel Lavelle, D-Hill District, Theresa Kail-Smith, D-West End, Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, and Bobby Wilson, D-North Side, voted not to grant historic designation.

Council members Erika Strassburger, D-Squirrel Hill, and Khari Mosley, D-Point Breeze, recused because of possible conflicts of interest.

“This is really, really a tough one,” Gross said ahead of the vote.

People shared memories of their experiences at Donny’s Place during a recent public hearing, she said — including some people who opposed preserving it.

Over its nearly 50-year history as a bar and nightclub, it hosted meetings, pageants, films, performances, fetish nights, fundraisers, memorials, happy hours and hot dog roasts.

Thinnes donated his own records — including early additions of Q Magazine — to the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society. He created a guild of gay bars throughout the city that supported and learned from each other, Gross said.

His is a “fantastic, important history,” she added.

“I think one of my takeaways is that there should be a place in the city to memorialize, especially in this era, LGBTQ history in the city,” Gross said. “Clearly, it’s not going to be at this specific site.”

Donny’s Place, Gross said, is in “terrible shape” after the property was damaged in a fire in December. The lawsuit also says it’s in a “significant state of disrepair and vandalization.”

She urged fellow council members to help her find a place to highlight the city’s LGBTQ history.

Thanking the local queer and trans community in Pittsburgh, as well as allies and neighbors in Polish Hill, for supporting the initial nomination, Anderson said she still agrees that LGBTQIA+ history needs to be preserved.

“We need to visibly honor LGBTQIA+ history in order to grow LGBTQIA+ futures, and to do that, we need to challenge the rapid gentrification and unfettered development that exists in this city and is only increasing, insatiably tearing down history left and right,” she said.

Staff writer Julia Burdelski contributed to this report.