Mystery surrounds Cathedral City LGBTQ bar’s closure after three decades, owner blames city disputes for closure

The Barracks Bar, an LGBTQ+ bar in Cathedral City, is scheduled to close permanently on Sunday, August 4th, but the details behind the closure are unclear. 

The Barracks Bar was a staple of the gay community, opening its doors for the first time in 1992 as "Wolf's". The bar later changed its name to Barracks, and was known for its "Sunday beer bust" parties and other themed events. It hosted several large gatherings for special occasions like Pride, and Leather Pride Weekend.

On Facebook, the bar's owner, Scott Murchison, announced the establishment was permanently ending operations in August. He claimed the bar was closing over a city and state dispute on capacity and the bar's liquor license.

In the statement, Murchison said,

"It is with profound sadness that we announce that The Barracks Bar that has existed as a staple of the Cathedral City LGBTQ+ Community for the past 31 years will officially close its doors for the last time at the close of business Sunday, August 4, 2024. 

The state of California is revoking our license to serve alcohol as of August 5, 2024. 

We want to thank all of you—the LGBTQ+ Community—for all of your support, love, connections and friendship over these past 31 years. It has been our deepest honor and privilege to serve you. The management and staff of The Barracks love this community and are so grateful for your patronage." 

Scott Murchison

News Channel Three couldn't find any proof that the bar's liquor license was being suspended in August. However, in June the California Department of Beverage Control did file a legal action over several acts of alleged lewd conduct at the bar.

In documents obtained by News Channel Three, more than 66 public complains had been filed with the department. One, included improper serving of alcohol outside the bar, the rest, too graphic to describe. Several complaints included alleged sexual acts taking place inside the establishment during business hours.

News Channel Three also reached out to Cathedral City about the allegations over occupancy disputes, and the City Manager said they were not accurate.

In a statement, Charlie McClendon said,

"The City never made them cease operations because of occupancy issues. Under the California Building and Fire Codes, the Barracks, together with similar drinking establishments, is designated as a night club and are classified as Assembly Occupancies. Building and Fire Codes allow local agencies to require fire sprinklers to protect the occupants, along with other improvements related to exit signage, panic hardware on exit doors, etc. These are common requirements that are necessary to protect public safety in larger establishments.

Several times the City has issued Special Use Permits to the Barracks allowing them to fence off part of their outside parking area to allow for further increased occupancy. This has been done many times during Pride weekend and Leather Pride weekend and most recently a SUP was issued to the Barracks over Memorial Day weekend 2024.

Since May of this year, city staff from the Building and Fire departments have been working with Barracks personnel to get their legal occupancy increased to 400. A timeline was developed to allow them to continue operations while improvements were made to allow the legal occupancy to be increased."

Charlie McClendon

McClendon also said the city was not targeting the bar in any aspect outside of capacity issues either.

"I have confirmed that neither our Police, Fire crews, nor Code Enforcement staff have ever entered the Barracks except in response to a call for service.  I got a report of all Police, Fire and Code Enforcement calls for service to the Barracks.  Over the past year (July 1, 2023 to the present) there were a total of 57 calls for service.  17 of those were Fire calls, 16 of which were Medical Aid calls.  One was a call regarding overcrowding, which occurred on Leather Pride weekend (10-29-2023).  39 calls were to the Police department.  The vast majority of those (20) were noise/loud music calls.  The others were a mix of theft, theft from vehicles, public intoxication and similar calls common to bars and other businesses.  One call was to Code Enforcement for a noise complaint.

I am proud to work for Cathedral City, a city which embraces and supports our LGBTQ residents, employees and businesses.  Please report any concerns to me and I will make sure that the city responds, and rest assured, our greatest hope is that the Barracks is able to work through their issues with California ABC and remain in business.  If not, we wish them the best in whatever endeavors they move on to."

The owner of Barracks announced he will be opening a Barracks bar location in Phoenix in the future. News Channel Three reached out to Murchison for an interview, but he never responded.