Want to own the DC Eagle? Place your bid.
The iconic Washington, D.C. leather bar, which filed for bankruptcy in June, is auctioning off its trade name and logo.
If you ever felt like owning a piece of LGBTQ leather history — or perhaps one day, once we get past these miserable times of COVID-19, operate your own iconic leather bar — the legendary DC Eagle could be yours for the right price. (Scroll to the bottom of the article for our daily “Eagle Bid Watch.”)
The trade name and logo of the onetime venerable leather, kink, and BDSM bar are currently for sale at Rasmus Auctions, a D.C.-based business that handles estate and business liquidations. The DC Eagle listing reads as follows:
“Rights & Title to the famous DC Eagle Bar includes tradename [sic], logo, domain name, website, facebook [sic] page and other social media acces [sic]. By order of The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Columbia.”
The bar’s physical location at 3701 Benning Road NE, shuttered permanently on Tuesday, May 5, 2020, with employees ingloriously informed via a Zoom call the night prior.
Throughout its 48-year history, the DC Eagle served as a go-to destination and gathering place for members of the leather, Levi, kink, fetish, and BDSM communities. Its importance to the community cannot be underestimated. Among other notable facts, it had the longest-running leather title contest of any bar in the country.
The bar relocated five times, and frequently changed ownership throughout its history, first opening in 1971 at 904 9th St. NW, in the city’s Mount Vernon neighborhood. Its most recent location at Benning Road opened in 2015. Due to the persistence of various owners to keep the valuable brand alive, the DC Eagle was seen by many as indestructible. A sale of the building in 2019 for a reported $1.5 million, followed by alleged mismanagement of funds, eventually brought the mighty bird down.
Former employees have still not been paid past-due wages, even though the bar received tens of thousands of dollars from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program. In June, the bar filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The auction for the trade name and logo closes on October 16, 2020 at 3:04 p.m. Those with an interest in bidding can apply here.
We will be monitoring the auction daily and updating the ongoing total below. Feel free to bookmark this page and visit anytime to see where the current bidding for the name and rights to the DC Eagle.
DC Eagle Bid Watch: $3,610.
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