(Image: Pony)
Capitol Hill gay bar Pony can be hard to get into during any Pride but this June is extra challenging.
“It’s true that the Pony building currently appears to have been deposited on the surface of Mars,” the E Madison queer party spot quipped in a social media post this week. “It’s also true that we are continuing to serve drinks on Mars—you just have to go around to Union St and walk around the side of the building to get in.”
Pony, of course, isn’t really celebrating Martian Pride. CHS reported here in 2021 on owner Mark Stoner’s negotiations with the city to scooch over a smidge for the under-construction Madison bus rapid transit project.
Under the deal, the city acquired a 247-square-foot portion of the Pony property along E Madison as part of the $134 million+ RapidRide G project to provide speedy, regular Metro bus service in the busy corridor. Stoner told CHS at the time he had hoped to work out a trade with the city taking what it needed on the Madison side of the bar and Pony getting new ground on E Union but land swaps with the city are against the law. In the end, Pony’s patio got a little slimmer and the bar got some cash from the city.
Part of the deal for businesses up and down Madison through the years of construction are scenes like the one currently outside Pony as crews have ripped up pavement to do needed utility and infrastructure work along the route, put new temporary pavement down, and are again ripping the streets up as part of the construction process expected to wrap in 2024.
SDOT says the last steps include installing this new underground stormwater detention tank under 10th Ave, installing a new water main,repaving the street and rebuilding sidewalks. Then, later this year and into 2024, crews will start to install shelters, ORCA readers and rider information signs at the new RapidRide stops, and the platforms for the new center-running bus stations.
Pony, meanwhile, isn’t letting the lack of pavement get in the way of playing its part in Capitol Hill Pride festivities.
And another Capitol Hill extraterrestrial hangout is marking its fourth anniversary. Life on Mars opened on E Pike in June of 2019.
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