Last year’s Pride Month was a bit somber for the employees and patrons of Trax: The Nashville gay bar’s landlord wanted the bar moved out of its location at 1501 Ensley Blvd. in June.
“I’m like, ‘So you’re really going to kick a gay bar out on June 1?’” owner and founder Steven Kiss tells the Scene.
It was unexpected. Kiss had signed a five-year lease in January 2024, but the landlord exercised one of the lease’s fine-print clauses to terminate it. (The building now houses a veterinary business.) So throughout June, patrons came out to celebrate what they thought might be their last hurrah at Trax.
It was a time shrouded in uncertainty, but Kiss was determined to keep Trax alive. After several near misses with building leases, he signed on at 1249 Martin St. with Marcus Capehart, the owner of pH Nashville cocktail bar (which later became The Tea Room). Trax staff began running The Tea Room in November, Capehart signed on as part owner, and the site officially became Trax just in time for this year’s Pride Month.
“I just hope we can continue doing what we’re doing,” Kiss says. “To be a place for people to come together as a community to socialize. Friends, allies, LGBTQ+ community, everyone. But first and foremost, we are unapologetically a gay bar. That’s the roots of it. Everyone is welcome, as long as you behave.”
This year marks the 20th anniversary for Trax, which opened in 2005 and, until last year, operated in the same South Nashville location since. In contrast with the gay dance bars in the city, Kiss wanted to run the little neighborhood bar that could — a place where people could play darts and pool, sit down and talk. And “regulars” is a key word for Trax. Many of the bar’s regular patrons live in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood, and they packed out the new location even before it was officially open.
Trax
While the old Trax was tucked away, quiet and had an enviable patio, the new Trax is more integrated into the growing WeHo area.
“We’ve gained the big windows,” Kiss says. “It feels like we’re more of the community at-large — not just the gay community, the Wedgwood-Houston community.”
Trax is open seven days a week from noon to 3 a.m., with happy hour — featuring two-for-one well drinks and a dollar off domestic beers — from noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday is karaoke and Thursday is bingo, with other events presented sporadically.
With six years under his belt, bartender Sean Stafford is actually one of Trax’s newer employees.
“We have committed people that come here because they enjoy the personalities and the people who do work here,” Stafford says. “ We’ve been a family for a long time, you know. That does pay off.”
Also part of the “family,” as Trax employees refer to themselves, is Janice Blue, who cooks for patrons. They offer Taco Tuesday and meat-and-three specials in addition to a typical bar menu of pizza, wings and fried pickles.
“I love that people can come here, straight or gay, and feel very confident and just, like, badass bitches,” Stafford says.
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