Tavern on Camac, Philadelphia

About Tavern on Camac

Tavern on Camac claims the title of Philadelphia's longest-running gay bar, operating as a queer gathering spot on tiny Camac Street since the 1920s, when it ran as the speakeasy Maxine's. It's been a piano bar since 1935, and it keeps a three-floor format: a ground-floor eatery, the piano bar where sing-alongs and live music carry the middle of the building, and a late-night club on the top floor. The ground-floor restaurant went dark for nearly a year of renovations and reopened in 2025 with a new chef, while the piano bar and upstairs club stayed open and pouring the whole time. The draw is the piano bar, an increasingly rare kind of room where strangers end up harmonizing over show tunes, set in a building old enough that its basement is tied to Underground Railroad history. It pulls an across-the-board crowd, from regulars who've come for decades to first-timers, and works as either a full night or a warm, musical stop between the louder Gayborhood bars. For history and a genuine sing-along, it's worth the detour down the alley.