Part of the Gay Columbia Guide — bars, events & things to do.
Columbia, South Carolina
Private members' gay bar on Gervais Street, a Columbia anchor since 1980
The Capital Club has been a private members' gay bar on Gervais Street since 1980, which makes it the oldest gay bar in Columbia and one of the longest-running in the Southeast. Bill Skipper opened it as a refined alternative to the city's dance clubs, and it still carries that lounge sensibility — leather sofas, an eclectic art collection, and a long centerpiece bar. The old rules (a strict dress code, classical music only) have relaxed into something warmer, but the clubby, members' feel remains the point. The week runs on low-key staples — trivia, free pool, karaoke — alongside regular drag shows. As one of only two gay bars left in Columbia, it functions as both a nightly hang and a living piece of the city's queer history, a room the membership model has quietly preserved while nearly everything around it has come and gone. Worth knowing before you go: it's a private club, so entry runs through membership rather than a public door.
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