“There is this concept in our country, but also the world, that the people who are experiencing any form of hardship are the ones who have to do the work to end that hardship,” says Saharsh Hajela, co-owner of Uplift, a new bar dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community. “But we don’t talk about the rest. We don’t talk about the recovery; we don’t talk about the joy.
“That’s something that I really want people to do here, is to come here and smile and laugh, and the things that might stress you outside these doors are not necessarily the things that can touch you here.”
“Here” is a bright, open remake of the former Millennium Club on the ground floor of the First St. building that also houses the Circ Bar upstairs—which provides most of Uplift’s food—and Rabbit Hole in its cavernous basement. A rounded extension of its bar facilitates conversation over Cosmos and seltzers near a queer history wall that’s more about celebration than struggle.
Hajela, twenty-eight, a software engineer by day, exited the proverbial closet his first year at U-M. His latest project, with a media-shy partner, follows his efforts revitalizing the Pride events hosted at the nearby LIVE nightclub.
“When you come here, you know you’re gonna have a delicious drink, and there’s gonna be a fun event,” he promises. There are drag brunches every Sunday, discounts for service industry workers on Mondays, handcrafted trivia on Tuesdays, karaoke on Wednesdays, a low-key social vibe on Thursdays, Friday dance parties, and themed club nights on Saturdays.
“Being queer, being different, looks a lot of different ways, and all of them are beautiful. All of them are welcome here,” Hajela emphasizes. “For many people, when they’re celebrating something, they want to meet somebody new. But for a lot of queer people, when you go out to a non-queer space, there’s a shyness that falls over that experience, because you don’t know what your intentions are going to be assumed as, and you don’t know what someone else necessarily identifies with. But here, when you come to a queer neighborhood bar to celebrate, you can be unapologetically yourself.”
Uplift, 210 S. First. (734) 210–1582. Sun. noon–midnight, Mon. 4 p.m.–midnight, Tues.–Fri. 4 p.m.–2 a.m., Sat. 2 p.m.–2 a.m. upliftannarbor.com
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