But Lost Weekend’s brushes with fame began before the bar even opened 20 years ago. “Mickey Rourke used to own the space,” Lost Weekend co-owner Scott
"Nobody judges you here."
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Though, sadly, Gilbert passed away a few years ago, Lost Weekend is expecting plenty of old friends to show up for its 20-Year Anniversary Block Party this Saturday. Held on the block of Española Way between Washington and Collins Avenues, the block party will be a sensory overload. Attendees can expect burlesque dancers, drag queens, magicians, comedians, and lots and lots of live music. On an outdoor stage, a who’s who of local bands will perform, featuring everything from the funk of Spam Allstars to the electro beats of Afrobeta to the rockabilly of Key West’s Patrick & the Swayzees. “We’re expecting to see everyone come out of the woodwork,” Frielich says. “We’ve had so much loyal clientele over the years. They say marriage and kids are the worst thing for a bar, and divorce is the best, but for this party, we’re expecting everyone.”
There were a lot of memorable nights over the past two decades — far too many for
But the people who run Lost Weekend say it isn’t the occasional celebrity dropping by that has helped them survive two decades, which might as well be an eternity in South Beach years. “We’ve stuck around because we have no pretension,” general manager Travis Carey says. “People come in straight from the beach dressed in shorts and flip-flops and end up hobnobbing with women in gowns headed out to the clubs.”
After the party, Lost Weekend will look toward the future, where it hopes to reestablish itself in West Palm Beach — where the first Lost Weekend started in ’94 — with a planned opening by the end of 2016. But Saturday night will be all about South Beach. “This is a place where locals know they’ll always be taken care of,” Carey says. “Nobody judges you here.”
Lost Weekend 20 Year Anniversary Block Party, with Spam Allstars, Afrobeta, and others. 2 p.m. Saturday, October 1, at Lost Weekend, 218 Española Way, Miami Beach; 305- 672-1707; facebook.com/LostWeekendSB. Admission is free.