Oceanside LGBTQ Club Built, Opened In Pandemic

OCEANSIDE, NY — The new LGBTQ club BTW is a "no-judgment zone," according to owner Gina Wuestmann.

"You could be whoever you are," Wuestmann said. "You're in a space where people are going to respect who you are."

Wuestmann, whose club's name stands for Born This Way (located at 3297 Long Beach Rd.), is no stranger to the nightlife industry. She owned the North Village Tavern in Rockville Centre for more than a decade.

She felt there was a lack of clubs for the LGBTQ community in Nassau County.

"The gay scene on Long Island is nonexistent," Wuestmann told Patch. "Some bars will have a Gay Night, but why not have a gay bar?"

Construction took more than two years before the pandemic arrived and Wuestmann said there was uncertainty if it would ever open.

"I was rolling the dice on the place, hoping they were going to embrace me and understand that I was building this place out of a love for the community," said Wuestmann, a Rockville Centre native.

The club welcomed customers November 12, the day after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced establishments must shut at 10 p.m.

"We opened in the height of COVID, so it was a very rough start," Wuestmann said.

Due to the many restrictions last fall, BTW started as more of an LGBTQ restaurant, "which is not what this place was supposed to be," she said.

As more people got vaccinated and restrictions were relaxed, Wuestmann's club is finally as she intended it, with dancing and socializing for the gay community. Plus, with Pride Month winding down, she has drag shows and karaoke events. There's a food menu, including Sunday brunch, which gets rave reviews from customers.

"I think people are surprised by our food because we're not really bar food. We're elevated from that," Wuestmann said.

Patrons are required to wear a mask if they are not vaccinated.

"We want to still keep people safe," she said. "We're not out of the woods with this."

Wuestmann doesn't expect the bar to hit its stride until after the summer since it's not on the water and does not have outdoor space.

She is grateful to the LGBTQ community, she said, "because it could have [gone] completely south."