Rights to DC Eagle name purchased by Duplex Diner co-owner Unclear if Hunker plans to reopen iconic leather bar By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com
MARK HUNKER purchased the rights to the DC Eagle name. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Gay businessman Mark Hunker, the co-owner of D.C.’s Duplex Diner and of two restaurants in Rehoboth Beach, Del., has purchased the legal rights to the name, trademark, logo, and other intellectual property belonging to the DC Eagle, the popular gay bar that closed its doors in May. Hunker’s identity as the purchaser of the DC Eagle’s name and other intellectual property became part of the public record this week of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Columbia five months after the DC Eagle filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on June 26. The sale of the DC Eagle’s intellectual property to Hunker was finalized on Nov. 12 as part of an auction authorized by the bankruptcy court. Rasmus Auctions, the company retained by the bankruptcy court to conduct the online auction, disclosed on its website that the DC Eagle property was sold to the highest bidder at $32,800. But the company did not disclose the identity of the buyer at that time, saying it has a policy of not disclosing the identity of bidders or purchasers through its auctions. A spokesperson for U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Elizabeth I. Gunn, who is presiding over the DC Eagle’s bankruptcy case, told the Washington Blade on Wednesday that the identities of purchasers of property belonging to individuals or companies that file for bankruptcy become part of the court’s public records. Justin P. Fansano, an attorney representing bankruptcy court trustee Bryan Ross, who is overseeing the DC Eagle bankruptcy case, said a full report of the auction sale of the DC Eagle intellectual property was scheduled to be posted this week on the online public docket for the Eagle’s case. Fansano said the report identifies Mark Hunker as the purchaser. Neither Hunker nor his business partner for the Duplex Diner and the two Rehoboth restaurants, Jeff McCracken, could immediately be reached for comment. McCracken is not
listed as a buyer of the Eagle rights. Among the questions the Blade had for Hunker was whether he is planning to reopen the DC Eagle. At the time it closed in May the Eagle had been D.C.’s longest continuously operating gay bar. Its closing came six months before it was scheduled to celebrate its 49th anniversary as the city’s iconic bar and club catering to the leather-Levi crowd. In recent years the DC Eagle expanded its outreach to others in the LGBTQ community by hosting popular drag shows and dance parties. Hunker and McCracken were the subjects of a feature story in the Blade in January 2015 shortly after they purchased the Duplex Dinner, which has a mostly LGBTQ clientele at its location on 18th Street, N.W. on the edge of Adams Morgan. In a separate profile of Hunker published in the Blade in July 2018, Hunker said he was the co-owner of JAM Holdings, a company that owned Duplex Diner, Red White & Basil, another D.C. restaurant, along with two popular restaurants in Rehoboth Beach, Eden and Jam Bistro. In October of this year the Blade announced that its readers had selected Duplex Diner as winner of the “best carryout” food establishment in the Blade’s 2020 Best of Gay D.C. awards contest.
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“This arbitrary edict jeopardizes the survival of hospitality establishments by causing them to lose the major portion of revenue they had been able to generate,” he said. “We’re getting reports that this decision is costing operators up to 60 percent or more of the little money they were making, leaving most with no choice other than to shut down two hours earlier rather than attempt to now serve only food items and nonalcoholic beverages until midnight,” Lee said. Lee noted that at a press conference on Dec. 7, Bowser acknowledged that nightlife establishments, including
D.C.’S LGBTQ BARS/RESTAURANTS Larry’s Lounge
the local COVID situation worsens. Perruzza, Guggenmos and Doug Schantz, owner of the gay sports bar Nellie’s at 900 U St., N.W., each said their establishments and others like them serve as a place where LGBTQ people can go to be themselves, which many are unable to do at work, school, or even at home in some situations. “At some point safe human interactions are what people are craving,” said Guggenmos. “You see someone on the street and how they desperately just want that interaction again,” he said. “If we could do that safely, why not?”
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Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse Restaurant/Bar 1609 17th Street, N.W. 202-232-0395
2317 18th Street, N.W. 202-733-2558
Duplex Diner
2004 18th Street, N.W. 202-265-7828
The Fireplace
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DC 9 Nightclub
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[Lower floor at Floriana Restaurant]
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Dito’s Bar
1602 17th Street, N.W. 202-667-5937
(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Nellie’s Sports Bar
restaurants and bars, have done an exemplary job of complying with health requirements and providing a safe space for patrons and employees. At that press conference the mayor also said she looks forward to being able to lift all restrictions on businesses once the COVID vaccine becomes widely available. But she said that with a resurgence of COVID cases in D.C. in recent weeks along with the rise in cases in the surrounding suburbs the city could be forced once again to order the complete shutdown of indoor operations of businesses like restaurants and bars if