The first night, Ritchie recalls, attracted an overflow crowd. The brief trip home inspired Ritchie, who wanted to give his community something better than the “sub-standard” and “depressing” atmosphere of gay nightlife in Lima.
Ritchie, who moved to Houston after college, was only in town to sell a house. It was the early 1980s, before the AIDS epidemic made its way to the Midwest and before the burgeoning gay nightlife scene of the cities had taken hold in Lima. Somewhere… started as a philosophical statement for Ritchie.
He’s since decided to retire but will hold one last party on Saturday. The bar has been closed since a brief reopening in May, after which Ritchie decided to wait out the pandemic.
LIMA - Somewhere…, Lima’s popular LGBTQ bar that survived the AIDS epidemic and has advocated for inclusiveness in Lima for decades, is for sale as owner Tom Ritchie heads into retirement.
