California cocktail bar closes after 4-year run, as owner blames ‘economic realities’

A beloved bar will be closing its doors for good this Saturday, after a four-year run in downtown Oakland, leaving residents one less watering hole in the Bay Area, for now.

Night Heron, which operates on Telegraph Avenue, will serve patrons for the last time on Saturday, Nov. 14, it was revealed by the bar’s owner, Sequoya Lee.

She posted a video farewell on her personal Instagram account as well as the bar’s account earlier this month, announcing the closing due to current “economic realities.”

“With a full heart Night Heron is closing! This bar was always about more than just great cocktails. It was about making room for people, ideas, creativity, and community,” the caption of the post began.

“And getting to do that for you all for the last four and a half years has been a privilege! We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who has poured into Night Heron along the way,” the statement continued.

“And while this chapter is coming to a close, we’re excited to see what’s ahead both for the space and our community!”

She also encouraged patrons to “Come raise a glass, make another memory, and help us send this chapter off right.”

She added in the accompanying video that the “cat is out of the bag” regarding the bar’s closing, admitting that it is “hard news to share.”

“I cannot escape the very real gratitude I feel as I look back on four and a half years of operating this business,” Lee added.

She added, “It’s been a really crazy journey, it was not easy, but I, again, am just so, so thankful for being able to operate this place.”

“Particularly as a Black queer woman, it has brought me so much joy to be able to hold and have this space with the intention of creating space for Black and brown people, with very intentional focus on accessibility and having partnerships with entrepreneurs, artists, activists, organizers, filmmakers, and ultimately people who shape the culture of what this city is,” she continued.

She went on to thank all of the bar’s partners, plus the “neighborhood homies, the regular crew who have been riding with us.”

“While endings like this are bittersweet, we just have to be really real with the economic realities that are presented and, at this moment, of keeping a business alive at our own expense just doesn’t seem right,” Lee said.

She also confirmed that another bar will be moving into the Night Heron space, “so there will not be another boarded-up business in Oakland.”

She asked her patrons to “pull up with us” on the bar’s final weekend, adding, “Let’s close it out with a bang.”

“Thank you again for four and a half years of community, collaboration and just amazing vibes,” Lee concluded.

The post received over 2,100 likes and numerous comments from patrons about how much the bar meant to them and the community.

The bar is open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. on its last two days of service on Friday and Saturday.

No details have been given about the new bar that will move into the Night Heron space at 1780 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland quite yet.

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