Pony Room brings intimate queer dining to Chinatown

The Birdhouse team is opening Pony Room, a new queer-led restaurant, cocktail bar, and event space at 555 Gore Avenue in Chinatown—and it's designed to be nothing like their previous venue.

Led by partners Paige Frewer, Ryn Broz, Shanique Kelly, and Maureen Orman, Pony Room has taken over the former Emerald space (later Addah Himalayan). While The Birdhouse built its reputation on large-scale events, dance parties, and community programming, Pony Room shifts the focus entirely.

"We want to be able to go out, sit with friends in a comfy booth, have a drink, watch a show, and not have it be a club," co-owner Ryn Broz explains. "Pony Room feels like an evolution of what we've all been working in: queer events and hospitality; with this project we're making it more intimate."

Up a purple door on Gore Street and onto the second floor, the space unfolds across three distinct areas: a Lounge, a Dining/Show Room with a stage, and a private back room called The Closet, also with its own smaller stage. The layout allows Pony Room to shift registers depending on the night—a DJ set in one room, a drag show or comedy night in another, quieter evenings built around food and conversation elsewhere.

The design direction merges "1980s cocktail lounge meets 1930s cabaret dressing room." Curved booths lined with soft pink velour backrests sit atop a high-gloss bubblegum-pink tiled base that runs the length of the main room. Above, glass block windows filter daylight into a gentle glow, contrasting against darker walls and ceiling.

Crystal chandeliers hang in remarkable abundance—many sourced through Facebook Marketplace, thrift stores, and countless hours of scavenging. There are disco balls. Pink pony sconces integrate into the bar. A kitsch painting of a winged horse sits in a corner. A plant, a tiny retro TV, and a rotary phone occupy a side table beside a hanging fireplace. Shots arrive in glass cowboy boot shot glasses on a horseshoe serving tray. The design philosophy is clear: if one delightful thing is good, many are better.

The team describes the approach to decoration as choosing "joy over minimalism," and the evidence is everywhere—on every surface, in every corner, someone chose delight. As you sit back with a Jungle Bird served in peacock-shaped glassware, it's impossible not to admire the remarkable range of chandelier interpretations suspended above.

Finishing a queer-led hospitality project during Pride Month wasn't the original plan, but watching the crew come together to support each other through the final push feels especially fitting. Pony Room is completing preparations and is expected to open soon.