Opened in 1980 at 12th and Chew, Candida’s was the vision of its owner, Candida Affa—who built the bar into one of the longest-running LGBTQ spaces in the Lehigh Valley. For 37 years, it wasn’t just a place to go out—it was a place people returned to, again and again.
Alongside Stonewall Gay Club, Candida’s helped define the local circuit: nights that moved between the two, familiar faces anchoring both ends. But where Stonewall leaned big—lights, stage, scale—Candida’s stayed grounded. Smaller room, tighter crowd, more personal.
It was a bar shaped by presence. The kind where the owner was part of the fabric, bartenders remembered your drink, and the room carried a steady, lived-in rhythm. Over time, it became one of the last enduring fixtures of Allentown’s queer nightlife—a constant as other spaces came and went.
When it closed in 2017, it marked the end of a 37-year run—one built less on spectacle, more on consistency, familiarity, and a community that knew exactly what it had.
