Petra’s Marks 18 years as Community Hub in a Changing Neighborhood

It’s a Thursday night in August at Petra’s, and the room is on fire.

Two disparate acts are on the bill. One, folk-inflected singer songwriter Emily June, crafts delicate, dusky tunes as mysterious as a faded photo found in an abandoned building. The other, melodic hard-edged alternative rockers Dog Days, nod to genre forebears like The Pixies.

There should be two different audiences packed into Petra’s 100-person capacity barroom, but they act as one, shouting and cheering wildly throughout Dog Days’ blistering set and erupting with the same energy and enthusiasm after listening to June’s songs in attentive silence.

It’s an event that’s both challenging and comforting — a response that’s typical for Petra’s. In the course of 18 years, the unassuming, inviting neighborhood bar has encouraged artistic exploration and expression while building a sense of community and inclusion in a changing neighborhood.

From September 14-20, the venue will celebrate its 18-year anniversary in Plaza Midwood. The highlight of the weeklong festivities is Sugartank! Sundae Fest on Sept. 14. The show’s eclectic bill boasts Comino, Noir Noir, Dexter Jordan, Default Modes and YH Artgang, plus an afterparty with DJ Black as the Cosmos. The show will be split between two stages; one in the bar’s main room and the other on Petra’s back patio.

The event is presented by Petra’s and Sugartank! Records, a local label formed specifically to highlight LGBTQ artists in the Charlotte area, and it’s a perfect example of the type of inclusive, genre-blending events the venue has become known for.

A piano bar sets the stage for a legit music venue

When Curtis Tutt, a retired banker who became Petra’s co-owner in 2011, first stepped inside the establishment in 2007, he was simply a curious patron. The cozy piano bar, then-recently launched by queer community members Connie Huddleston, her partner Petra Fugger and local educator Jerry Brown, was less than half its current size, confined to the main bar-and-piano room.

“Petra’s was opened by two lesbians and a gay man, but they did not consider it a gay bar,” says Tutt, also a member of Charlotte’s queer community.

Petra’s aimed to be all-inclusive from the very beginning, Tutt maintains, which led many patrons to call it a gay bar, particularly after Dilworth queer club Liaisons closed in 2009 and its clientele migrated to the bar on Commonwealth Avenue.

A year later, Brown recruited Tutt and Dean Freeman to buy out Huddleston and Fugger, whose interest in the bar was waning. By 2010, Petra’s had expanded to the two storefront spaces it currently occupies on Commonwealth — the original bar room and a space that has been used until recently as a gallery for art shows.

In the meantime, local musician Perry Fowler was playing with two-man-band Sinners & Saints, a rootsy, acoustic folk-rock duo he formed with bassist Mark Baran. The band first played Petra’s as part of a bill put together by then-Charlotte singer-songwriter Jon Lindsay.

Brown, who was the bar’s talent booker, kept bringing the duo back.

Fowler fell in love with the place and started working part time at Petra’s on New Year’s Eve 2013 as a barback. After that, he started working the door before becoming bar manager. Brown soon stepped away from booking performers and events for the venue, so Fowler assumed those duties too.

After Brown passed away in 2016 at the age of 62, Fowler and his wife Marta Suarez del Real joined Tutt and Freeman as co-owners of Petra’s.

Petra’s offers music and more

In 2024, Flower stepped away as bar manager, ceding the position to Jason Boomhower, who had begun working at Petra’s in 2016. Now the bar’s full-time talent booker, Fowler devised a method he calls “touring sandwich.”

“If you’re bringing in someone from out of town, it doesn’t make sense to have them open or close the show,” he notes.

Drawing on his experience as a touring musician, Fowler noticed that putting a local band at the top of the bill encouraged that band to dip out after playing, taking their fans with them. Putting local favorites on either side of a touring act encourages crowds to stay for the entire bill.

“Live music defined a new direction for Petra’s,” Tutt says, though the venue also books dance parties, karaoke, variety showcases, drag shows and more. Past events include everything from art exhibits and gaming meetups to dance and theatre performances and film productions like Molly J. Brown’s Murder & Moonbeams.

Read more: ‘Murder & Moonbeams’ Musical Transitions to the Silver Screen (2022)

Current popular events include Hazy Sunday, a back patio day party hosted by local DJ Probably Will; UltraViolet, a sapphic dance party for queer, lesbian, bisexual, and pansexual women; TuTu Tonight!, a variety show featuring music, comedy, burlesque and drag; and the weekly Piano Karaoke & Sing Along hosted by performer Ryan Stamey.

Tutt notes that TuTu Tonight! has drawn a lot of new faces to Petra’s, though it may soon be moved from Tuesday nights to Sunday afternoons.

Fowler is particularly proud of the The Bill Hanna Legacy Jazz Session on Mondays. Here, local musicians jam and pay tribute to the late godfather of Charlotte jazz.

“I’m glad we have [the event] because jazz is a truly American art form,” Fowler says.

He notes that Petra’s gallery has had a good run as an art space, but informed Queen City Nerve that the team may soon repurpose the room into a retail store to cater to the neighborhood’s increasing daytime foot traffic.

Petra’s has consistently proved willing to adapt. During the 2020 COVID lockdown, the bar stayed afloat by subleasing its space to Charlotte’s School of Rock and securing funds through the Shuttered Venues Operational Grant (SVOG).

After a 17-month closure, Petra’s reopened in August 2021, boasting additions such as the gallery space, the back patio and a new bar in a tiki-themed space between the main bar room and .

Why Petra’s matters

Over the years, Petra’s has fostered fond memories from employees, patrons and owners. Tutt points with pride to a 2012 residency by queer icon and actor Leslie Jordan (Will & Grace).

“He had a tour promoting his book My Trip Down the Pink Carpet, and did six shows benefiting nonprofits here in Charlotte,” Tutt remembers. The beneficiaries included Time Out Youth and One Voice Chorus.

Fowler cites a blistering performance by Wu-Tang Clan’s Cappadonna in 2016. After the set, when the rapper was partaking of post-show recreation in the gallery, Fowler had to intervene tactfully.

“I’ll never forget telling a Wu-Tang Clan member that he couldn’t smoke weed in here,” Fowler says.

He also recalls an August 2024 show by Reina Tropical, who entwines tender vocals with lush, Afro-Mexican six-string textures and reggaeton beats.

“[She] stood on the piano to play guitar,” Flower says. “Usually I would snatch someone down from there, but it was such a cool rock ‘n’ roll move.”

Bar manager Boomhower’s fondest Petra’s memory is meeting his future wife Ashley Columbus at the bar’s ’80s-themed dance party Mirror Moves. In October 2022, the couple was married at Petra’s by one of their drag queen friends.

“Our families came to gather with friends and even some people who happened by, thinking an event was happening,” Boomhower says. “I made more friends that way, just being welcoming to them in a place that was established as a neighborhood hangout and safe space.”

Petra’s bartender, local musician and Sugartank! Records co-founder Nic Pugh says he can’t pick just one favorite recollection.

“I’ve seen some great bands cut their teeth … had some of my favorite late-night hangs and developed lifelong friendships there,” Pugh says.

Read more: SugarTank! Records to Showcase Local LGBTQ+ Talent (2024)

Hattie’s Tap & Tavern owner Jackie DeLoach first started patronizing Petra’s in 2012. She quickly befriended Fowler and is so comfortable with Petra’s that she’s celebrating her 40th birthday at the bar at a private party the night before Sugartank! Sundae Fest.

“One of the best nights that I’ve ever had was … one of my first dates with my partner,” DeLoach remembers. “We went to Petra’s after dinner and had the best time.”

Patrons and employees also share their thoughts about why Petra’s matters to them. DeLoach cites the many great bands that have played there and the venue’s support for the city’s LGBTQ community.

“I always know I’m going to have a good time [at Petra’s],” DeLoach says. “I can feel comfortable and safe there.”
“It’s been a safe, eclectic space for everyone to congregate, create, and grow together for almost 20 years,” Pugh says.

Fowler notes that several people have told him that Petra’s is homey. They say attending a show at the venue is like having a talented group of musicians setting up to play in your living room.

“For people to acknowledge that makes me feel good,” he says. “That’s why I fell in love with [the place] 15 years ago.”

For longtime patrons to neighborhood newcomers, the notion of Petra’s as a safe space is not a mere slogan, but rather a feeling deeply ingrained in a place where all are truly welcome.