Rising Cafe

History

Opened in 1996 by friends Rena Blake (b. 1965) and Christine Marinoni (b. 1967), the Rising Cafe, also known as the Rising, was a popular lesbian Irish pub and coffee shop situated at the edge of Park Slope. They chose the location because the neighborhood had a significant lesbian community at that time. The cafe’s name was likely taken from the 1916 Easter Rising, a pivotal moment of Irish rebellion against British rule that catalyzed the Irish War of Independence.

Born in Listowel, Ireland, Blake immigrated to the United States in 1984 with her then-husband and worked as a nanny in the Bronx where they lived. In 1992, she became politically active after joining the Manhattan-based Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization (ILGO). The group was then advocating for their right to march openly in the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Being part of ILGO was one of the biggest catalysts for Blake to come out of the closet. She recalled to The Irish Times in 2015, “By the following St. Patrick’s Day I had left my marriage, friends, the whole Irish community in the Bronx and moved out to Brooklyn. I came out as a lesbian.” She continued, “being gay at the time was tough. Through ILGO, I learned the importance of political activism. It was an intense period during which I grew up and found my voice. I began fighting for many causes.”

A native of Washington State, where she grew up on Bainbridge Island, Marinoni is more widely known today as the wife of actress and activist Cynthia Nixon. Marinoni moved to New York City in the early 1990s, where she worked as a community organizer in the Bronx. She came out as lesbian shortly before starting the Rising Cafe venture. In recent years, she has spoken about the cafe’s link with her journey into LGBTQ advocacy:

“A couple years into the coffee shop, one of our bartenders was a victim of a hate crime leaving the premises. We organized some events to bring attention to it, and call for more police attention and protection for the community. Then the Matthew Shepard killing happened and we were also the same folks who had organized the marches in Park Slope, and were kind of the key organizers for some of the work that happened then.”

In choosing the location, Blake and Marinoni were intentional about avoiding areas of growing gentrification. Blake noted that the diverse and working-class area, with its cheaper rents, had “a funkier feel” and that it was “a little more creative and not as stuffy” as the nearby affluent thoroughfare of 7th Avenue. Both owners actively promoted Rising Cafe as a lesbian-owned establishment that catered to the local lesbian community. Early ads also described the pub as a place for hearing and making poetry and music, meeting friends for coffee or beer, or hanging out after a softball or soccer game in nearby Prospect Park.

The Rising also became an integral hub for many lesbian groups and organizations, such as the Astrea National Lesbian Action Foundation (ASTREA), the Lesbian Avengers, and the Brooklyn Pride Committee. The May 1999 newsletter Shades, produced by the Brooklyn AIDS Task Force’s Shades of Lavender, noted that the Poets’ Cafe at the Rising that April included readings by Betsy Andrews, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Rachel Levitsky, and Karleen Pendelton-Jimenez, and that “the place was packed with just about every dyke in Park Slope.” Rising Cafe also regularly organized fundraisers and campaigns for both neighboring businesses and residents. It closed in 2003.

Blake ultimately returned to Ireland, where she took over and ran Loafers, the country’s oldest gay pub, in Cork City for four years (it closed in 2015). She and her partner Lisa Fingleton later moved to Blake’s family farm in County Kerry, where they still run the Barna Way, an eco-social arts project. Marinoni helped found the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), a community-based organization that works to ensure high quality public education throughout the state of New York, in 2000. Through AQE, she met Nixon a year later. They became outspoken advocates for same-sex marriage and wed in 2012, a year after the Marriage Equality Act was passed in New York State.

Entry by Amanda Davis, executive director, and Charlotte Boulanger, project consultant (November 2023; last revised July 2025).

NOTE: Names above in bold indicate LGBT people.