At least one vandal has broken windows for two nights in a row this week at Town House Cocktail Lounge, a popular gay bar in downtown Vallejo.
In security camera footage from Thursday’s break-in, shortly after the bar closed at 1 a.m., what appears to be a man wearing a mask, hooded sweatshirt and pants walks up to one entrance of the bar and slings an object several times at multiple windows. The person appears to not be wearing any gloves. Nobody was inside the bar when it happened.
“It looked like just property damage. They literally wanted to destroy as much stuff as they could,” said Jeff Linn, who owns Town House with partner Andy Pembroke.
The person used a large metal padlock to break the glass, Linn said. Both owners decided to leave the padlock in the window to not disturb the scene.
Around the same time early Friday morning, someone — possibly the same person — broke the windows of a neighboring storefront rented out by Town House as a leather workshop, with Leather Pride and Pride flags draped inside.
“We actually heard the guy last night,” said Linn, who lives nearby with Pembroke. “I threw on my clothes as quickly as possible and ran downstairs and raced outside and screamed at him.”
Linn said he feels safe in Vallejo and hopes this is just petty crime.
“We’re investigating it,” confirmed Vallejo Police Sgt. Rashad Hollis. But, he said, as of now, “there are no elements of a hate crime.”
Linn estimated the windows will cost around $4,500 to repair. As of Friday afternoon, a GoFundMe fundraiser set up after the vandalism had raised more than $2,200.
Pembroke and Linn bought the bar in 2020 and opened up in 2021. Since then, business has grown exponentially, drawing crowds for karaoke and drag nights.
“There are a lot of Pride events going on, so that could be their frame of mind,” said Pembroke. He and Linn had planned to attend Pride events around the Bay Area this weekend, when San Francisco has its annual Pride parade that draws tens of thousands of people to celebrate LGBTQIA+ life.
“I don’t know if we will go now,” said Linn.