A street in Virginia’s capital is now named for the woman behind one of America’s oldest lesbian bars

For almost 50 years, Vicky Hester embedded herself in the Virginia LGBTQ+ community through her philanthropy and by running Babes of Carytown, one of the country's oldest lesbian bars. Now, Richmond City Council officials are cementing her legacy, voting Monday to rename the street next to the business Hester operated "for those who needed acceptance" as “Vicky Hester Way.”

Hester, who died in September 2025 at 71, opened Babes of Carytown in 1987 in the Carytown neighborhood of Virginia’s capital as a steakhouse, but it soon became a gathering spot for lesbians and eventually the LGBTQ+ community.

“It’s always been about pride, and community, and a place to not only come together but struggle together,” Hester told RVA Magazine in 2025.

Related: Owner of America's second-oldest lesbian bar, Babes of Carytown, has died

Babes of Carytown, which calls itself “the oldest lesbian bar on the East Coast,” sits at the corner of West Cary Street and South Auburn Avenue; officials voted to rename a section of South Auburn Avenue in Hester’s honor.

The measure, backed by 5th District Councilmember Stephanie Lynch and Mayor Danny Avula, WWBT reports, allows the Department of Public Works to install signs at each end of the block.

“There’s no words for Vicky Hester,” The Richmonder reports Lynch saying about the original measure. “She brought light everywhere, and she still brings it because she created a space where everyone can be loved.”

Hester “was more than a business owner,” Travis Warren said to the council in support of the measure. “Through Babe’s of Carytown, she created a place for generations of people to experience life and find home and family.”

NBC affiliate WWBT reports Hester hosted fundraisers for local nonprofits at the venue, backed initiatives with Virginia Pride, and donated food to the Metropolitan Community Church of Richmond’s food pantry.

The designation is extra meaningful in a state like Virginia, where middle school students have had to threaten legal action just to start a Gay-Straight Alliance club, and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is still in existence. As The Advocate reported, Virginia voters approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment in 2006, a constitutional provision defining marriage exclusively as a union between one man and one woman. The measure passed with 57 percent support amid a national wave of state constitutional amendments banning same-sex couples from marrying. The amendment also prohibited Virginia from recognizing legal statuses that approximated marriage, making it one of the broadest marriage bans adopted in the country.

Related: Thousands of LGBTQ+ people & allies celebrate Virginia PrideFest — with Gov. Abigail Spanberger among them

That language remains in Virginia's constitution today. Virginians for Marriage Equality – a coalition of LGBTQ+ advocates, faith leaders, elected officials, and families – launched in June a campaign in Richmond to erase that language and replace it with an explicit constitutional guarantee of marriage equality.

And while the Virginia LGBTQ+ community has received support from Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who joined the thousands at Virginia PrideFest in Richmond this year unlike her predecessor, there are movements underway looking to stop or slow down the progress, such as former Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears launching what she calls the “Life and Marriage Tour.”

Anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment was high during the 1980s and 1990s, with Babe’s of Caryton being one of the few places to weather the storm, RVA Magazine reports, though Hester said she faced discrimination as a restaurant owner and queer business owner.

Still, that didn’t slow her down. “Imagine being my age and in this struggle for fifty-plus years and finally earning the right to marry the person you love. Isn’t that what life is all about? Loving people… And we’ve finally made it… But oftentimes we’re reminded the fight is still here, and we have to keep showing up,” she told RVA Magazine. “Keep showing up.”