When Steve Azar bought the 33-room, 150-year-old Gifford House in 2023, he found a faded, neglected hotel that needed basic repairs—replastering, new paint, ripped-up carpets—but he saw something more: a chance to protect and revive a queer sanctuary at the tip of Cape Cod. A local playwright, Cody Sullivan, asked if he could use the hotel as a place for theater, and Azar, moved to tears, embraced the idea. For him, the purchase became about fostering queer art, community, and joy amid increasing corporatization in Provincetown.
Provincetown has long felt like a queer refuge—an atmosphere that’s hard to describe to the uninitiated but obvious to regular visitors. On summer streets, queer residents and tourists wear everything from swimsuits to sequins, drag performers hand out show flyers, and LGBTQ+-owned businesses give the town its distinct character. Spots such as Queen Vic Guest House, Tin Pan Alley, Red Room, The Canteen, SAULT, Butch, and historically significant Gifford House all contribute to that independent, queer-owned vibe.
Gifford House, built in 1868 and perched atop Carver Street, was once the last stop on a horse-drawn stagecoach route and hosted famous visitors like Theodore Roosevelt, who placed the Pilgrim Monument’s cornerstone in 1907. Over generations, Provincetown shifted from a Portuguese enclave to an arts colony and a place that provided care and refuge during the AIDS crisis; through that history, Gifford offered queer guests a place to escape—even if only for a summer week.
Jim Foss and his husband, Harvey Wilson, owned Gifford from 1994 and kept it affordable and lively. The hotel’s basement housed Purgatory, one of the nation’s oldest leather bars, and music from the bar used to pulse through the hotel until the early hours. But by the time Foss wanted to step back, the building showed its age: mildew-scented rooms, drafty bathrooms, and a quiet that followed Purgatory’s pandemic-era closure in 2020. Large hotel operators had been buying properties in town—companies like Linchris Hotel Corporation purchased nearby inns—yet Foss resisted corporate offers that valued queer tourism dollars over community stewardship.
Azar, who had run the Stowaway Inn from 2019 until selling it in late 2022 to Summer of Sass (a nonprofit that brings queer young adults from restrictive areas to Provincetown for the summer), approached Foss in December 2022 and offered to buy Gifford. He promised continuity: a stewardship born of friendship and shared purpose rather than a corporate makeover. Foss agreed, passing the chapter to a new steward.
Since taking over in spring 2023, Azar has modernized amenities—adding air conditioning, updating facilities—and reopened Gifford as a lively entertainment hub. The hotel now hosts piano singalongs, Latin nights, country line dancing, and a raucous club night called Fag Bash in the revived Purgatory. Inspired by Sullivan’s proposal, Azar also reopened the theater as the Wilde Playhouse, a 100-seat speakeasy-style venue for local, offbeat plays and performances. Once more, lines form down the street for Gifford’s nightclub, and bass reverberates through the building.
That entrepreneurial energy from younger queer business owners, Azar among them, helps preserve Provincetown’s independent spirit. The Provincetown Business Guild, founded in 1978 to attract queer tourists, continues to coordinate theme weeks and major events like Provincetown Carnival, a weeklong summer festival that culminates in a parade. Last year Carnival drew about 79,000 visitors—many times the town’s year-round population of fewer than 3,500.
Local programming increasingly emphasizes inclusivity across the broader queer community. Events use the term “queer” more often, advertising now seeks broader representation beyond the muscular white gay male archetype, and grassroots groups push for greater racial and body-type diversity. The town’s population remains predominantly white—about 87% per a 2023 DEI study—but organizations are working to change that. Frolic, which curates events for queer people of color, has expanded its Provincetown takeover into a five-day (soon six-day) weekend that drew roughly 1,200 attendees in June 2025. Juneteenth Ptown, founded in 2021, has grown from a celebration into an ongoing volunteer effort focused on education and activism.
Azar and Gifford continue to support year-round community life, offering their spaces for figure drawing classes, free town potlucks, writing open-mics, and other gatherings. Even during winter events like Holly Folly, Gifford’s Porch Bar and the revived Purgatory fill with people seeking warmth and community, giving the impression of midsummer revelry regardless of the season.
Looking ahead, Azar plans further additions—a spa with steam and massage rooms, an outdoor cold plunge, and cosmetic refreshes—while keeping the hotel’s historic name. He learned that “Gifford” can mean “brave giver” in old English, a fitting description for a place and a purpose tied to generosity and refuge. That name, and the community it supports, is central to what Gifford House aims to be for Provincetown’s queer residents and visitors.
Nathan Tavares is a writer from Boston. His next novel, The Disco at the End of the World, is available for pre-order and will be published in June 2026 by Titan Books.