Fire set at Arlington gay bar listed as arson
Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant, a gay establishment in the Crystal City section of Arlington, Va., was one of at least three restaurants to be hit with small fires on the same block between 5-5:30 a.m.
on Wednesday, Jan 9. Freddie Lutz, owner of Freddie’s, told the Washington Blade someone set the front door of his bar and restaurant on fire during that time on Jan.
9. The door was partially blackened by the flames, but the restaurant itself did not catch fire, Lutz said. He said two nearby bars and restaurants on the 500 block of South 23rd Street were also hit with small fires around that same time.
They were the Crystal City Sports Pub and McNamara’s Pub and Restaurant. According to Lutz, the small fire at Freddie’s took place the day before and the day after Freddie’s received a threatening phone call from what sounded like the same unidentified male caller. “He said I’m going to fuck you up and I’m going to fuck the woman up,” Lutz said the person told Freddie’s manager, who answered the two calls.
