The first-ever women’s sports bar in California opened up right in the heart of Long Beach. The bar was opened by LA native and queer business owner, Jax Diener, who wanted a space where women’s sports fans could come and cheer on their favorite teams.
Since opening day, Watch Me! has become a safe haven for women sports fans all over Southern California, as well as the LGBTQ+ community.
As a lifelong sports fan, Diener reflects on the weekly ritual of attending her own local sports bar.
“Even after pouring hundreds of dollars into these establishments, we always felt like we were never really accepted there. I would leave every Sunday saying, ‘I’m going to open my own sports bar.’” said Diener and that is exactly what she did.
Diener found herself inspired by the story of Billie Jean King, the former World No.1 tennis player and pioneer of women’s sports.
“That athlete mindset where you’re just busting through barriers, that mentality, that’s what Watch me! is about,” said Diener.
Watch me! is the first bar of its kind in California, opened on July 26, 2024, with three more women’s sports bars opening across California within a year and a half after its launch.
“There’s a women’s sports movement and women’s sports bar movement,” said Diener.
As of today, there are 27 women’s sports bars in total across the United States, a number roughly quadruple what it was just three years ago.
“They should be just as common as your standard sports bar, where you see one in every city,” said Assistant Manager and former Long Beach City College student Megan McCoy.
“The fact that women’s sports and sports announcers are mainstream now was unheard of, the little girl in me that never saw women in sports on tv, now she can see it everywhere she looks. It’s really special.” said McCoy.
Watch me! has become a center of the community not only for women’s sports fans but also for the queer community in Long Beach, and across Southern California.
While the bar itself is lesbian owned, they also host a wide variety of community events such as karaoke, queer line dancing, stand-up comedy nights, screenings of queer TV shows, trivia nights, queer book club, and party buses that ship patrons to and from local games.
“Being able to step in here and know you’re in a safe space is really cool,” said Cole Whiter, a bartender of two years at Watch Me!
Whiter identifies as nonbinary and said that out of 13 years working in the food service industry, there is a “unique level of safety and comfort here, you can feel it when you walk in.”
Watch me! is not exclusive to residents of Long Beach and has become a phenomenon across Southern California. Women’s sports fans and queer people alike find themselves a part of the community at Watch me!
Bar regular Vivian S. makes the drive from Laguna Niguel to watch her favorite games at the “Watch me!” bartop.
It was on Super Bowl Sunday 2026 when she met her now partner, Christine Padua, at a watch party in the bar. Padua had come all the way from Thousand Oaks to watch the game that Sunday.
“She stole me and I stole her,” recalled Vivian.
Bar owner Diener described Watch me! As “Welcoming, inclusive, and inviting.”
Although the focus of Watch me! is women’s sports and queer events, this does not mean that people who are not members of either of those groups cannot attend.
“I like to say all ages, races, and genders are welcome here”, mentioned Diener.
“We always get the question: ‘Well, are men allowed in here?’ We want them to know it’s not a bar only for women, we just focus on showing women’s sports, we love when men come in here and cheer for us because we’ve been cheering them on for decades,” said McCoy.
By providing a safe space for their patrons of every walk of life, they facilitate a place where women’s sports fans can come together and support one another.
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