Discover the Bar da Bete, which attracts anonymous and famous people like Gaby Amarantos until the morning

Anyone who is used to walking along the wide sidewalk on Avenida São João, in downtown São Paulo, saw number 1,145 get busier last Thursday night, the 18th. A sea of ​​yellow tables was scattered around surrounded by people standing, music loud and shouts of “Bete, can you see one more litrão, please?”.

That day, the new bar Vamo pra Bete was inaugurated, better known by word of mouth only as Bar da Bete. Success because it stays open until morning on Rua das Palmeiras, in the Santa Cecilia neighborhood, the space has a new headquarters, about 700 meters away.

“The old one was small and it was getting very crowded, with people on the street, neighbors complaining and city hall inspections. So we fixed another, bigger spot. who does not reveal her full name or by decree — information that is also withheld by the staff and her husband, Washington, who works with her at the bar.

The 53-year-old hostess always greets customers with a smile, a red headscarf, big glasses and flashy clothes and accessories. As soon as a new person enters, they introduce every corner of the new location. She says she learned this in the 23 years she worked for businesswoman Lilian Gonçalves, considered the queen of the night in that region, for owning bars and karaoke bars on Canuto do Val Street, also in the city center.

“I came to São Paulo in 1987, when I was 17 years old. I worked in metallurgy and as a bakery attendant, until I was a waitress at Lilian’s bars”, says Bete, who also remembers that, at that time, lambada was in fashion and, for So, she put on a rhythm dancer outfit to ask for a job at Biroska, one of the bars run by Gonçalves. And it did.

But the real dream was to open his own bar. “I put together all the tip money and the last bit of salary that was left over. When I rented the spot on Rua das Palmeiras, I was afraid that Lilian would be angry with me”, she remembers about the opening of the first Bar da Bete, in 2007, when the drink ran out of so full that the seat at the opening party was left.

The change now to Avenida São João was no different. In addition to the clientele that lasted all night during the 15 years of operation of the other bar, the new address had the presence of digital influencers such as Bia Gremion and musicians such as Gaby Amarantos and Jaloo. “My bar has always been frequented by actors, musicians and those people from the internet. But Gaby was a surprise. She arrived and said that I am a very famous Northeastern woman, that she had to meet me.”

But this more well-known clientele and the LGBTQIA+ audience are recent appearances. “Until 2018 I only worked with nightlife bohemians, but there was always a fight, they got everything dirty. One day I told Washington that I wanted to open a bar just for gays and dykes”, comments the businesswoman, who says her dream is to see the singer Pabllo Vittar under the bar’s neon lights.

Anyone who knew the old spot on Rua das Palmeiras realizes that much of the decoration was reused. The loveseats —two clay dolls that stand on the counter— continue on the stage. On the walls, there are wooden paintings of flowers and butterflies. But what really stands out are two photos that cover half of a wall right at the entrance, with a touch of randomness: one shows the landscape of a generic beach, while the other shows the cable-stayed bridge Octávio Frias de Oliveira, on the waterfront. Pine trees.

The menu was something else taken from the old address. The house caipirinha costs R$28, while the beer in a liter bottle, whose customer order opens this text, costs between R$16 and R$18. of chicken cost R$25 each recipe.

But it’s not just the litrão, the music and the presence of the owner that explain why the bar is always full. The address also has a nice push from Instagram, where the profile @bar_da_bete goes viral with different memes — from “Betemami”, a reference to the album cover by singer Rosalía, to montages with singer Rihanna on site.

The person responsible for the page is actor Rafael Gatto, who met Bete in 2018, when he visited the bar with friends one night. “During the pandemic, with the house closed, I wanted to help Bete in some way”, comments Gatto, who says that the first successful post was a deepfake with Xuxa, a technique used to digitally replace one face with another.

It was also on the internet that the bar began to suffer criticism – from complaints to accusations of homophobia. In one of the last ones, a client published that he saw a security guard assault a homeless person. Bete says she has not witnessed any such scene, and the employee denies the aggression. She says she is learning to deal with the growth of people asking for money at the bar and with the fact that cracolândia has approached the address. “But here we always try to help those who are in need, because I spent a day,” she says.

Despite online cancellations, in person the bar continues to attract people. At 11 pm on Tuesday, the 24th, despite the cold, all the tables were occupied.

Beth says this is just the beginning. “My dream? To have a movie or a series telling my story: ‘Bete’s Life’. Can you imagine? I want to walk around with my gay friends and full of security.”