Somehow, the most interesting thing about Harold’s Haunt, Millvale’s very own “they bar,” is not the haunted baby dolls or mothman Pride flags.
It’s owner Athena Flint, a self-proclaimed glitter Witch who — despite her best efforts — has earned the reputation of “Mom.”
“I know that people in the community call me Mom in a silly way because I’m the one who’s like, ‘Okay, let’s take care of ourselves and each other and don’t eat the shiny rocks,’” she says from the back patio of Harold’s Haunt.
Flint says she would rather be dubbed “a silly little guy.” Wearing big pink Skeletor earrings, she describes how she uses glitter as a witch.
“I encourage people to throw glitter all over their head as a connection to childhood wonder and joy because the world is terrible and awful and burning, but there’s something beautiful in being able to see the rainbows in the oil slick,” she says. “I think that healing isn’t possible without joy, which is why we need to be silly little guys.”
And while her humor and joy are undeniable as she describes how her dog, Freddie Spaghetti Squash, has developed a taste for glitter, she can’t quite escape the maternal title as she is briefly pulled away to help set up karaoke for the night.
Karaoke is one of many themed nights that Harold’s Haunt offers: pirate-themed parties, sober Sundays, “Survivor” watch parties, trivia and arts and crafts nights.
The pirate parties were the idea of Ringa Sunn, one of Flint’s friends. They held one party the weekend after the 2024 presidential election, when many queer community members felt afraid for the future.
“We were all like, ‘Oh, should we still have things?’” Sunn says. “And I’m like, ‘No, we have to still have this pirate party’ because people need to go somewhere and forget for the night that they’re terrified and forget that the world’s crumbling around them and just dress like a pirate, drink some rum and scream at each other.”
The bar’s clear mission is inclusivity, serving up non-alcoholic and vegan alternatives to classic drinks, such as its espresso martini, alongside a roster of creative drinks like the glittery Smaug’s Fire, a reference to Lord of the Rings.
The idea to title Harold’s Haunt a “they bar,” a pun on gender-neutral pronouns, sprung out of conversation with Jasper Flint, Athena’s younger sibling. Jasper, who uses they/them pronouns, is trans masculine and nonbinary.
The name itself, Harold’s Haunt, is a reference to a ghost that Flint says is haunting her metaphysical shop Maude’s Paperwing Gallery, which is a floor up from Harold’s.
Harold’s isn’t immune to spirits either. A previous owner named Paul is keeping the bar safe, once flickering the lights to point out an electrical hazard during renovations, and the bar’s unofficial mascot is an allegedly haunted baby doll named Violet who has her own Instagram account.
The spooky humor is captured in the bar’s decor, a well-curated blend of nerdy and gothic trinkets line the wall behind the bar.
The heart of Harold’s isn’t lost in all the whimsy and spectacle: Flint and the bar have cultivated something of a found family community. The Discord server associated with Harold’s and Maude’s has become an online space for mutual aid where people can ask for help getting groceries or exchange supplies.
It’s the kind of community that Flint had always wanted from a church but struggled to find. The South Hills native grew up going to church and studied Catholic theology at Carlow University.
That community model came out of a trip Flint took to visit Jasper, who was then in Australia and had found a queer community there.
“I think just experiencing that and realizing that that kind of community care was available in a space that wasn’t simply church or a place where you didn’t feel like you were quite all the way who you are was really eye-opening for me,” Flint says.
When she returned, it inspired her to read books on social justice, abolition and queer theory. Now 37 and in a “Protect trans folks” T-shirt, she comfortably identifies as queer, occasionally adding bisexual as a modifier.
She started the Queer Resource Center of Millvale to provide support in the community, hosting events for queer witches and femme skill swaps for makeup, hair and clothing. She’s also a co-organizer for Pride Millvale this year. Her own plans for pride are much more humble.
“My bucket list is finding myself an outfit for Pride before Pride happens,” she says with a laugh.
Flint’s work in the community doesn’t stop there. She’s brimming with Millvale pride, in more ways than one.
Having lived in Squirrel Hill, Penn Hills and a host of other places before moving to Millvale, she confidently declares it the most community-oriented place she’s lived.
“A lot of people are very rough around the edges and gruff, but they’re also just very surprisingly loving and welcoming and supportive,” she says. “I don’t think there’s a better place in Pittsburgh for my group that I’m creating to be because we are creating community relationships that go beyond the queer spectrum.”
Both Flint and Jasper were raised by a therapist mother, something that’s an important piece of context for Flint’s community involvement, says Jasper, who is finishing a doctorate in clinical psychology.
“Athena really brings that therapy aspect to her work,” Jasper says. “She spends a lot of time, like a considerable amount of time, figuring out how best to respond to things that happen in the community, how best to foster a sense of inclusion and spends a lot of dedicated energy in trying her hardest to make a space where people can show up as themselves.”
If Flint wasn’t running Harold’s and Maude’s, she’d probably enter the psychology field too, Jasper says.
She’s not as far from it as one would expect a bar owner to be. Maura McManus, a friend of Flint’s who works at Harold’s and Maude’s, recalled a time when someone was having a mental health crisis at the bar. Flint took them to the patio and spent an hour talking and listening to them.
“She’s kind of like a burst of light, really,” McManus says. “She’s very, very good at seeing people and making people want to be seen by her, if that makes any sense. And I mean, definitely maternal, as much as I’m sure she hates it every time I say that.”
“Portraits of Pride” is a cooperative project produced jointly by QBurgh and NEXTpittsburgh with support from the Pittsburgh Media Partnership. Do you know someone who deserves to be in the Pride spotlight? Email NEXT editor Cristina Holtzer at crissy@nextpittsburgh.com.
