Gay/Lesbian entertainment in North America
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A
Mado Cabaret
Mado is a flamboyant celebrity who writes a column in Fugues, the gay entertainment mag. Her cabaret is a local institution, with drag shows featuring an assortment of hilariously sarcastic performers in eye-popping costumes. Shows take place weekend and Tuesday nights.
reviewed
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B
Badlands
The Castro’s primary dance bar gets packed with gay college boys, their screaming straight girlfriends and a few chicken hawks. If you’re over 30, you’ll feel old. Weekends, expect a line, which no self-respecting local would ever wait in.
reviewed
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Gay Bars & Clubs
What Cherry Grove is to its neighbor the Fire Island Pines, Fort Lauderdale is to South Beach - a little more rainbow-flag-oriented and a little less exclusive. And for the hordes of gay boys who flock here, either to party or to settle down, therein lies the charm. You don't need to be A-list to feel at home at any of the many gay bars, clubs or restaurants, and you won't have any trouble finding 'the scene'.
Fort Lauderdale is home to more than 25 gay bars and clubs, about a dozen gay guesthouses, and a couple of way-gay residential hubs including Victoria Park, which is the established gay ghetto, and Wilton Manors, more recently gay-gentrified and boasting endless nig…
reviewed
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C
Blow Buddies
When it’s time to get laid, head to the Disneyland of cock. The original owner was a Disney fetishist and set out to recreate, with exacting detail, Disneyland-like attractions, with mazes and specialty-fetish rooms spread over 6000 sq ft of indoor-outdoor warehouse space. New owners aren’t detail-oriented, and rarely put money back into the club (the outdoor camouflage-berm tore away years ago, and the play area under the stairs closed eons ago when the barber’s chair broke), but for a sex club it’s the best in town. Some nights are positively dreary: count coats in the coat-check through the barred window by the entrance; if fewer than 30, don’t go in unless it’s early.…
reviewed
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D
Twin Peaks Tavern
Don’t call it the glass coffin. Show some respect: Twin Peaks was the first gay bar in the world with windows opening to the street. The jovial crowd skews (way) over 40, but they’re not chicken hawks (or they wouldn’t hang here), and they love it when happy kids show up and join the party. Ideal for a tête-à-tête after a film at the Castro, or for cards, Yahtzee or backgammon (BYO). Expect impromptu sing-alongs if Judy Garland starts playing. Learn, child, learn…
reviewed
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E
EndUp
Anyone left on the streets of San Francisco after 2am on weekends is subject to the magnetic force of the EndUp’s marathon dance sessions. It’s the only club with a 24-hour license and remains best known for its Sunday tea dances, in full force since 1973, though the club has branched out with reggae and other changing parties (check the web). You’re not a local till you’ve seen sunrise at the EndUp. Expect lots of gnashing teeth and saucer-sized eyeballs by night’s end.
reviewed
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F
Good Friends Bar
A quintessential Quarter gay bar, where the scene can go from casual drink to debauchery unleashed at the drop of a hat. The crowd of regulars really are good friends, partly because the bar stools are so damn comfortable. Easy-on-the-eye bartenders make the bar's famous drink, the 'Separator' (Kahlúa ice cream, milk, brandy and coffee liqueur). The upstairs piano area, the 'Queen's Head Pub,' heats up with show tunes on Sunday night. The balcony is a good spot to chill.
reviewed
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G
Underground Sf
Underground SF is made for being yourself (be it hippie-dyke, trannie, pretty boy or college kid) and letting said self go. Highly danceable sounds range from new wave to dark electro to drum 'n bass. The small dance floor can get overpacked, but no one'll push you out, and you can always escape to the smoking patio. In darker corners of the club things can get even steamier. Saturdays, the hottest boys in town head to its infamously messy dance party, Drunk & Horny.
reviewed
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H
Odyssey
This ever-popular gay club, combining regular drag nights on Wednesday and Sunday with a host of ever-changing special events throughout the week, is a thumpingly fun night out. Of course, you don’t have to be gay to dance here, but it certainly helps if you’re planning to meet someone (which almost everyone here is). The vibe is entertainingly risqué – hence Thursday night’s Shower Power, when local beefcakes lather up in front of the slavering crowds.
reviewed
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Angels Club
Welcome to Guadalajara’s megaclub. Sure, it’s a gay venue, but chicks dig the mod acrylic tables, cool lounge, throwback beanbag room and the three dance floors blasting electronica, hip-hop and progressive rock, so heterosexual men should shed their inhibitions and mingle with the party people. Saturday nights get wild. Clubbers often leave for breakfast at around 5am and return for sun-drenched fun after hours.
reviewed
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J
Backstage Theater-Cabaret
Cancún is well known for its lively gay and lesbian scene (though there's more for gay men than women), meaning there's plenty to do most nights. Backstage Theater-Cabaret features drag shows, strippers (male and female), fashion shows and musicals. Terrific ambience, joyful crowd.
Other venues include Karamba which is popular with cross-dressers and Picante which is more for talkers than dancers.
reviewed
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K
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
Buddies in Bad Times is an innovative venue for Canadian lesbigay and alternative theatre that's been wowing crowds since 1979. Original plays here often weave together Canadian themes, contemporary dance and jazz. It's tiny – only 300 seats for the main stage, and there are even fewer in Talullah's Cabaret, a clubby performance space for comedians, writers and singers. So book early!
reviewed
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L
Country Club
There's no golf course here. Down in the Bywater, this historic mansion has been converted into a gay frat house, replete with a large swimming pool in the back yard. It's a low-key hangout by day and more of a clubby scene by night. Clothing is not altogether forbidden on the patio, where guys and dolls tend to strip down and erase those tan lines. Indoors things are a bit more refined, with frequent shows.
reviewed
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M
Spin
Though its clientele consists mostly of gay men in their 20s, Spin has become a popular destination for hetero men and women on the weekends. Serious dancers hit the floor, while chatty cruisers orbit the large bar by the entrance. Don’t miss Spin’s shower contest every Friday night, when hopefuls of both genders bare (almost) all. There’s also an outdoor beer garden, darts tournaments and drag queen bingo.
reviewed
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N
Circuit
The classiest of the Boystown nightclub mainstays has a lovely rooftop deck where a highly stylized, sexually mixed, though gay dominated crowd, wile away the summer evenings – the perfect perch to look down their noses at the mobs of shirtless, crotch-grabbing twinks at the club next door. Don’t leave without trying the fat-free alcoholic slushies or visiting the Star Trek room.
reviewed
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O
$3 Bill Cafe
Squishy couches, strong coffee, free wireless and smiley staff invite you to join San Francisco history in progress: sparkle subversively with Radical Faeries; organize Green Party bake sales with moms' groups; and stitch and bitch with SF's sharpest knit wits. Don't be shy about stepping up and out on Queer Open Mike, the second and fourth Fridays of the month - you're among friends here.
reviewed
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P
The Café
The pool tables were just replaced because go-go dancers tore them to shreds - uh-huh, it's that kind of place, has been for decades. The eclectic mix sometimes lapses into interminable house numbers; grab a test-tube shot and pace yourself until the samba whistles kick in. Anyone in hot pants is welcome, though Fridays favor fellas and every third Saturday is an all-lesbian tea dance.
reviewed
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Q
Hydrate
A wild night on the Boystown club circuit requires a visit to this frenzied spot, which boasts an open-air feel (thanks to retractable windows) and a chatty pickup scene (thanks to $1 well drinks). It’s not all roses; the service gets rude and the crowds unruly (also thanks to the $1 well drinks). Special events at the club include a male burlesque troupe and female impersonators.
reviewed
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R
Buttergold
Buttergold (aka Butterflies, aka El Butter), across the street from metro Salto del Agua, is an airplane-hangar-sized space that still manages to get densely packed. The funhouse features five bars, a snack bar and a big stage for elaborately choreographed drag shows. It’s fun for straights, too, as long as you don’t mind crowds, thick smoke and loud, loud music.
reviewed
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S
Celebrities
Celebrities hosts a series of sparkling, sometimes sequined event nights throughout the week, including a raucous Red Hot Wednesday drag night and Saturday’s Release, a massive dance party, when go-go dancers, live singers and occasional circus performers strut for your viewing pleasure. If you’re on a budget, Tuesday is $3 highball night.
reviewed
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Berlin
Stepping off the El at Belmont has long been one of the city’s best bets for finding a packed, sweaty dance floor. Berlin caters to a mostly gay crowd midweek, though partiers of all stripes jam the place on weekends. Monitors flicker through the latest video dispatches from cult pop and electronic acts, while DJs take the dance floor on trancey detours.
reviewed
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U
The Transfer
Once seedier than the guy trying to sell late-night Muni transfers out front, this divey joint has gotten prettified in a smeared-lipstick Courtney Love way. Your Muni ticket will expire long before you figure out the various orientations of the crowd gyrating to rock-hip-hop mash-ups. On Mondays, that defunct ticket will get you any drink half price.
reviewed
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V
Stereo
Montréal’s underground house-music giant has opened and closed for various reasons throughout the years. Still featuring a sound system so amazing regulars gush about out-of-body-experience, Stereo is open for business once again, attracting anyone – gay, straight, students, drag queens – looking to lose sleep in style.
reviewed
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W
Starlight Bar & Lounge
A funky mix of Chelsea boys and East Village artistes cross paths in this pleasantly overcrowded bar, with room to relax in the back lounge. The all-female bartender crew work the crowd and Sunday night ('Starlette') is widely considered one of the best lesbian events in the city. Wednesday is queer comedy night, hosted by funny man Keith Price.
reviewed
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X
Double Play
While New Orleans is a pretty integrated city where gays and straights tend to mingle on a regular basis, there is a strong gay scene here, primarily centered on the French Quarter and Faubourg Marigny. As bad as behavior gets, Double Play is where every envelope in the post office gets pushed. Needs to be experienced to be believed.
reviewed
