It’s a piano lounge with expensive drinks and a small upstairs lounge you can check it out if you want to I guess, but definitely not a place you need to go to.įormerly the Eastern Bloc, this venue is now a modern burlesque-esque venue owned and operated by the actor you probably vaguely recognize as Fegan Floop from the Spy Kids trilogies. Duplexĭuplex is Stonewall’s next door neighbor, and is kinda just there. This was one of my first gay bars and I’m sad to see it go, and is big reason why I want to point out the importance of maintaining and protecting queer spaces in the city. Boots and Saddleīoots and Saddle was a fun gay-dive-bar experience - but unfortunately it closed down just last month. Verdict: Since it has a reliably positive reputation, it’s still definitely place I want to go out to more (and you should probably do so too). There’s also a decent repertoire of drag queens at Monster, with Season 10 Drag Race queen Dusty Ray Bottom performing there pretty often (check her Insta page to see if she’ll be there on whatever night you think of going). Like Stonewall, there’s two floors: the ground floor is the ‘chill’ bar floor, and the basement is where more dancing and ‘fun’ is to be had. They’re more likely to have a cover than Stonewall / are slightly stricter at the door, but if you’re already in the area it’s definitely worth checking out.
I’ve only been in once, and very briefly so, but Monster is known for it’s go-go boys and for being a reliably pretty fun time. Located literally across the street from Stonewall, The Monster is a good time. Verdict: Solid alright definitely worth checking out at least once, but not worth much after that It’s fun for a night out of dancing like you wish you could as a repressed queer youth in high school, and some pretty good drag queens have done performances there, but it’s also often over-run by straight people / out-of-towners, a handful of over-zealous older men, and generally not a good place to go to if you’re ‘ looking.’ However, after the novelty of dancing in a historic venue wears off / you realize you’re too broke to keep buying slightly overpriced drinks, you realize that as a gay bar, Stonewall’s just a solid alright. There’s two floors, with the bottom one usually featuring a live-singing drag queen and being the more ‘chill’ floor, and an upstairs that’s usually predominantly top-40 music. It’s a definite must-go-to for any queer person in the city, and is a solid choice for a first gay bar. If you’re not familiar with the history of this place, you should probably fix that. Often cited as the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, this venue is I-CON-IC.
That being said: here’s a round-up of NYC’s queer nightlife, because let’s be real here - gays know how to have fun. And if you’re c) just keep reading for shits and giggles, your girl could use a good engagement ratio. There’s literally hundreds of places for you to go out in this city, so we really don’t need breeders to come hetero-ize the few predominantly queer spaces that remain in this city. It’s probably better if you come with at least one queer person, and don’t make a spectacle out of people just living their best lives, and do not forget to tip your drag queens. If you’re a b) type person, please, for the love of God and the gays, come responsibly. If you’re an a) type person - welcome to the party, have fun, be safe, make good decisions. I’d like to start off by addressing that this article won’t feature lesbian bars, seeing that I’ve never actually been to one since I am not one, which means that if you continue reading this article you are either a) a queer person looking to dive into NYC’s queer nightlife, b) a straight person looking to join in on the fun, or c) lost and confused.