Atlanta needs s gay bars now more than ever - Atlanta Magaze

Contents:

• THE 5 BEST ATLANTA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ATLANTA
• GAY CLUBS
• LEGENDARY GAY BAR ATLANTA EAGLE IS REOPENG MIDTOWN
• LOTED THE HEART OF ATLANTA’S MIDTOWN GAYBORHOOD, BLAKE’S ON THE PARK IS A VIO & DANCE BAR WH DJS, DANCERS, DRAG SHOWS AND SO MUCH MORE.
• BT GAY AND LBIAN BARS IN ATLANTA
• 10 GAY FRIENDLY RTRANTS ATLANTA
• ATLANTA NEEDS S GAY BARS NOW MORE THAN EVER
• ATLANTA GAY MAP
• ATLANTA GAY DANCE CLUBS
• 10 GAY FRIENDLY RTRANTS ATLANTA
• MOVE- READY: HERE ARE 6 OF ATLANTA'S BT GAY-IENDLY NEIGHBORHOODS

THE 5 BEST ATLANTA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ATLANTA

Succsfully fdg a gay club an unfaiar cy n be tryg.

We let you know which on ter to gay men or lbians, what kds of shows and entertaments they host, and what tracks the DJs sp. Among the most celebrated gay bars Atlanta has to offer, Mary's has been named Atlanta's bt gay bar by "Creative Loafg" and one of the top 50 gay bars the world by "Out" magaze.

GAY CLUBS

The ial hangout for anyone weary of over-the-top gay clubs Atlanta, The Hiout is the olst remag gay bar the cy.

When to gay clubs Atlanta, Jungle is the preferred hot spot for dited dancers. An old-school landmark amongst gay bars, this Atlanta hot spot is still one of the most beloved plac to party Midtown. One of the most unpretent gay clubs Atlanta, the Eagle, a nontradnal leather bar, has been drawg wonrfully diverse and amible crowds for s.

A lotn near Piedmont Park, floor-to-ceilg wdows lookg out on 10th Street, and a iendly, sual vibe distguish this neighborhood bar, whose clientele is largely gay. After closg two years ago, one of Atlanta’s olst and most legendary gay and leather bars is reopeng Midtown, and right before Pri next month.

LEGENDARY GAY BAR ATLANTA EAGLE IS REOPENG MIDTOWN

Loted the heart of Atlanta’s Midtown Gayborhood, Blake’s on the Park is a Vio & Dance Bar wh DJs, Dancers, Drag Shows and so much more. Atlanta has long been tops the Southeast for gay nightlife. Here's a look at Blake's on the Park, Mary's, Swgg Richards, Bellissima Lounge, Bulldogs, among the new crop of tops when to gay bars Atlanta.

There is only one place town where you n hear a 5 foot gay man who looks like Billy Dee Williams sg like Ta Turner and Gladys Knight – and that place is Mary's every Tuday and Saturday.

LOTED THE HEART OF ATLANTA’S MIDTOWN GAYBORHOOD, BLAKE’S ON THE PARK IS A VIO & DANCE BAR WH DJS, DANCERS, DRAG SHOWS AND SO MUCH MORE.

Mary's is a fantastic spot to get a drk the Village whether gay or straight: strong drks, iendly scene, and always somethg fun to watch. Not unlike a gay Cheers, Mary's is the place where everybody knows your name. This bar certaly ters to the gay scene Atlanta, more specifilly the lbian crowd, but they are absolutely welg of anyone that wants to drop by.

There is a nice-size dance floor draws a steady mix of well-iffed, stylish women and gay guys, tendg toward the unr-30, profsnal set. While Midtown ntu to the be the center of gay life Atlanta and among the most renowned “gayborhoods” the South, LGBTQ clubs, stor and nightlife n be found all Atlanta neighborhoods om reveloped areas like Wt Midtown and East Atlanta to nearby suburbs like Detur and East Pot. The area is emergg as Atlanta’s next gayborhood, as young profsnal members of the LGBTQ muny flock to the area to bee homeowners.

BT GAY AND LBIAN BARS IN ATLANTA

Atlanta’s origal gayborhood, Midtown is the re of LGBTQ life Atlanta.

Not only is Midtown the cultural hub of Atlanta, is also the home for gay nightlife Atlanta and shows jt how diverse Atlanta’s LGBTQ muny INFO. Technilly loted Midtown, the Ansley Square shoppg plex is a virtual gay urtyard featurg gay bars and shops. It is also home to Atlanta’s first and only gay sports bar, Woofs, which draws crowds for poker nights and viewg parti.

10 GAY FRIENDLY RTRANTS ATLANTA

Gay and lbian-owned rtrants and shops n be found both Cabbagetown and Grant Park, and gay-popular eateri such as Agave and T Lizzy’s are always full of fun. Jt down the street is Mary’s, an offbeat gay bar that featur legendary INFO.

Woofs Atlanta is a gay bar loted the northern half of Atlanta.

ATLANTA NEEDS S GAY BARS NOW MORE THAN EVER

Bee of Woof’s northern lotn, is the only gay bar s part of Atlanta. So after a long day of servg your untry why not head to your favore gay bar Atlanta, Geia.

Flyg Biscu Cafe is a gay-iendly rtrant loted Midtown Atlanta. BackstreetOne of the largt gay bars the Southeast, this two-story Midtown club was among the few Atlanta nightspots wh a 24/7 liquor license. Home to Charlie Brown’s Cabaret and a dis floor that drew gay and straight revelers, Backstreet was the go-to place to party after other clubs It stopped ra’ men 2004 after a cy ordance mandated 3 a.

ATLANTA GAY MAP

Midtown Atlanta’s popular male gay club, better known as Bulldogs, has e alive the nighttime for more than 40 years. Revelers at leather bar the Eagle 2015, six years after an famo police raidPhotograph by Alli Royce SobleArt Smh’s first Atlanta gay bar experience was when he danced the new year at Backstreet durg a weekend getaway at the end of 1982. “We were so overwhelmed by the feelg of cln and energy the gay scene, ” says Smh, who lived wh his boyiend Nashville at the time.

They cid the next day to move to Smh first disvered Atlanta’s gay nightlife, the scene was boomg wh dozens of plac to drk, dance, and watch drag. “Gay bars felt like a safe space to open up the possibily of figurg out who you were. ” Doug Craft, a bartenr at Blake’s on the Park for 30 years, says the purpose of a gay bar transcends mere socializg: “I’ve felt like a unselor who helped others make the transn to self-acceptance.

ATLANTA GAY DANCE CLUBS

”In the 1990s, lbians unted the Othersi Lounge and Revolutn as mastays, and the Black gay crowd equented the lik of Bulldogs. “I’m not gog to argue wh the fact was segregated, but Atlanta was and is the gay pal of the South, and so, you went to the bars that tered to what you liked, ” says Reverend Dunn Teague, one of the first Black AIDS outreach workers for AID Atlanta. ”Yet as queer culture has gone mastream enough for the crosswalk near Blake’s to be repated as a rabow, the gay bar scene the cy and natnwi has ntracted.

In the 1970s, there were 2, 500 gay bars across the untry; today, there are half as many.

And gay nightlife is now further imperiled by the threat all bars face as a rult of the panmic. While the AIDS crisis brought the gay muny and s bars together, COVID is drivg them the height of AIDS, Grooms remembers attendg up to five funerals a week—followed by benefs at the bars.

10 GAY FRIENDLY RTRANTS ATLANTA

“It was a horrible moment, but the gay muny really got together and gave what they uld, ” he says. ”The 1990s brought antiretroviral therapy for HIV and a populatn boom to Atlanta, but nothg that era affected the gay bars more than onle datg. “Almost overnight, everythg changed, ” says Alan Colls, the manager of gay bar the Heretic.

MOVE- READY: HERE ARE 6 OF ATLANTA'S BT GAY-IENDLY NEIGHBORHOODS

By the time same-sex marriage was legalized 2015, many wonred whether the very nature and fn of gay bars need to expand. “Havg a bar specifilly for cisgenr gay men is still important, but people are lookg for more clive spac now.

”The l that had once fed gay bars are blurrg.