The Bt Gay Bar, Boston

Contents:

• THE BT GAY BARS BOSTON
• BT HANGOUT PLAC OF LGBTQ BOSTON. GAY BARS, CLUBS & RTRANTS
• THE BEST BOSTON GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS BOSTON
• BOSTON GAY MAP

THE BT GAY BARS BOSTON

The bt of Boston’s gay bar scene n be found around the South End, Dorchter, and beyond. The nversatns about Boston’s gay nightlife scene often center around the closgs of cherished tablishments and rapid gentrifitn of once-gay neighborhoods. Sectns of Dorchter, once the epicenter of Boston’s Irish Catholic workg-class, are now miature gayborhoods — plete wh Sunday tea danc.

The Theater District is home to multiple clubs that regularly host big-name DJs and queens om RuPl’s Drag Race (season 15 wner Sasha Colby performed at Legacy this wter), and Back Bay remas filled wh gay-iendly neighborhood hnts. Wh a proud history of supportg gay rights and a large LGBTQ populatn, Boston is unsurprisgly one of the most clive metro areas the untry. It is te that gay people n feel fortable galavantg anywhere, om Eastie’s wateront to Somerville’s Davis Square.

Still, there is a need for gay-specific spac, and a new generatn of social are ensurg that Boston remas a statn for LGBTQ people. Wh Pri Month gettg started, here is a look at the cy’s gay bar scene and all has to offer. Legacy, n by Royale Entertament Group, has taken the mantle om Paradise as one of Boston’s most hedonistic gay nightlife statns.

BT HANGOUT PLAC OF LGBTQ BOSTON. GAY BARS, CLUBS & RTRANTS

Around for more than 30 years, Club Café is one of the olst gay bars Boston, but you wouldn’t be able to tell om the throngs of Gen Z-ers and lennials who wrap around Columb Avenue on Friday and Saturday nights to get si (pro tip: buy a yearly VIP pass to skip the le. Formerly an old-school vio bar — Trophy Room also ed to host weekly drag bnch — the space is still a gay favore. This upsle cktail lounge opened last fall on Tremont Street, where the Eagle, a gay dive bar staple nearly every major cy, ed to be loted.

In this gay-iendly tablishment, the portns are big and the drks are stiff. Wh s spac bar and numero high-tops, Harp and Bard has bee a statn for Dorchter gays who want to enjoy a lorful selectn of cktails or chow down on fort food favor like turkey tips and meatloaf.

Brian Picci’s Dbar has been a gay favore for years (along wh s siblgs Boston Chops the South End and Dxave Back Bay). Dbar After Dark throws some of the most bacchanalian events on the Boston gay nightlife lendar, attractg hors of pleasure-seekers for s glow party and r Sunday outdoor tea dance.

THE BEST BOSTON GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS BOSTON

Blend has bee a go-to spot for Dorchter gays lookg to dance the night away, or tch up wh iends their roomy bar area or outdoor pat. Blend is hostg a number of events for Pri, notably s “GAYHEM” dance party on Saturday and pop star drag bnch on Sunday. Sce Massachetts is the state that was first to have legalized gay weddgs, we n stylishly display our pri.

This sual gay bar clus all sexual orientatns and offers a welg place to meet wh your fay and iends. (Courty Kristen Porter/Hurley Event Photography)The se of so much gay history Boston is pretty borg om the outsi, jt a squat gray buildg that stretch a whole block on Boylston near Fenway Park.

BOSTON GAY MAP

But until jt before quarante — when Mache Nightclub and bar Ramrod officially closed — past the ont door and the blacked-out wdows at 1254 Boylston St., si was, the leather and Levis gay bar, moved to the first floor 1981 wh Mache rvg out a separate gay nightclub downstairs 1998. Both spots had that kd of slightly dgy, lived- feel of a well-loved gay hangout, the cigarette smell that seemed to hang the air long after Boston banned smokg doors, the dim rners here and there for makg out.

(Courty Helix Peb Photos)The gay scene Boston is still domated by whe guys, but at least for many, Mache was a hub for a more diverse crowd.

"Donald SmhThere won’t be any big sendoff for the last gay bar and nightclub the historic gayborhood and ’s jt one chapter a story about people on the outskirts of a changg cy.

Followg the Stonewall Rts of 1969, more gay bars opened throughout the untry and by the 1970s and 1980s, you uld h up multiple gay bars all wh a few blocks of each other Fenway.

“It was one of the few gay bars where you uld see Black people gog , and Black queer people, and straight people, ” Krone says. Blame the ter for the ath of gay spac Fenway and beyond if you want, but the real reason perhaps isn’t that tidy.