The U Street Corridor Fally Has a Gay Club Aga - Eater DC

Contents:

• D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS
• MEET KIKI, AN EXCG NEW GAY BAR REPLACG A PAIR OF SHUTTERED SHAW DIV
• THE BEST WASHGTON DC GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS WASHGTON DC
• BT GAY AND LBIAN BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS WASHGTON DC
• THE U STREET CORRIDOR FALLY HAS A GAY CLUB AGA
• LICHT CAFé, D.C.’S NEWT GAY BAR, IS A COZY, ART-FILLED U STREET HIAWAY
• ZIEGFELD'S/SECRETS - CLOSEDWASHGTON DCMENULUXURY HOTELSMID-RANGE HOTELSON TODAYBARSDANCE CLUBSSNASGAY MAPSHOPSZIEGFELD'S/SECRETS - CLOSED
• A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.
• NEW ‘GAY WATER’ LOOKS TO AVOID BUD LIGHT DISASTER

D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS

The natn's pal is home to a lively LGBTQ+ nightlife scene wh plenty of gay and lbian bars jt wag for you to jo on the fun. Larry’s Lounge is a gay neighborhood pub, wh always-affordable drks, solid happy hour specials, mouth-waterg pub fare (see: sweet potato tots) and one of the cy’s iendlit pats (you n brg your dog, too!

Number Ne to the btlg Logan Circle urty of -founr Ed Bailey, who helped DC’s gay nightlife scene to grow durg his days as a DJ.

MEET KIKI, AN EXCG NEW GAY BAR REPLACG A PAIR OF SHUTTERED SHAW DIV

Suated right the heart of Adams Man’s btlg 18th Street is Pchers, a gay sports bar, and A League of Her Own, the adjacent bar for lbian and queer women. 's evolvg gayborhood has shifted towards Logan Circle and U Street. In Febary 2016, the Washgton Bla noted an "unual flurry of activy" wh the openg of four new gay bars, the majory of which land the U Street/Shaw/Logan Circle area.

Those spots and more sports bars, dance clubs, and cktail havens are all clud Eater's round up of the District's gay-iendlit bars and hangouts. New gay dive bar Tra opened last year, urty of the team behd Town Danceboutique and Number Ne. New to the Shaw/U Street gay bar scene is Uproar, which buted last year.

THE BEST WASHGTON DC GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS WASHGTON DC

The new project om Keaton Fedak, the outgog general manager at nearby gay bar Dirty Goose. ’s Gay Flag Football League).

“We’re hopg to make a gayborhood Shaw. Across the street om Kiki and Dirty Goose, unaffiliated gay tablishment Nellie’s Sports Bar ma negative headl this June after a secury guard asslted a Black woman. Asslt Agast a Black Woman at Nellie’s Could Lead the Gay Bar to Lose Its Liquor License [EDC].

We are proud to say that we were jt named 2022 BEST GAY BAR IN DC the annual "Bt of DC" ntt the Washgton Bla newspaper. Tour historic LGBTQ+ s, grab a drk at the bt gay and lbian bars the cy, rock out at Capal Pri and so much more. BUNKER is DC's unrground gay bar and club wh nightly entertament, live DJs, and transportive r.

BT GAY AND LBIAN BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS WASHGTON DC

Although most gay and lbian bars are exclive to queer people, they are open to all.

Nelli are the olst and most popular gay bar town and attract a starkly diverse LGBTQ crowd. Bunker, a subterranean gay club, opened s massive doors to live DJ sets on Thursday, Febary 23. In the past three years, all of the cy’s siar clubs have closed, cludg Cobalt, Secrets, DC Eagle, and the largt gay dance club D.

THE U STREET CORRIDOR FALLY HAS A GAY CLUB AGA

While Bunker is the first bona fi gay club D.

Owner Spencer Hurd moled Licht after his favore gay fé Mannheim, Germany. His dream: lnchg a cktail bar moled after his favore gay fé Mannheim, Germany. “The goal is to foc on the classic cktails, rather than jt vodka-sodas and rose Kennedys, as you may get at other gay bars, ” he says.

Licht Café is a reference to the spiratn om his go-to gay spot Mannheim, but also reflects his ial zy space.

LICHT CAFé, D.C.’S NEWT GAY BAR, IS A COZY, ART-FILLED U STREET HIAWAY

“I love art and sign, ” Hurd says, “and I wanted to make the bar unapologetilly gay.

“I want the to be a bid edgy—this is a part of gay culture. The U Street NW strip’s gay bar scene is on the up as of late. Kiki owner Keaton Fedak, the former general manager at nearby gay bar Dirty Goose, will expand Kiki to the next-door space that formerly hoed dive Dodge Cy.

“We’re hopg to make a gayborhood Shaw, ” he told Eater last month. Meet Kiki, an Excg New Gay Bar Replacg a Pair of Shuttered Shaw Div. Val Dupont Gay Bar Cobalt Is Closg After Two Des.

ZIEGFELD'S/SECRETS - CLOSEDWASHGTON DCMENULUXURY HOTELSMID-RANGE HOTELSON TODAYBARSDANCE CLUBSSNASGAY MAPSHOPSZIEGFELD'S/SECRETS - CLOSED

The event will occur om 23 May to 8 June 2025 - keep checkg TravelGay for the latt rmatn.

In the 1960s, the Metropolan Capal, a Black LGBTQ social club, anized hoe parti for Ain Amerin gay and lbian Washgtonians. Faced wh discrimatory practic or outright rejectn by the Whe gay muny’s bars and clubs, Ain Amerins socialized hom, addg their own flavor to a long tradn the larger Ain Amerin muny. As John Eddy said, “We wanted to give the muny—total—gay as well as the straight—somethg different the cy, a place to e, relax, and party.

A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

It was out of the way, a rintial, predomantly Ain Amerin neighborhood, far om the downtown Whe gay life. Though many Whe gay tablishments discrimated agast Black ctomers, the ClubHoe was open to all. In October 1979 the ClubHoe held a rally and ball to raise beneftg the first Natnal Third World Lbian and Gay Conference at Howard Universy.

NEW ‘GAY WATER’ LOOKS TO AVOID BUD LIGHT DISASTER

That ternatnal nference brought together about 500 participants and cid wh the first Natnal March on Washgton for Lbian and Gay Rights. Then on Friday, July 3, 1981, the begng of July 4th weekend, the New York Tim published “Rare Cancer Seen 41 Homosexuals” by Lawrence Altman. The ClubHoe provid space for early and ntug AIDS-related work for Black gay Washgtonians.

When the DC Coaln of Black Gays anized an AIDS Fom for Black and Third World Gays njunctn wh Whman Walker Clic September 1983, the ClubHoe hosted the fom—the first signifint outreach om the public health muny to the Black LGBTQ muny. Even though the broar ClubHoe muny rallied to support their club, and Black gay social clubs, Bt of Washgton and the Associat among others, raised money to help keep the doors open, the club’s managers realized s n as a premier nightspot was g to an end.