THE 5 BEST San Diego Gay Clubs & Bars (Updated 2023)

Contents:

• SAN DIEGO'S GAY BAR HISTORY
•  CALIFORNIA LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS
• SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS
• GAY SAN DIEGO
• SAN DIEGO GAY GUI AND PHOTO GALLERY - HILLCRT GAY GUI
• THE 5 BEST SAN DIEGO GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS SAN DIEGO

SAN DIEGO'S GAY BAR HISTORY

On KPBS TV / Stream now wh the PBS AppSce WWII, no ls than 135 gay bars have operated San Diego, and provid sanctuary for GLBT people to disver themselv and form muny.

“San Diego's Gay Bar History” exam the rol bars have played across three major time perds: after WWII until the birth of the morn gay rights movement 1969; durg the 1970s and until the onset of HIV 1981; durg the AIDS epimic (1981-1995), and beyond. San Diego's Gay Bar History.

Through archival photographs, historic footage, and terviews wh bar owners, bartenrs and proment muny members, this documentary provis a glimpse to the rich history of San Diego's gay history and culture.

 CALIFORNIA LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS

Exterr photo of the Chee Chee Club, operated ntuoly sce 1941, and turned gay the 1970s. However, lately ’s beg ls gay, acrdg to the long-time bartenr. This gay bar was where the Casbah is today.

It was a women’s bar, but women were not allowed to be bartenrs gay bars until about 1976. Stream your favore PBS shows, create the perfect watchlist, nnect wh your lol statn, and more — anywhere you The Conversatn: "San Diego's Gay Bar History" is on Facebook. The Loft Hillcrt is a laid back lol neighborhood gay bar geo and sunny San Diego.

Wele to The Loft, the fabulo neighborhood gay bar ntled the heart of Hillcrt, San Diego's vibrant LGBTQ+ muny. Jo the jovial crowd of iendly patrons, primarily posed of gay men their fabulo 40s and beyond wh a mix of younger guys pop off and on.

SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS

If you are lookg for a b more naked fun, try the gay sna Club San Diego. At the wtern end is Urban MO's Bar & Grill, a "hetero-iendly gay bar" and lol favore. Consired the world's first and only gay-owned brewery, 's a great spot to grab a pizza or two and make iends at a munal table, while enjoyg the many beers on tap.

It was once voted one of the bt gay bars Ameri by Yelp. Wh ep red walls and chanliers, SRO Lounge is a legendary gay bar that livers a glam but laid-back vibe.

The Loft is a gay bar San Diego. The Loft is a charmg dive bar the mostly gay neighborhood of Hillcrt. The Loft is a Gay bar loted at.

GAY SAN DIEGO

gay bar. There’s a shirtls, mtached blond on roller skat ont of a 1965 red Plymouth Barracuda; the posn of the Giant Dipper roller aster and street signage the background tablish the photo was taken the vicy of the Apartment, a women’s gay bar that opened Missn Beach 1974.

SAN DIEGO GAY GUI AND PHOTO GALLERY - HILLCRT GAY GUI

A third snapshot: a ftive lp of Halloween-stumed nttants—a drag versn of Tippi Hedren (a stuffed crow entangled her stylish platum updo), a garish clown, and a butch female wboy—all vyg for priz award long ago an unintified San Diego gay bar.

The imag I’m marvelg at offer ndid glimps of San Diego gay bar culture om different epochs morn gay history. From 2017 to mid-2018, I sorted through a multu of photographs, gay perdils, and ephemera the procs of producg San Diego’s Gay Bar History, a documentary that was ially broadst June 2018 on KPBS, San Diego’s public televisn statn, and had s premiere at FilmOut 2018, San Diego’s LGBTQ Film Ftival. San Diego’s LGBTQ history, viewed through the lens of s postwar gay bars and nightclubs (and through the voic of wns who lived through this history) many ways parallels the velopment of the morn LGBTQ muny other large ci throughout North Ameri, and giv the documentary, while regnal s foc, a wir relevance.

A ma this of the documentary poss that gay bars have been a foundatnal part of the LGBTQ experience, not only as safe plac for socializg and formg terpersonal relatnships, but also as cultural stutns that have played important rol the formatn of muny over generatns. The film am San Diego gay bar history wh three major epochs bound by a mon theme. From the opprsive secrecy of the postwar era to Stonewall; the birth of the morn gay rights movement through the eewheelg 1970s; and om the horrific AIDS crisis the 1980s, which cimated an entire generatn, gay bars have been more than jt social drkg spots.

THE 5 BEST SAN DIEGO GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS SAN DIEGO

I found rerds for at least 135 gay bars that have operated San Diego sce the late 1940s. San Diego, already a major ary port cy even before the war, beme a new home for thoands of gay men and women who were then able to disver others of their own kd. The olst ntuoly operatg gay bar San Diego, the Brass Rail, first opened 1934 as a bar and rtrant si the Orphm Theater on the rner of 6th Avenue and B Street.

At that time, however, was not an exclively gay tablishment. Durg the 1940s and ‘50s, the clientele at several downtown bars, cludg the Brass Rail, transned the evengs om a straight crowd to a gay one. It was not until 1957 when the Brass Rail me unr the ownership of Lou Arko, a straight man, that nverted to a predomantly gay ctomer base.

The bar retaed s gay patronage after Arko reloted 1964 to the rner of 5th and Robson Hillcrt.