The Loft San Diego - Gay Bar - Downtown San Diego, California

Contents:

• GAY NIGHTLIFE SAN DIEGO: BARS, CLUBS, & MORE
• GAY SAN DIEGO TRAVEL GUI
• SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS
• SAN DIEGO'S GAY BAR HISTORY
• THE 5 BEST SAN DIEGO GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SAN DIEGO
• SAN DIEGO GAY GUI AND PHOTO GALLERY - HILLCRT GAY GUI
• “SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS!” GAY TIJUANA
•  CALIFORNIA LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS
• SAN DIEGO GAY MAP

GAY NIGHTLIFE SAN DIEGO: BARS, CLUBS, & MORE

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 San Diego gay nightlife scene manag that rare balance between beg remarkably iendly and also rife wh betiful people—'s pretty much a reflectn of this sunny Southern California cy. Gay bars have also been pretty stable here over the years, wh the most popular hangouts gog strong for a uple of s.

GAY SAN DIEGO TRAVEL GUI

Most gay bars are the trendy Hillcrt neighborhood, jt northeast of Balboa Park and a short drive or b ri om downtown. Flicks: Along a strip of gay-oriented bs, Flicks gay vio bar has long been a hub of schmoozg and socializg. Martis Above Fourth: San Diego's favore gay baret, Martis featur some tremendoly talented performers—not jt piano and sgg, but edy, magic, and more.

Number One Fifth Avenue: A great all-around neighborhood gay bar, balanc an timate ambiance and iendly atmosphere whout the tired, divey feel that sometim domat smaller loung. Park & Rec: Set the space formerly occupied by the popular gay bar Bourbon Street, this is an expansive nightspot and rtrant that still draws plenty of LGBT folks and open-md revelers.

SRO Lounge: Known for s great jebox, long history the neighborhood, and a lotn that's much closer to downtown than the gay bars Hillcrt, the SRO has a strong followg among drag queens and their fans, but all kds tend to drop by here, albe not necsarily large numbers. As a largely gay-iendly cy, San Diego has a good offerg of general mixed night clubs. Borr at the southern end of metro San Diego, the sprawlg cy of Tijuana, you'll fd several gay bars one.

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

Rich's: As San Diego's five gay warehoe-style dis, this club offers a good-sized space wh an dtrial, circu-style vibe, and mic supplied by some of Southern California's most illtr DJs. The Brass Rail: The longt-nng gay bar San Diego, the Brass Rail serv cred for always fdg new ways to revent self for the current tim. Overall, San Diego is a welg and open-md cy, but you'll fd the heart of the cy's gay nightlife scene Hillcrt specifilly.

Featured Gay Friendly Hotel San Diego.

Gay San Diego. "The birthplace of California, " Gay San Diego is the first lotn European explorers land when visg the Wt Coast for the first time. VIDEO: Get The Insi Sop On Gay San Diego From One of Our Gay Travel Gus Below!

SAN DIEGO'S GAY BAR HISTORY

If you're gay and happen to be Gay San Diego, you'll want to head to Hillcrt.

The gayborhood is North and Wt of Balboa Park and home to some of San Diego's bt food optns. What's the Gay Scene Like? MUST EAT: Gay-Friendly Dg.

THE 5 BEST SAN DIEGO GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SAN DIEGO

MUST VISIT: Gay-Friendly Bars & Nightlife.

Beg the send-largt cy California means Gay San Diego is no stranger to diversy, and gays here are weled wh open arms. They tend to ncentrate the gayborhood of Hillcrt, where there are proment bars and rtrants that gays equently attend.

There are several gay bars outsi of Hillcrt even, wh The Hole Pot Loma and Bourbon Street Pub and Grill beg notable. The neighborhoods around Hillcrt also serve as bastns of the gay muny. Missn Hills, Universy Heights, and North Park have signifint gay populatns.

SAN DIEGO GAY GUI AND PHOTO GALLERY - HILLCRT GAY GUI

Universy Heights is very gay-iendly but much quieter than Hillcrt. There's also a proment gay beach Gay San Diego, or at least the gays have claimed the nu beach as their own.

“SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS!” GAY TIJUANA

Gay San Diego boasts some of the most spectacular weather the untry.

Gay-Friendly Dg. No matter what, if you love food as much as we do, you'll be very happy wh all the gay-iendly rtrants  San Diego. MUST VISIT: San Diego Gay-Friendly Bars & Nightlife.

San Diego has some of the bt gay bars and clubs around. The lotn is fantastic bee you n even stumble to the first gay-owned and operated brewery the U. Te North is a ol straight gay-iendly sports bar loted the heart of North Park.

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

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. 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.

SAN DIEGO GAY MAP

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. 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. I chose this lotn as a backdrop bee the bar self acts as a metaphoric character San Diego’s gay bar history, havg served as both a bean and a safe harbor for several generatns of LGBTQ muny members. While the Hillcrt neighborhood is prently home to most of the gay bars and nightspots San Diego, that was not always the se.