A Gui To NYC's Gay Bars - Gothamist

Contents:

• A GUI TO NYC'S GAY BARS
• THE BT GAY HOOK-UP SPOTS NYC
• A PEEK UNR THE TOWEL: INSI THE 500-YEAR HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO
• GAY-FRIENDLY RTRANTS NEW YORK CY
• GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT

A GUI TO NYC'S GAY BARS

Text 'GAYTRAVEL' to 1-800-GAY-TRAVEL (1-800-429-8728).

— Travel Guis wh a Gay Perspective. Nowadays, gays have sex their apartments—sometim even beds—but back the old days, lots of gays went to all kds of rnchy lol to rry on, om clubs to parks to tcks to bath ho.

THE BT GAY HOOK-UP SPOTS NYC

In the Wt Village the '60s and '70s, gays ngregated var large vehicl that had been unload, as were, and were left open the back, poetilly enough.

Gays went to a booth, stuck their bs a slot as if mailg a COD package, and then waed for someone to nibble on . The Club and the Everard were hoppg wh gays towels, but maybe the most famo of all was the Contental Baths (2109 Broadway), where the gays went to see Bette Midler perform—though more often, they were performg their own acts (sex acts, that is) the rooms they rented. It was a wanton sex se, where gays stood around gettg naked and sandy—and blown (by the sand and by other guys).

The Meat Rack even provid the settg for parts of the legendary gay porn film. Gays went to the booths to rry on wh strangers, and when they left, all moist and sticky, they weren't the least b more lerary than when they me . Back when the pier was a big, old rottg piece of wood, gays would hang out there lookg for hot hookups, and totally gettg them.

A PEEK UNR THE TOWEL: INSI THE 500-YEAR HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO

The river -- like the woods -- seems to turn gays on, addn to the fact that the relatively remote urban areas always provid a sort of taboo but nvenient space for dog . Navigatg New York Cy's gay nightlife scene n bee a part time job.

Bottom le: I've been workg hard at this rearch for most of my (almost) adult, my reviews of some notable NYC gay bars. I vised as many plac as I uld by neighborhood and clud optns om all of the boroughs except the Bronx, which appears not to have a sgle gay bar.

Native New Yorker Eddie Gog talks about some of his favore gay bars the cy; be sure to leave yours the ments. The bartenrs will spend their time tellg you how "straight" they are— don't matter to me if you're gay or straight as long as you're terted gettg me a drk.

GAY-FRIENDLY RTRANTS NEW YORK CY

: NoGym Sportsbar is loted at 167 8th Avenue, (212) 337-2439; Lounge: G Lounge was one of my first regular hot spots when I started feelg out the gay scene about 10 years ago. Juli': Deemed New York's olst gay bar, as well as Greenwich Village's olst bar, Juli' is another hnt that has figured out.

: NoJuli' is loted at 159 Wt 10th Street, (212) 243-1928; Hangar: For the most ethnilly mixed crowd that I've seen at a gay bar, The Hangar tak the ke. Though they don't operate full-time as a gay bar, lots of NJ gays drive over the bridge to h up this Staten Island hotspot; as far as I know 's the only gay or gay-iendly bar on the Island.

GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT

It was a ld Febary morng, 118 years ago this month, when New York Cy police nducted their first rerd raid on a gay bathhoe.

This marked the first rerd time that police raid a gay bathhoe Ameri, but certaly wasn’t the last. The tradn of gay male bathg spac dat back to the 15th century — and more genr-ntral bathg is rerd as early as 6 BC. In the late 1400s, police Florence, Italy, monored homosexual activy and “spect boys” at bathho.

As stutns, bathho gaed populary the last century, part due to growg gay populatns lackg plac where they uld publicly gather. The risks of police raids terred some men om steppg to a gay bathhoe, but ultimately the need for timate pannship outweighed the danger posed by police.