Rememberg the Lost Gay Bars of NYC - PAPER Magaze

Contents:

• THE 15 BT GAY BARS NYC TO CHECK OUT
• TOP 5 GAY BARS NYC'S EAST VILLAGE
• A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF NEW YORK CY'S GAY & QUEER BARS
• THE 10 BEST NEW YORK CY GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS NEW YORK CY
• THE BT GAY HOOK-UP SPOTS NYC

THE 15 BT GAY BARS NYC TO CHECK OUT

Photograph: Bertie ChengThis historic neighborhood is home to some of New York's bt and longt-standg LGBT and gay barsThe morn gay rights movement got s start Manhattan's Wt Village 1969, at the mafia-owned dive the Stonewall Inn. (In fact, Stonewall isn't even the neighborhood's olst gay hnt; that honor go to Juli's.) Gay bars here tend to veer toward the divey si, and that's jt fe by . RECOMMENDED: Fd more thgs to do the Wt VillageBt gay bars the Wt Village10.

The MonsterA dance floor, a show-tune-playg pianist and baret acts add up to the ultimate gay package at this long-standg hnt. PiecWhat uld be gayer than a queer bar on Christopher Street?

The Stonewall InnThe birthplace of gay liberatn says “Y!” to empowerment and “Hell, y!” to go-go boys.

TOP 5 GAY BARS NYC'S EAST VILLAGE

JuliEstablished 1862, this is New York’s olst operatg gay bar. CubbyholeCubbyhole is one of the Village’s more ftive and hetero-iendly gay-and-lbian bars.

You bet.Bt gay bars NYCThe bt gay bars NYCNYC is home to so many LGBT drkeri, the optns n be staggerg—but 's really hard to go wrong.

While bathho, drag balls, and good ol’ “Screech Beach” (also known as the beach at Jab Riis Park) were all important s for queer gathergs, the cy’s queer muny pecially thrived s gay bars. Bars allowed queer people to socialize whout a polil agenda and offered a space for them to celebrate their sexualy wh relative eedom—“relative” beg the key word, as homosexual solicatn was still illegal and police raids were mon.

A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF NEW YORK CY'S GAY & QUEER BARS

In New York’s gay bars, however, pri is a yearlong event—and for your nvenience, we’ve assembled a list of the bt LGBTQ bars the cy has to offer, om chic clubs to kky div to s-old queer strongholds. Consistently ranked as one of NYC’s bt gay bars by New York Magaze and The Village Voice, Indtry is known for s sizeable high-ceilged dance floor and dtrial athetic. Another historic favore, Greenwich Village’s Juli’ holds the distctn of beg the olst ntually operatg gay bar New York Cy.

In 1966, a full three years before the Stonewall Rts, Juli’ was also the se of the Mattache Society’s “sip-, ” a prott agast the then-mon practice of bars refg to serve alhol to gay people, that ultimately succeed forcg the State Liquor Authory to relax s discrimatory polici. As one of only 21 lbian bars left the untry and one of three New York Cy (the other two beg Cubbyhole jt a few blocks north and Gger’s Bar Park Slope) Henrietta Hudson is fiercely mted to creatg a space that embrac members of the LGBTQ muny who are often left alienated queer spac domated by cis gay men. In recent years, some gay bars have begun dilutg the kks and raw sexualy that prevly fed the spac an effort to make them a ltle more accsible to heterosexual bar hoppers.

THE 10 BEST NEW YORK CY GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS NEW YORK CY

When the permanent versn of his avant-gar queer nightclub opened 2017, quickly beme known for s dazzlg, celebry-studd baret, drag, and standup performanc ( whose dienc Cummg himself n ocsnally be spotted) as well as for hostg events that might not be tradnally found a gay bar, such as jazz jam ssns and “drk and draw” nights wh live figure mols. Servg as Queens’ premiere gay bar, Astoria is known for s top-tier drag talent. The East Village has long been Manhattan's alternative enclave, and s array of quirky (and sometim downright rnchy) gay bars reflect that anti-tablishment athetic.

THE BT GAY HOOK-UP SPOTS NYC

Here are some picks for the 5 bt gay bars NYC's East Village. Now the Boiler Room is back wh a vengeance, often packed to the gills wh one of the wist cross-sectns of gays imagable. A longtime rnerstone of the East Village gay scene, the days the Phoenix n be a b h-or-miss crowd-wise, sometim packed and sometim empty, whout apparent rhyme or reason.

There will always be gay bars, but will they be as vivid, sexy, and subversive as the hnts of yore? The history of NYC nightlife is studd wh the memori of fascatg boît that attracted gays sperate need of nnectn, then ultimately fell away as newer spots and trends emerged.

Once a year—for three years a row—they've done Gay Bars That Are Gone, an rmative walk as part of Jane Jabsftival, May. What's your favore lost NYC gay bar? Kyle: My favore is probably the Nth Circle (a fab Wt 10th Street steakhoe-turned-gay-bar full of leather clon, twks, htlers, and celebry drop-s, all eher cisg, playg pool, dog dgs, or bbg agast each other.

What are your 'Gay Bars That Are Gone' walks walks like?

We try to ver different typ of plac--gay dance clubs, leather scene, piano bars, Rose's Turn, the old Duplex space.

Michael: Not he went to a gay bar.

Michael: It was a bohemian bar, so we don't have the language to put "gay bar" explicly.

We were outsi the Me Shaft [a rnchy 1970s/'80s gay sex club on Washgton Street]. Michael: It's really the lack of the gay spac, wh real tate beg what is.