Ooph. Stay away weekends when it's any other gay club in Anywhere, USA. I came back because a friend told me some punk rock dudes hung out here at times a while back and I dig some punk rock so if nothing else I might end up hanging out with some quality people. Maybe it was an off night the night I went: I did go on a weekday after all. If there were queer punks there that night they must have been posers cuz all I saw were guys in stereotypical gay garb: tight t-shirts or polos sometimes with a deep V, faux hawks (those things still haven't died yet?), fake tans, and every other mainstream gay (male) fashion trend was present. As an individual whose ethics by and large veer anti-mainstream be it in a straight or GLBT (read middle-upper class white young gay male professional) context this was pretty much the opposite of what I was expecting. Should've known better and should just accept there is no such thing as a non-mainstream GLBT bar/club, let alone anti-mainstream GLBT bar/club: the gay mainstream somehow has total control over every and any gay bar that opens and will never debut an establishment that caters to the likes of us, let alone accommodate non-mainstream types: we need straight people to do that for us (ironic, huh?).
And sadly, nothing close to punk rock played, instead it was your typical bad generic thumping dance beats passing for music and there are Beyonce, et al music videos playing on the walls with a disco ball and rainbow themed lights, The side I thought was the regular bar is actually the one that becomes the leather-only side on weekends: I thought I read/heard that it was downstairs on the other end of that bar or something. Whoops. The leather side at least didn't have the music videos and bright colors that everyone else has to experience, but the music was the same and it didn't take long for the decision as to which side I was supposed to go to was made for me. Not missing out on much over there: leather didn't make the crowd any more attractive or younger but hey, whatever works for them. I wouldn't get it regardless of sexual orientation. Are there straight leather bar/clubs? Cuz I haven't seen any. At least there wasn't a cover (Cover? At a leather bar? That's the last thing they want guys to do, yuk yuk!), but it was a bit of a pain having the bartender come around and tell me after I bought my PBR, for $4.50 mind you, that I had to wade back through the crowd and check in my messenger bag. A lot of hassle with a hefty price tag to be somewhere I don't want to be.
So weekends are a definite no-go (minus one star),so it's best to go here on a weeknight if you're looking for a more chill bar experience, but even then it's not my scene. I soon left and had a much better time hanging out with my straight friends, including the one who steered me wrong, but hey, I got a Yelp rant out of it. read more