For all the queers fleeing San Francisco for the more affordable East Bay, Oakland remains surprisingly bereft of a gay scene. In business since at least 1933—Prohibition-era records being imperfect—the WhiteHorse…
While Polk Gulch was once a seedy strip of male prostitutes, the Russian Hill of today is not typically a gay destination. The Cinch is nearly all that remains, an…
Cruisy, cheap and full of corrugated metal, 440 Castro is a dark, sweaty cavern of masculinity. Formerly Daddy’s, it’s one of the last vestiges of the Castro’s working class past,…
Probably the most lurid gay bar in San Francsico, Aunt Charlie’s Lounge sits at one of the grungiest intersections in the Tenderloin—and that’s really saying something. Narrow enough to grip…
Located in a stately Bywater mansion, The Country Club is an experience unlike any other—part swimming pool and sauna, part restaurant and constantly flowing with booze, especially during drag brunch…
Only the most joyless of sticklers could complain about the Eagle’s latest incarnation. The Sunday Beer Bust ($12 for all-you-can-drink Miller Lite plus BBQ, from 3 - 6 p.m.) remains…
While the idea of an LGBT sports bar sounded like the ultimate oxymoron when Hi Tops opened, turns out it was a quite logical proposition. With a menu of upscale stadium…
Weird as it sounds, the bar-saturated Mission has almost no gay bars. And there are almost no lesbian bars anywhere in San Francisco. Yet here stands the Lexington Club in…
The slightly lower-key companion to the Eagle—which is only two blocks away—Lone Star is a leather bar that’s as equally popular with bears as it is with hipsters. The floor is…
The shocking death of piano bars and cabarets in San Francisco shows how much things have changed since the 1960s, but Judy and Liza’s fan base will always have a…
