I don't know. Maybe I'm getting old, but I feel out of place at a gay bar.
Last night, I went to rage in West Hollywood for Beo's birthday. It looks just like any other gay bar in any nameless city; lots of mood lighting, a cheerless bartender and dance music blasted so high, the dead in Las Vegas can hear it.
While it was a blast to surprise Beo for his birthday -he knew he was coming to Rage, but did not know all of his friends would be there as well - but I felt, I don't know, like a the gay guy that I am, sitting in a roomful nuns. It was odd, very uncomfortable and just weird.
I've never enjoyed gay bars, per se. Especially the real popular ones. Back in Chicago, in Boys Town, there are many bars sandwiched between Addison and Belmont on Halsted. There's Spin and Sidetracks, along with Roscoe's and Hydrate (once known as The Manhole). Those are the most popular, the ones where all the boys are pretty, perfect, thin and probably all size queens. But they're also shallow, overpriced and generally boring if you don't fall into the above slots.
I like Sidetrack, if only because of Showtunes Sunday. Campy? Yes, but also fun.
Big Chicks, up in Andersonville (far north side of the city) is, perhaps, my favorite. You go there to drink, have some fun times with your friends, maybe dance, but you never feel like you have to be on display, like the bars in Boystown. It really has no attitude what so ever.
I've yet to find a place in West Hollywood that even comes close to it.
So, anyways, I just felt old there last night, and I sensed that the bored bartender knew I was from the 'burbs, thus I was, I'm guessing, uninteresting.
Don't get me wrong, I would like to go to gay bars, but I like to go for the conversation, music at a lower level and pretty boys who may not have a 32" waist and spend all their money on hair and face care products.
Then again, as freaky as a leather bar is, I actually find them more fun to go to. I wonder what that says about myself (get the whip out, sister).
Last night, I went to rage in West Hollywood for Beo's birthday. It looks just like any other gay bar in any nameless city; lots of mood lighting, a cheerless bartender and dance music blasted so high, the dead in Las Vegas can hear it.
While it was a blast to surprise Beo for his birthday -he knew he was coming to Rage, but did not know all of his friends would be there as well - but I felt, I don't know, like a the gay guy that I am, sitting in a roomful nuns. It was odd, very uncomfortable and just weird.
I've never enjoyed gay bars, per se. Especially the real popular ones. Back in Chicago, in Boys Town, there are many bars sandwiched between Addison and Belmont on Halsted. There's Spin and Sidetracks, along with Roscoe's and Hydrate (once known as The Manhole). Those are the most popular, the ones where all the boys are pretty, perfect, thin and probably all size queens. But they're also shallow, overpriced and generally boring if you don't fall into the above slots.
I like Sidetrack, if only because of Showtunes Sunday. Campy? Yes, but also fun.
Big Chicks, up in Andersonville (far north side of the city) is, perhaps, my favorite. You go there to drink, have some fun times with your friends, maybe dance, but you never feel like you have to be on display, like the bars in Boystown. It really has no attitude what so ever.
I've yet to find a place in West Hollywood that even comes close to it.
So, anyways, I just felt old there last night, and I sensed that the bored bartender knew I was from the 'burbs, thus I was, I'm guessing, uninteresting.
Don't get me wrong, I would like to go to gay bars, but I like to go for the conversation, music at a lower level and pretty boys who may not have a 32" waist and spend all their money on hair and face care products.
Then again, as freaky as a leather bar is, I actually find them more fun to go to. I wonder what that says about myself (get the whip out, sister).
I think the problem is you're looking for a Big Chicks in West Hollywood, which by definition is more the corner of Halsted and Roscoe. I don't know all that much about LA neighborhoods - cause when I was there I was even more in the burbs than you and not out yet - but there's probably something less pretentious than Rage somewhere. How about Silver Lake or some other neighborhood? You would have had fun last night at Jackhammer - it was the monthly homocore punk night with performances by The Joans - the whole band dresses as Joan Crawford - whose motto is "giving the immortal Joan Crawford a voice through music". What a hoot! Followed by the farewell performance of Jinx Titanic who is on his way to Haiti (!) delivering supplies to a relief organization. Of course he got almost completely naked by the end and there was a mosh pit, porn stars, beer spray and general mayhem. That's about as far from Halsted street as you can get.
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