jase47

First come the gays...

then come the beards, then come the single chicks, and finally the straight guys looking for the single chicks. As a previous reviewer has noted, this is largely a straight venue for much of the time. It's a real shame, since it's a fairly nice bar in an excellent location.

Losing a lot of its shine

Once the doyen of gay clubs in Sydney, ARQ has seriously let herself go. The interior has not been updated or renovated since I first started going there in 2004, the drinks are some of the most expensive on the strip, the music has gotten increasingly dissonant (the DJ's call it "variety"), and of course, the ubiquitous beard/straight girl quotient is making this club more straight than gay. Drag shows still have a prominent place downstairs, and they are better than the common Sydney fare, but that's not enough to drag ya in. Their recent day club, Eclipse, doesn't seem to be making much of a difference, either. With newer clubs like Slide, Never Mind and 169/Haus, ARQ just needs to step up its game or go the way of other perennial Sydney "where are they now" clubs.

Gayer and gayer

A large venue, with a huge beer garden out back, the Beresford is becoming increasingly popular. On Sunday nights, you can see a varied and generally very good-looking crowd. Generally a chill scene, a nice place to meet friends and make new ones.

The bar everyone loves to hate...

...and yet almost everyone comes through the doors. Stonewall, named in honour of the more famous (and more dilapidated) bar in New York's West Village, is the "young" club. Boys and girls coming out for the first time inevitably come here. As such, it has its detractors, and the criticisms are those you would expect of those who are not fans of "twinks." But it attracts a surprisingly diverse crowd and there are three levels with different vibes to each. In general, the crowd is out to have a good time; the dj's, drag queens, and dancers all do their best to ensure that. There are some negatives: it has notoriously filthy toilets, the crowd can get out-of-hand and they have in the last year started charging a five dollar cover. But overall, if you go in with a positive attitude, you can have a really good time. One last note about another visitor's charge of "racism/homophobia" amongst the bouncers. I know two bouncers there--both straight--who have been there for years. Quite apart of the improbability of management keeping on staff who antagonize its gay customers, I have in fact seen them go out of their way to help gays both inside the club and outside. Indeed, they are some of the best and most professional on the strip.

Promsies, promises

Although the new, renovated club has not reopened, those of us who remember when the Impy was one of the best spots in Sydney think the owner of this institution, Shadd Danes (also owner of the aging ARQ and The Sly Fox), has frankly generated enormous animosity amongst the clientele he seeks to attract. The Imperial closed in September of 2007 for "four to six months" of renovations. Constant claims that he's been hampered by Council and local residents simply don't add up, and he has positioned himself as a victim of homophobia to mask his cost overruns, mismanagement and his own ego. Now the promises of a fourth of September opening (about the sixth or seventh announcement in the three years) will be a big test as to whether the wait has been truly worth it. One thing's for certain: the glossy makeover means that it will NOT be the Impy of old and its former clientele will probably not be pleased. The lights are on, the bottle are full and the drag queens are ready to perform. But so far, the doors are still closed.

This is a place you either love or hate

I fall into the latter category. It's dark and free for a reason: there is an uncomfortable desperation emanating from a very large percentage of its patrons. I don't want to suggest that is true of everyone who goes there, but there is enough creepiness here to make me prefer almost any other venue on the strip. And the tackiness that one poster lauds is just, well, tacky. Some might like it; I don't. Aloha...

The Old White Horse, she ain't what she used to be...

Alright, I admit I used to be a patron 20 years ago, when it was a dive and where you were more likely to get harsh stares from bone-crusher dykes than you were to get a decent drink or a good-looking guy chatting you up. The insides were dingy, the pool tables were from the Mezoic Era, and it had the kind of low-key obnoxious crowd that only Berkeley can generate. But that was its attraction! It was THE politically correct dive gay bar. And its customers liked it that way, even if we always bad-mouthed it. Alas, on returning for the first time in ten years, I was shocked to see that it had been remodeled several years before. OK, it looks nicer and IS nicer. OK, most of the clientele is the same (and I mean that literally: I think I saw some people I recognized from the 80's!) and certainly the same surly, desperate attitude remains intact. But in losing its total lack of charm, The White Horse has lost all its charm. It's as if people there were still playing parts in a play that closed years ago. Sad. Giddyup...

Pretty fun, very friendly

Not all Japanese bars and clubs, gay or straight, are welcoming of foreigners. Indeed, being gay still has a lot of social stigma attached to it in Japan, although in recent years there has been a notable improvement in general attitudes. Still, many gay men are not out and many more--out and closeted--don't like gai-jin (foreigners) around while they carouse. Bacchus fortunately does not fall into that category. Doyama-cho, the main gay district in Osaka, boasts several gay clubs and Bacchus is one of the most friendly and open there. The drinks are cheap and it's a space that caters well to a fairly friendly crowd--i.e., it's very small! If you're a gai-jin (or rather, gai-koku-jin, the new politically correct term) this is a really good place to start off. And the owner speaks great English. The only downside is that it's the club furthest away from the Umeda train/subway station. If you can work your way past the HEP5 building, however, it's not too hard to track down.

Fun, fun, fun

I am not a bear. I am not into bears. I am not an aficionado of bear culture, levis or leather. That doesn't really matter. Although it is clearly a club that appeals to the bear/leather crowd, it's welcoming of everyone. The staff and the patrons are friendly, completely without attitude or assumption, and just there to mingle with friends and strangers alike. It's clear, too, that many are there for more than mingling, but the place is delightfully free of any desperation or ill-feeling. Add to it remarkably cheap alcohol, two nice bar areas, decent music and a little patio, and you have a really good place to come in out of the cold San Francisco summers.

The last honest gay club?

As the locals will tell you, The Shift has a rep for a clientele of "Chopsticks and Walking Sticks." Like all generalisations, that's only partly true. Certainly in the past, it has catered to an Asian and older crowd, as well as (as one friend puts it) the aesthetically challenged. But now it has a much broader clientele and is a much better representation of gay Sydney. Why? Because it has remained gay. While other bars and clubs on the strip have had to contend with growing straight patrons, the Shift has stayed a thoroughly gay space. But more than that, on the weekends, the crowds are large, loud and friendly; the music a slightly dull, but fun collection of House favourites. One of the best bars on the strip.

It's a Dive!

...and pretty darned fun! There is no charm here and that of course is its charm. Dark, dirty, and delicious. That said, it is not quite as raunchy as others here make it out to be. It's low brow, no question about it, and low brow fun, but for the most part it was also pretty tame. My only real regret was that the DJ, who was playing some very good music, couldn't tell me who cut the remixes he was spinning--that was a bit lame. Overall, however, a fun time.

A good bet

I've been a visitor to DC on several occasions, and I have always found JR's a pleasant and dependable watering hole. The music is good, the drinks reasonably priced, and always fairly crowded. I can't agree that it's an unfriendly place; both and alone and with my partner, I found plenty of locals to chat with. As a general rule, you may have to take the initiative, but the clientele seemed quite open to socializing. Like most American bars these days (gay and straight), there is a surfeit of televisions. And like most Washingtonians, the patrons tend to be conservatively dressed and mannered. But other than that, I can't find a lot to complain about. A good bet.