San Francisco - Alison Bing [178]
Wednesday: Booty Call at Qbar for 20-somethings. Powerhouse goes either way; check the online calendar. At 440 Castro there’s Frat House for college dudes in tight T-shirts. Blow Buddies (above) hosts hit-or-miss fetish parties.
Thursday: most bars are busy. Troll Folsom St, from Cat Club to Hole in the Wall (opposite). The Eagle (opposite) hosts bands on Thursdays for a mixed crowd. At 440 Castro its CDXL – go-go boys and hot messes. Women first hit Ladies Night (opposite) at Orson, then Les Ladiez at the Lookout (opposite).
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CHILIDOG DISCO Map
415-863-3516; www.triplecrownsf.com; Triple Crown, 1760 Market St; admission $3; 10pm-2am Tue; F
If anybody’s out on a Tuesday night, chances are they’re at super-cool Chilidog, a disco-house party for hedonistic, arty gay boys and gals, hosted by oh-so-sexy DJ Stanley.
CINCH Map
415-776-4162; www.thecinch.com; 1723 Polk St; 9am-2am Mon-Fri, 6am-2am Sat & Sun; 19, 47, 49
The last of the old-guard Polk St bars is best on Friday nights, when Anna Conda hosts Charlie Horse, the every-mess-was-there drag party. Pool, pinball and free popcorn lure locals from surrounding ’hoods other nights. Smokers patio.
DECO LOUNGE Map
415-346-2025; www.decosf.com; 510 Larkin St; 10am-2am Sun-Thu, to 4am Fri & Sat; 5, 19, 31
There’s usually a party at this indecorous dive club, where the all-male clientele rocks into the wee hours. Theme nights range from disco-queen to shirtless-bear extravaganzas, and drink specials embolden patrons to enter occasional wet-jockstrap contests. Sports queens watch Giants games off hours.
EAGLE TAVERN
Map
415-626-0880; www.sfeagle.com; 398 12th St; noon-2am; 9, 12, 47
The place on Sunday afternoons, SF’s long-standing boots-and-cigar bar serves all-you-can-drink beer ($10) from 3pm to 6pm. Wear leather – or act like a whore – and blend right in. The enormous open-air back patio gets packed with a mishmash of biker-daddies, hipsters, art boys, shirtless drunks, bears, gay softball teams and the occasional politician working the pack (SF’s version of kissing babies); conspicuously absent is the khakis crowd. Leave your straight girlfriends at home. The Tamale Lady shows up around 5pm; say yes when she asks if you want hot sauce. Other nights are (much) quieter, except the mixed-straight-gay Thursday Night Live.
EL RIO Map
415-282-3325; www.elriosf.com; 3158 Mission St; admission $3-8; 5pm-2am Mon-Thu, 3pm-2am Fri-Sun; 14, 26; & 24th St Mission
El Rio likes its music and patrons eclectic and mixed, funky and pansexual. The club rightly boasts about the back garden, its ‘Totally Fabulous Happy Hour’ from 4pm to 9pm Tuesday to Friday, and free oysters on the half shell on Fridays at 5:30pm. Sunday afternoons are busiest (though mostly straight), when salsa bands rock (lessons at 3pm) and everyone shimmies and shakes. Drawback: distance from other bars if it’s dead.
GANGWAY Map
415-776-6828; 841 Larkin St; 8am-2am; 19, 38
The Tenderloin’s longest-running gay dive, the Gangway draws toothless drunks and merry hipsters. We love the gritty authenticity of the place and the chance to meet old-guard drag performers out of face.
HOLE IN THE WALL
Map
415-431-4695; www.holeinthewallsaloon.com; 1369 Folsom St; noon-2am; 19, 27
When the Hole moved from 8th St in 2008, it lost its legendary filthiness because it would otherwise have lost its license. It still has the best sex-poster-art in SF (but now it’s behind Plexiglass) and remains ground zero for weirdos (in a good-ish way).
HONEY SOUNDSYSTEM
Map
415-252-5018; www.honeysoundsystem.com; Paradise Loft, 1501 Folsom St; 9pm-2am Sun; 19, 27
If you dance, hunt down Honey Soundsystem’s Sunday-night party, when DJs spin everything from German techno to obscure disco B-sides, celebrating gay culture as if AIDS and Reagan never happened. Confirm location on website.
LADIES NIGHT
Map
415-777-1508; http://bettyslist.com; Orson Restaurant, 508 4th St; 5:30pm-10-ish; 30, 45
A-list ladies who eschew Doc Martins for Jil Sander gather for Thursday cocktails and networking at Orson, the restaurant