Gay bars in sf
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While there are a handful of great queer patios in SF, El Rio's large, light-strung, plant-laden backyard is one of the best, with outdoor ping pong competition and free al fresco oysters on Friday evenings at 5:30pm.
This friendly neighborhood bar is one of the most low-key options in the Castro. Well, it’s neither and both: a majority Irish-owned, majority LGBTQ-owned venue named for a gay Irish humanitarian.
Inside it can be slow on weekdays but wend your way to the rear, past the pool table, past the DJ booths and bathrooms, down the hallway lined with decades of gay memorabilia, to find the crowd chomping cigars and sharing cigarettes on the outdoor patio.
El Rio
El Rio in Bernal Heights has been a staple of SF’s queer community since 1978, partially thanks to its giant back patio and packed outdoor day parties—like R&B and Ribs, and MANGO, a hip-hop, Latin, and afrobeat dance party for queer women.
The dance floor, brightly lit and papered in tasteful black-and-white breasts, thumps to the beat of DJs on Friday and Saturday nights. Along with Eagle Plaza, the centerpiece of the burgeoning Leather and LGBT Cultural District, the bar’s landmark designation shows that City Hall understands what it’s got here: a civic treasure.
Badlands
Walk around the Castro on Friday or Saturday night, and you’ll see that Badlands easily has the longest line—it’s always full of people ready to dance the night away to Charli XCX, Fergie, and the occasional throwback disco hit.
Check their Instagram for drag shows, food pop-ups, and other events.
POWERHOUSE BAR San Francisco
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Powerhouse Bar
1347 Folsom St
San Francisco, CA 94103
Visit the Powerhouse facebook page at this link
San Francisco’s fabulous LGBTQIA+ scene is no surprise if you know anything about the city’s history.
Whether you’re looking for friendly lesbian bars, balls-to-the-wall Latinx dance parties or a very memorable drag show, these are the best gay bars in SF right now. section at a music festival, and a queer-friendly ambiance all conspire to make this Mission spot among the most hospitable bars in the city.
The Cinch
Polk Street has all but been annexed to the Marina, but once upon a time, there was a hustler-filled gayborhood called Polk Gulch—of which The Cinch is the sole survivor.
The rest of the week, the Wild Side is a great spot for a laid-back evening beer.
Been there, done that? Beery and friendly, 440 has plenty of shirtless go-go boys and an underwear night on Mondays, but by opening at noon it’s also the spot for the funemployed set to day-drink margaritas. Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon!
Best gay bars in San Francisco
Queer artistic expression thrives at Oasis, a club and cabaret theater in SoMa.
Wednesday nights are for Miss Kitty's trivia, half comedy show, half competition. Do you like to drink beer in the company of daddies? Enjoy Lookout’s ground-level expansion into Noe Street, whose occasional closures to traffic is one of the best things to happen in the Castro in a while.
Trax
LGBTQ+ spaces have been vanishing for a long time, but few subspecies are rarer than the neighborhood gay bar.
A true neighborhood bar in every sense of the word, the drinks are strong, the patrons are friendly, and the back patio is generous. Thursday and Friday nights Jolene's kitchen serves satisfying comfort fare with plenty of veggie options. (And regarding those martinis, they’re served by genuine cocktail servers and they err on the side of spine-stiffening.) Whether it’s Cole Porter standards, a jazz night, or a true sing-along, this curtained, Art Deco-accented bar is where tried-and-true Friends of Dorothy can be found.
Ginger's
Ginger’s is the Financial District’s only gay bar—and really, the only bar in the area like it.
Whether you shout at the TV during the entire NCAA tournament or it’s all sportsball to you, this convivial spot is for everybody, with trivia nights and Thursday “gym class” (go-go night, in other words). Still, the relaxed, amiable dive and its unshakeable 1970s vibe continue to flourish on Polk as it has for decades. SF is known for electing Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the US, and is still known today for its thriving queer community.
At the epicentre of it all is San Francisco’s Castro District, full of drag shows, bars and great restaurants, but there’s plenty more to discover throughout SF (and Oakland) if you know where to look.