(On last count, there were 14 gay bars in the area, without a cap off in sight.) And Hell’s Kitchen (or HK) is now the gay epicentre, where rents are a little more affordable, thereby attracting swarms of new arrivals who prowl the streets and look for fun on an obsessive basis. The West Village – the hub of the modern gay movement, thanks to the 1969 rebellion at the Stonewall Inn – still bristles with gay bars and drag clubs, mostly unaffected hangouts such as the appealing Pieces, and The Monster, a two-floor nightlife emporium with piano bar on top and disco down below.Ĭhelsea (the gay mecca in the 90s) was beset by a mass exodus as it became gentrified, though the long-running Barracuda Lounge still provides booze and schmooze, and G Lounge never goes away, thanks to its ambient mini-areas in which to hang with your clique.
In the past decade, a lot of the action has left “the big city” for Brooklyn districts such as Williamsburg and Bushwick, but there’s still plenty of adrenaline left in Manhattan to make heat-seeking worthwhile there. N YC is a gay-friendly town with a variety of neighbourhoods offering pockets of queer culture and nightlife, each with its own fruity flavour.
