Hells kitchen gay bars

Best Gay Bars in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, NY - The Ritz, VERS, Red Eye NY, Flex Nyc, Flaming Saddles Saloon, Club Cumming, Hush, 9th Avenue Saloon, Industry Bar, Dive Bar Lounge. Opened in fall , Hardware Bar owners Eric Einstein and Justin Buchanan have launched an exciting new LGBTQ+ performance venue — the sleekly outfitted, stage-forward Balcon Salon, home to an art deco-style lounge and cabaret space that hosts a cornucopia of shows and plenty of all-night dancing!

A drag queen performs onstage at Balcon Salon. "Gay Bars in Hell's Kitchen NYC" are a popular and vibrant part of the city's nightlife. These establishments offer a welcoming and inclusive environment for the LGBTQ+ community and allies. We’re proud to offer interesting, fresh, and delicious takes on craft cocktails and bar snacks, all in our beautifully designed space in Hell's Kitchen.

Enjoy a unique beverage and conversation with friends and neighbors, or watch one of our talented queer performers at a curated event, sexy party, or lively show. FLEX is a newcomer on the Hell's Kitchen gay bar scene, located at the former home of POSH, one of the original gay bars in the neighborhood. This neon-lit spot with pride flags on its exterior is perfect for a fun NYC night out. The Gay Capital of the World has a way of re-energizing the soul like nowhere else on earth — and I had clearly forgotten what I [heart] about New York….

What do you call a pub crawl of just one person?

I know what some might call it: sad. The Champagne-hued Grand Salon is an ocean of glass and red roses, waiters hoisting trays of cut-crystal cocktails to the beautiful people. I consider it a sign — a gift from the gay gods — that my first celebrity sighting of the trip is Wanda Sykes. My friend and I just smile at how cool-by-association we are, and do the Toronto thing and ignore her completely.

The night is still early when I escort my friend into an Uber, so I carry on with my plan to wander the Ninth Avenue gay bars — they are too numerous to do all in one night, but I can take a really good stab at it. The whole strip has a very casual kind of T-shirt-and-jeans vibe. I notice that saying no to single-use plastic is not yet a thing in this part of town. Nowadays, the neighbourhood is gentrified: awash in luxury condos, pre-theatre restaurants of many international flavours, off-Broadway shows themselves, jazz music venues and many, many LGBTQ bars.

It has been gathering momentum as a gaybourhood for the past 25 years or so. Being so close to Times Square, the area also draws in the tourists, which is where I come in. I make the mistake of ordering a double vodka, before remembering that in America this is equivalent to an eight-ounce tumbler. Up he gets onto the bar to reveal legs that go for days, tucked into cowboy boots that have seen a few miles.

His jaded days at the bar may be numbered, I feel. Same pared-down look here, but a much younger crowd, most of them on their phone.

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In fact, I start to rope men into selfies with me specifically because it works to invite them into the present — a selfie is something they understand. Farther down the road, the 9th Avenue Saloon neon beckons. A gallant gentleman kindly offers to pay for me — but it feels too creepy. Here, we find so many clean-shaven faces and loads of nice teeth. It works! As for the multitude of bars I did not manage to tick off my list, a few are worth mentioning, given their sheer stamina.

The aforementioned Industry is the industrial-chic dance bar, one of the most popular in the city. And The Dickens pays tribute to the theory that Charles Dickens gave Victorian morality the finger, and included many gay and lesbian characters in his novels. He can be found beside buffet tables, on massage tables and table-hopping around the world. The official grand opening celebration of The Charles hotel — a new beacon of style and inclusivity — is set for this June.

The social media video celebrating inclusivity is getting mixed reactions online — especially on X. Your email address will not be published. Subscribe to the IN newsletter. All Canadian. All Queer. Right to your inbox every month. Receive links to our fave stories and find out when our new issues come out!