The great Scott Ewalt DJs on Thursdays, and CVNT on Tuesday nights brings in a younger crowd. Saturdays is Wack, with DJs Kindbud and Aaron Cobbett. Rough-edged, covered in band stickers, and carved with little weird nooks and dark corners, this place is like a filthy, seductive, alluring alleyway. The Cock moved into the former Lit Lounge (where straight people used to make out like gays), so the sexy atmosphere is already built into the walls. This unashamedly punky, vital East Village gay bar relocated last summer, and the new address is a vast improvement. It also has an eclectic and dynamic roster of DJs and themed nights, including the long-running Double Headed Disco (last Saturday of the month), the ritualistic Witch Camp, and a night for ginger enthusiasts, Fire in the Hole. This is also where the alternative Joe’s Pub cabaret and comedy set come for postshow drinks, so bring your friend from Seattle or Berlin here first if they want to see the performance scene flirt and mingle without pretension. The video screen blinks weird porn and video art, Bushwick genderqueers flirt with Chelsea gallerists, and the long, deep space has plenty of alcoves and seating if you’re seeking a bit of quiet. This is where artsy gay men, women, and anyone who doesn’t care for labels converge (depending on the night - it’s still a man-based bar) to listen to DJs who play music that doesn’t sound like Rihanna choking on a Red Bull. "Before the Internet, I would argue that women patronized the Manhattan bars because that was where they could find other lesbians to date or to socialize with.Part of the East Village gay-bar renaissance of the ’90s and ’00s, Nowhere has long been regarded as the less populated, forgotten sister to other joints like Eastern Bloc or the Cock - but the venerable basement bar has evolved to become the central watering hole of NYC’s queer art, music, and performance scene. Joseph, a Pennsylvania State University sociologist whose areas of study include gender and sexuality. "Lesbian culture has tended to be organized around dense social networks of friends rather than the bar scene, so there have always been fewer lesbian bars than gay male bars in general," says Lauren J. Gay guys are welcome, but not too many of them come down here."Īnd, of course, the Internet has changed the social scene for everyone.
"Our bouncers will turn away large groups of straight guys. "It’s a little different here," says Rico Garcia, a gay man and bartender at Henrietta Hudson. At the Cubby Hole, under a rainbow-colored sign at a West Fourth Street intersection, sometimes there are more gay males in the bar than lesbians. But the bars need to be careful about keeping a good balance. Men tend to drink - and thereby spend - more than women. Lesbian bars also have a somewhat more complicated calculus when it comes to clientele. For lesbians, the market is too small to support similar expansion.
As Jodi O’Brien, the chairwoman of Seattle University’s Department of Anthropology, Sociology and Social Work, explains, "lesbian presence in mixed spaces is typically more tolerated than gay male presence, especially if there are displays of affection."įor gay men, she said, the demand for exclusive spaces is great, so such spaces have proliferated. It's a phenomenon echoed in major cities across the country, and it may have a lot to do with our changing social norms.
She is an author, former Wall Street trader, MTV News anchor and reality television personality who had a stint on "America’s Next Top Model." "When I was in high school and college, there were at least eight or nine to go to," says Kim Stolz, 29, a New York City native. Both are neighborhood joints with raunchy signs on the walls and cheap draft beers at the bars. Last year, just two remained: Henrietta Hudson, founded in 1991, and the Cubby Hole, which opened three years later. Nearby, also in the Village, are two of Manhattan’s three lesbian bars. Quote: What's Killing New York's Lesbian Bar Scene?