Thursday, July 3, 2008

50 Best/Worst Gay Bars in America

My friend John Polly over at Logo Online sent out a massive email asking people from all over the country to lend a hand in helping him compile the best and worst gay bars across all 50 states.

What he came up can be seen here or at the LogoOnline Travel section of the website. Go and check out the bars. It makes for a great travel resource in addition to one hell of a bar crawl. Hmmm..I'm smelling the next possible documentary: "The Nation Wide Gay Bar Crawl."

I listed my favorite bar: IBT's in Tucson, Arizona where I would venture to during my days at The University of Arizona. Funny- my blog pal This Boy Elroy went to U Of Arizona and IBT's but it's too bad we didn't know each other then.

Peep it:

When I think of the “Best Gay Bars,” I think of places where anything can happen, where raucous theme nights are the norm, where the locals are crazy and possibly hot, and where fun, unpredictable, bad behavior abounds. So I sent out emails to a lusty batch of travel writers, hard-partying friends and media folks from around the country, asking them... “What are the best gay bars in the U.S.???”

The results are personal, rather than scientific. And the surprising common theme which evolved was the soft-spot people have in their hearts for kistchy, dive-y, messy bars where a sketchy queen might be found lip-synching to Crystal Waters ’til the wee hours. And interestingly, most of the places tend to draw a mix of people: Old and young, rich and not-so-rich, men and women, high-class and trashy, gay and lesbian and trans and then some. After all, the more things get mixed up, the wilder things get, right?

To add a bit of pomp and circumstance, I've got the Top 3 bars picked. They're the ones that more people chimed in about the most. And after the Top 3, read on for a state-by-state round-up of what scored raves from our contributors. And yes, your favorite bar may be left out, so write me at John.Polly@logostaff.com and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks to my esteemed contributors for their input. And Happy Pride, y'all!

IBT's - Tucson, AZ
616 North 4th Avenue, Tucson; tel. 520-882-3053
http://www.myspace.com/ibtstucson; http://www.ibts.net
Who even knew Tucson was a city let alone had a gay bar? IBT's is where the drags to the bears to the gay cowboys saddle up to the bar and drink everything from beers to IBT's famous Judy Garland special (which honestly, I think is just a vodka-cranberry, but that's "exotic" in Tucson so it deserves a name). A must-see if going to Tucson!
--Eric Leven

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Haha,

I've never been there, but of course I grew up as a kid in Tucson and didn't frequent bars--let alone gay bars. In 2007, my partner and I went to eat at Colors a couple times. They've got a nice atmosphere and good food (especially liked their martinis).

Adam said...

We lived in the same dorm at the same time even....sigh.

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Anonymous said...

Ah, IBTs in the good ol' days. I lived in Tucson, on and off, from 1995 to 2005 and went there quite a bit. I recently came back for a few months, went to IBTs and was taken aback by how dowdy and unhappy it is. Apparently, it's under new ownership. I doubt I'll go back, regardless of my need for a spin on the dancefloor for a couple of hours. I'll wait 'til I get back to Sydney.