If you are looking for up to date info on the best gay and lesbian bars or clubs in New York City you will find it right here. Our local LGBT nightlife guide will also be taking a look at other subjects like mixed clubs, trans bars, drag shows, the West Village gayborhood, other queer areas near you, and more!
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We also have numerous annual and more frequent New York City gay pride events that definitely deserve a mention. And being that this is the 21st century we certainly won’t be leaving out the best LGBT dating sites for your area which keep getting more popular by the day.
We all have our own personal style and preferences so we will list everything we can think of and let you choose your own adventure. You might also want to look at our other guides for cities around the Eastern US at that link.
Best LGBT Bars & Clubs In New York City
Let’s start this off with a list of the best gay, lesbian, and mixed LGBT bars and nightclubs in New York City:
- Hangar Bar at 115 Christopher St #1
- 3 Dollar Bill at 260 Meserole St
- The Stonewall Inn at 53 Christopher St
- Metropolitan at 559 Lorimer St
- Boxers at 37 W 20th St
- Rise Bar at 859 9th Ave
- Cubbyhole at 281 W 12th St
- Eagle NYC at 554 W 28th St
- The Deep End at 1080 Wyckoff Ave
- Henrietta Hudson at 438 Hudson St
- Club Cumming at 505 E 6th St
- Flaming Saddles at 793 9th Ave
- Barracuda at 275 W 22nd St
- Ginger’s Bar at 363 Fifth Ave
- Hush at 348 W 52nd St
- The Townhouse at 236 E 58th St
- Rebar Chelsea at 225 W 19th St
- Julius at 159 W 10th St
- Nowhere Bar at 322 E 14th St
- Lambda Lounge at 2256 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd
- Albatross Bar at 36-12 24th Ave
Best Gay Bars & Clubs
Back in the day gay bars in NYC were pretty much strictly for men looking for men to hook up with. That has changed and now most places are more mixed LGBT style, and as time goes on more are becoming mixed straight and gay in your area.
Best Lesbian Bars & Clubs in New York City
Unfortunately there are not a lot of lesbian bars in New York City for women to meet women anymore. Many have closed down this century, and currently Ginger’s is probably your best option.
However women should be able to meet other women at plenty of other local LGBT hot spots around the West Village gayborhood and at other venues around the city.
Consider going to The Woods on Wednesday nights for their Misster all night lesbian dance parties, or see what the crowd is like at Boobie Trap in Brooklyn.
Drag Shows & Trans Bars
We aren’t really to the point of having full on trans bars in New York, but you can find drag shows that may help you locate ts near you at:
- Wepa Wednesday at Café de la Esquina at 114 Kenmare St
- Drag Brunch at La Pulperia at 371 West 46th St
- Le Bingo at Le Poisson Rouge at 158 Bleecker St
- Bushwig at 52-19 Flushing Ave
- Switch N’ Play at Branded Saloon
- Be Cute Brooklyn
- Lips at 2 Bank St
- Lips Drag Queen Show Palace at 227 E 56th St
- Monday on Mondays at Macri Park
- Lucky Cheng’s at 707 8th Ave
- Hush
- Rebar
While we do know the scene here in NYC pretty well we cover way too many cities to have a more intimate knowledge on all of them than the local experts. Our goal is to keep our lists as fresh and current as possible but that can be difficult to keep up with.
Using the comments section to let us know if you notice anything dated would not only help us out it would help out all of our readers. Many of these gay or lesbian bars and clubs can be found in the LGBT nightlife area of the West Village in Greenwich Village, Chelsea, and Hell’s Kitchen.
These gayborhoods should offer just about everything you need. We have also written:
- The Newark LGBT Nightlife
- The Philadelphia LGBT Nightlife
- The Baltimore LGBT Nightlife
- The Boston LGBT Nightlife
- The Washington DC LGBT Nightlife
- The Fire Island LGBT Nightlife
Weekly, Monthly, & Pride Events
Here are some of the best LGBT events that occur on a weekly or monthly basis:
- Otter Box at The Deep End at 1080 Wyckoff Ave on Sundays
- Homotown at Henrietta Hudson on Thursdays
- Times Square at Laurie Beechman Theatre at the West Bank Cafe
- Fire Island National Seashore at 120 Laurel St
- Pat at Union Pool at 484 Union Ave
- Be Cute at Littlefield at 622 Degraw St. Fourth Ave
- Macho Monday at Nowhere Bar
- Misster Lesbian Dance Parties at The Woods on Wednesdays
And then there are a couple of big NYC pride and LGBT events held throughout the year:
- NYC Pride March
- Pride on the Beach
Best LGBT Dating Sites
We bet many of our younger readers don’t realize that finding LGBT people in your area for dating or hook ups was like twenty years ago. If you didn’t want to go party at a local gay or lesbian bar you were kind of out of luck.
While we don’t really care whether you are ‘out’ or not there are likely some people reading this that may not be keen on the idea of having their photos taken at a gay bar and posted on social media. Even if you don’t mind we have some great resources to tell you about. Adult Friend Finder has been the biggest hook up site on the planet for almost two decades.
What some don’t know is that they don’t just have that site, they have quite a few different sites under the AFF network. Men Nation is their top site for finding gay men near you to hook up with and in a giant metropolis like this one you know it will have plenty of active users.
Lesbian Personals is where to go to find hot lesbian women near you to hook up with. Those who are bi-sexual and enjoy all types should just go with Adult Friend Finder.
That is where all of the people on all of the sites across their network can be found. Men Nation is where to go when you are ready to enjoy fast m4m hook ups and for f4f hook ups use Lesbian Personals.
Before we get out of here we also want to tell you about the biggest transgender dating site on the planet, MyTransgenderDate. Trans dating in New York is booming right now because so many sexy NYC ts are finally feeling like they have the freedom to be who they want to be.
Alright then, we have told you all about the LGBT nightlife in your area to the best of our abilities. You read about where to go to find mixed, gay, or lesbian bars and clubs in New York City plus drag shows to party with trans, the West Village gayborhood and all sorts of LGBT dating sites. Now go out and have some fun.