But they’ve both got clean facilities, passionate patrons, and private rooms. Inside, Steam resembles a Four Seasons, while Hawks looks a bit more like a YMCA. Steam, meanwhile, is the exclusive spot, admitting only men and selling no memberships shorter than six months.
Hawks is the open, community-friendly hookup space, offering day passes, HIV testing, and bisexual visibility events (not to mention Big D*ck Night every Friday, where gentlemen more than eight inches get a free locker for the evening).
Hawks and Steam each cater to different sorts. Then there’s the fact that, in an era where queer bathhouses are on the decline all across the United States, Portland is home to not one but two of the last holdouts. At the latter, if you’re lucky, you might run into Leo Starf*cker Sunshine and the Radical Faeries, representatives of the major overlap between Portland’s LGBTQ and pagan communities. Check out queer-owned Either/Or Cafe in village-y Sellwood on the southeastern bank of the Willamette River or Triumph Coffee not far to the north. While it may seem like it’s illegal to be outside in Stumptown without a shot or a craft beer in your hand, there’s a thriving, sober queer culture as well.įirst off, if there’s one thing we love more than beer, it’s coffee. Put it all together, and no matter how you choose to identify, there’s somewhere in Portland where you can go to eat, drink, and be yourself for an evening.
It’s a neighborhood corner bar, all about open-mindedness they’re so good at accommodating everybody that they’ve got a second happy hour from 7 to 9 a.m.įinally, in the artistic, socially-conscious southeast, Crush is a diner and club that regularly hosts special events-like burlesque shows, comedy open mics, and social hours-and raises money for community-supported causes. In the northeast, the last part of Portland proper hit by the rising tide of gentrification, Escape Bar and Grill sits in a strip mall near the famous Catholic shrine locals call The Grotto. It’s the queer version of a workingman’s tavern, more beer than cocktails, with karaoke, video poker, and decidedly non-vegan barbecue on Sundays. The industrial, north district of the city is represented by Eagle Portland on North Lombard Street, a hard-drinking leather bar with a weekly underwear night. Related article: Buddy Bravo- Queer Dance Parties, Kiki Balls, and the Drag Scene According to the Willamette Week, “It’s an intimate space, but not cramped, a bit of a squeeze around tables for a proper dance floor, but that’s not so bad if you want to get closer to someone.” It’s a woman-owned space whose proprietor is a talented mixologist. Meanwhile, in the upscale southwest, Sante Bar focuses on swank. In the Old Town district near the west end of the Burnside Bridge, where every building is historic, and every establishment relies on exposed bricks and low lighting, Hobo’s Bar and Grill is a throwback to the low-key, queer hangouts of the 70s and 80s. Portland’s queer and queer-friendly bars come in as wide a variety of flavors and moods as the city itself. And second, Portland lost several of its queer bars recently-including the legendary Embers Avenue-so we wanted to shine the light on a few that are still going strong. First, they provide a window into the city’s multifaceted character. We’ve chosen to start with inns and taverns, not because they’re the only places in town to be out and proud, but for two other reasons. They call it “culture.”Ī queer scene is definitely about more than just bars. Why should you decamp to the City of Roses? Because Portlanders have their own special word for LGBTQ culture. And like everyone else, you can’t afford to live in San Francisco anymore. They’ve got a street named after Harvey Milk, legally-mandated, gender-neutral bathrooms, Gus van Sant, and Darcelle XV, Guinness record holder for the world’s oldest drag queen. Portland was the first major city in America to elect a gay mayor (sorry, Pete Buttigieg, but Sam Adams has you beat by four years). It’s just the whole city.”Ībout 5 percent of Portlanders identify as LGBTQ, and together, they’ve built a queer culture that’s woven deeply into the fabric of the city. First-time, queer visitors to Portland often ask where the gayborhood is.