Gay Travel Buddy

Gay Las Vegas – Fruit Loop

A word of warning, the views below are my personal views and are not those of any business or the city of Las Vegas.  If you are gay and thinking about taking a vacation to Las Vegas, firstly let my try and urge you to pick another city.  Las Vegas is NOT gay friendly and if you plan on visiting during the week for say a conference you will be bored out of your mind!  But never the less, I work in Las Vegas half the year so I unfortunately know a bit about the city.  So if you really want to visit this pile of dust then let me tell you about your options.

A little background on the local gay population.  I have been working in Las Vegas for about 3 years and have realized the following, obviously this is not correct for all of them.  Most gay men who move to Vegas have been rejected from where ever they are from and are attracted to the fake glitz and glamor of Las Vegas.  Many of the local guys here are chain smokers and reek of smoke, they also tend to drink heavily and often, which is not uncommon in the gay world.  Most of the guys I have met have the IQ of a tic tac.  Las Vegas has a very low cost of living so its a great choice for people with no skills and are out of options.

Here are your gay specific options when visiting Las Vegas.

Gay Bars:  No Shit, there is plenty of options to drink yourself to death.  Las Vegas serves 24 hours a day to 21 and up.  With the exception of Krave and 8 1/2 Piranha the outsides of every gay bar is not much to look at.  So I attempted to walk into each bar and ask permission to photograph the insides as its hard to tell whats going on within.  Basically the management of each bar refused, they seem to afraid of something, maybe someone will copy their horrible layout.  With the exception of Goodtimes, the manager loved the idea and even turned on the lights in the backroom club to let me photograph, I had no idea they even had a dance club.  Goodtimes by far has the nicest staff of any of the Las Vegas gay bars.

Goodtimes <- Nice staff, a bit far from the strip but worth visiting on the weekends.

Fruit Loop Bars:

Free Zone <- Also a fairly nice staff, they are located in the fruit loop.  It’s nicer inside than the exterior leads you to believe.

The Buffalo <- Dumpy outside, dumpy inside and a few pool tables to help keep your sanity while you drink yourself into a coma.  The management refused to let me photograph the place.

8 1/2 Piranha <- 2 places in one, a gay bar open 24 hours while the dance club is open some nights with VIP seating upstairs and drink prices to make anyone cringe.  $20 is not out of the question for a vodka Redbull here!

Gipsy <- This past weekend I noticed it was open, so I think they are back in business.

West of the Strip:

Charlies <- A larger than expected bar with a dance floor, by far I found this place to house the best looking guys any day of the week!  The staff here is also pretty friendly, don’t let the outside scare you off.  Over the last 6 months this has become my favorite bar.  It’s worth the cab ride.

Escape Lounge <- This place is also pretty large, staff is friendly.  I have only been here on week nights and for the most part its empty and a heavy smokers bar.

Entourage – Gay Sex Club <- An alternative to your typical gay bar, it’s also a gay gym as well.

Hotels:

The only gay hotel in Las Vegas is the Blue Moon Resort.  It’s located off the strip on the North Western side in a less than appealing business district.  This place is clothing optional and has a really nice pool, I have seen their pool in more than one adult film.  None of the major strip hotels are gay friendly or advertise or promote to the gay tourist, even though they employ many gay people.

Starwood is a gay friendly hotel chain that owns some of the following brands.  Westin, Sheraton, W and the St. Regis to name a few.  Just East of the strip is a Westin, its not very well maintained compared to many other Westin’s in the chain.  The staff could really use an attitude adjustment, I have stayed here a dozen times and always left with a sour taste.

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New Local?

So your now a resident of Las Vegas or Henderson or something like that.  Yes, you can just hang out at any of those bars, most are just too loud and annoying for me.  Must be getting old.  I have been to functions from this new Earls Presents and so far they are not bad.  I don’t want to be negative, but I tried to join a happy hour hosted by Sin City Q Socials.  I felt like such a peace of meat and so uncomfortable, but that just may have been a fluke.  But see for your self and decide if these groups are good for you.  I have only been too one Earl’s event at Blue Martini, they arranged for 50% off drinks that was fun.

Gay Pool Parties

During the summer there is a weekly gay pool party at the Luxor, Temptation Sunday’s organized by J.Son and very well setup.