by Janay Riberdy on OK, went here as part of Guerilla Queer Bar. I had a great time but it was due to the company. The place just failed on so many different levels, so let's get started... First of all, why would you have a bar across from Fenway Park and not allow patrons to wear baseball hats? Yeah, that sounds like a prime marketing plan... "We can serve daiquiris out of brightly lit, swirling machines into those circusy, carnival(ly), festival(ly) plastic yards that glow under black light. We will put the place next to Fenway park, but we want to keep this place high class, so we gotta get a bouncer to walk around and make only selected people take their hats off." What the hell do they do when a Red Sox game lets out?!?! In case you hadn't noticed, you should not make a gay man take off his hat in the bar without warning him so that there could be product involved! The drinks seriously had issues. There is nothing wrong with charging $9 for a Long Island, but you really should know how to make it. Two different bartenders up front made them with Rose's lime juice, WTF?!?! Seriously, have you heard of "sour mix?" I realized the taste was off and specifically watched them pour. Jeffrey H. also commented on the taste, and let's face it, we should know when a Long Island is made right. These just had a weird "hwang" to them. The problem was solved when I found the cutest little blond pixie of a bartender at the very far end of the dance floor. She made them right, remembered my drink, and didn't make me wait forever like the others. The DJ, I am guessing, realized what was going on and totally catered to the clientele. He really camped up the music, so that was amusing. What is up with the line to smoke on the patio when it is less than a quarter full and there is still enough room to ball-room dance out there? I still think that one doorman was trying to compensate for something. Just sayin. One of my biggest complaints was the lack of air-conditioning. Seriously, as a gay man, I like getting sweaty and bouncing around with other men, but not this hot and with clothes on. I was seriously GLISTENING! (as a gay man, I don't sweat or perspire, I glisten) To top it off, the ceiling was leaking so many mysterious substances, I felt like I was under an adult movie theatre showing kinky films I'd care NOT to see. Would I go back? Not by choice. Plus one star for the cutie patootie bartender. Plus one star for hearing a clueless straight guy in the bathroom say, "I may just be a country boy Republican from Idaho, but it seems to me there are a lot of fags and dykes in here..." Plus one star for the company of GQB and all the rateclubsers. Minus 3 1/2 for the other crap, so I will let you keep 2 stars.
by deb n. on Easy to miss, across the street from Penn Station, Madison Square Gardens. The elevator entrance is down the hallway, next to the Blarney Stone Bar. The dance studio is upstairs on the 4th floor, buzzer #7. West Coast Swing Dancing on Wednesday nights. $10. Long dance studio, great floor, two bathrooms. Great AC on those humid nights. A bar. John Lindo with the Gotham Swing Dance club hosts with weekly west coast swing dances. http://www.gothamswing.../ Great dancers, many intermediate level and some advance level WCS dancers. On the night I went, easily around 100-125 dancers, so a great turn out. There were some out of town dancer's there, due to John Lindo's LibertySwing event that weekend. http://www.libertyswin.../
by Stephanie W. on A great 1930's style venue for seeing rockin' live shows! I love the seating all around the dance floor and the fact that there are 2 bars in the place. The little lucite chairs in the women's room are brilliant. But, they definitely need to get some bigger acts to come here. I wish I could say I was a huge Super Diamond fan...but alas, my Neil days were short & sweet. Fun tidbit: I heard that there were a bunch of gangsters that used to hang out in this joint, Tommy guns & all. Very cool.
