new-york

New York, a long over due trip that my partner and I kept postponing for other locations materialized this summer. We heard all about it, some said it was an astounding city; others said it was just an overly done American city, and others preferred to reserve their opinion. We really didn’t know what to expect, we had heard it all in the media: the financial district of the world, the city that hosts endless TV shows, the fashion Mecca and the place where most contemporary artists are formed.

We had to see it with our own eyes and form our own opinion. Although we thought, there is no way there could be a more beautiful place than our Vancouver. Fair enough, New York was not as aesthetically beautiful as Vancouver, but hell it was fun and one of the most amazing trips we had ever taken. My intent with this article is to give you some tips about New York and its gay scene. These tips will probably be outdated in a year as the city moves at the speed of light, but if you are planning on heading that way soon you might find these tips quite helpful.


First of all, a weekend or five days are not enough. We spent 10 full days and still needed more time to explore. Before booking your hotel find out what neighbourhood it is located in. Each neighbourhood caters to different groups of people. Chelsea, Hells Kitchen and Greenwich Village, are the neighbourhoods where most of the gay population hang out, it is also where most of the gay bars and clubs are located. If you plan on heading to the gay bars and clubs the proximity of your hotel will make a difference at 4 or 5 am when you have to catch a cab to your hotel and realize that everyone is also trying to catch a ride. Why go through this burden when you can just walk to your hotel.

Let me begin with what most of us gays like, the night life. Unfortunately, after the recession most of the gay clubs closed down. However, this opened a new window for all those pre-drink gay lounge/bars. You can basically pub crawl without having to pay cover and still have as much fun as if you were at a nightclub. The bars that we visited and that we recommend are Vlada, where they serve martinis of different natural flavours (i.e. the vodka has been sitting on different fruits giving it a natural flavour. I am salivating while writing this). The crowd at this place is pretty chill and they play mainly un-mixed top 40’s. Therapy, a must visit lounge, here you can dine while enjoying one of the shows they have throughout the week. For those Vancouverites this lounge is very similar to 1181 on a larger scale. Posh, everyone seems to go to this bar; it is a tiny tine bar with an 8 x 8 dance floor where absolutely everyone is dancing. The reason why the atmosphere is so festive is because its DJ plays a mix of top 40’s, music from the 80’s and 90’s and some oldies; this makes the whole crowd sing along to the songs and dance like crazy. For the bears, Eagles is the place to go. This is a three stories club, with two pool tables in the main floor, a dancing area in the second floor and an amazing rooftop patio. G Lounge was our favourite spot for drinks. This is a place where you can dance comfortably, listen to great electronic music, and enjoy some eye candy from each of the bartenders. Baracuda, Cock, The Hose, Nowhere and Phoenix are very similar to each other and you could skip them. They are nice bars to hang out for a few minutes, maybe have one or two drinks at the most and then head out to the club. As for night clubs Green House, The Ritz and Splash are the best places to visit. The only one that charges cover is Splash, but it is worth it and definitely our favourite. Splash is a two level club where the main floor plays electronic, house and trance music and in the basement you can enjoy top 40’s. I guess this list goes to prove why this city never sleeps and is gay heaven.

There are two parties during the week that are just as fun as going to the club. The first one is Phresh on Sundays at the Dream Hotel. This is an amazing rooftop patio party with a live DJ and with an amazing view of the city. Its host David Scott has done an amazing job of bringing together a great crowd and ambience. The party starts at 6 pm and it’s the perfect way to wrap up the week. The second party is Drip on Wednesday; a pool party at the trendy Grace Hotel, sexy ambience hosted by drag queens where the crowd gets to show off their six packs and well formed pecs.

So are all of these places not enough of a party for you? Well have you heard of Fire Island? If not, this is a gay beach paradise just a couple of hours away from New York where you can lay on the beach all day. The island is one of the Long Island shores with a population of less than 600 people. There is a no car policy which makes the island even more attractive. Since the area is so small you are surrounded by tanned boys and every party is busy. There are only three hotels, which are marketed towards and owned by gay people. Locals also rent rooms for visitors. Most of the activities on the island are during the summer, so if you are planning on visiting Fire Island next summer make sure you book your hotel room in advance and if you are going on a weekend buy your ferry ticket in advance as well. Check out the island calendar as their big three day beach/weekend party Ascension takes place in August, this year Ascension featured Kelly Rowland and almost 20 DJs including NYC top DJ, DJ Corey Craig. I could write an entire article about Fire Island parties but it will be most likely be censored.

New York has it all for every type of personality day and night. For the intellectuals: the three main museums. MoMa, MET and the American Museum of Natural History are worth seeing and spending a full day at each of them. One thing to be aware of before heading to the museums is to avoid the days where admission is free. There is no way to enjoy the museums while being pushed around like cattle by the massive crowds. For the hipsters: endless art galleries to be seen. One spot that most people miss is the DUMBO which is across the Brooklyn Bridge. These are endless art galleries and buildings fully dedicated to artists for exhibiting their art. For the fashonista: Soho and obviously 5th Avenue are the places to shop. Although with the latter don’t even fantasize on finding a sale; however, they send their previous season inventory to places like Century 21 and their smaller stores in Soho. For Culinary Art lovers check out the Michelin restaurant guide. This guide includes all of the one, two and three star restaurants recommended by professional inspectors. All of these places are in the mid to high price range, however it is taboo that all of the restaurants are expensive you will find the cheap food stand. For the tourist trap attraction lovers: buying a CityPass will give you priority access to attractions such as the Statue of Liberty and The Empire State. With this pass you avoid line-ups and save a few dollars at the main NY tourist attractions, kind of a VIP pass.

After ten days we decided that New York is definitely one of our favourite cities. My partner and I have very different personalities and this was the right place for a compromise that met both of our interests. Most of the stereotypes about this city are not true, New Yorkers were the friendliest people ever, the city was not as expensive as most people say and most importantly it was safe, and we even visited Queens. What made a huge difference was the fact that one of my best friends lives there and he did an outstanding job showing us around, thank you Aaron. So if you are planning on visiting New York I suggest you try to connect with a local and make the most of your days there.

I hope this has some use if you are planning a visit to New York or deciding where to go on your next vacation. If you have been in NYC already and know of some other places to visit share them because for sure this is the type of city that I will be visiting often.

Submitted By: Israel G.

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