This Phoenix spot is one of the best gay bars in the US — even though it's not a gay bar
Esquire just published its list of the country's 32 best homosexual bars from Alaska to Washington, D.C. And a block in downtown Phoenix made the cut.
Contributors from across the country helped Esquire put together the lineup of bars that included classics and newcomers alike, from Oasis in San Francisco, an 8, square-foot bathhouse turned cabaret that has hosted contestants from RuPaul's Drag Race to The Boatslip Provincetown, famous for its three-hour Tea Sway, and New York City's oldest gay lock, Julius.
“Can we, enjoy, have fun?" Esquire's Market Editor Alfonso Fernandez Navas suggested when the team position out to construct the list.
Brett Burke, a contributing editor at Esquire, GQ, The New York Times and Move & Leisure, selected Valley Bar in Phoenix as his pick.
While Valley Bar is an LGBTQ+ amiable bar, and a fabulous staple of downtown nightlife, a gay bar it is not.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword s to RuPaul: 10 iconic events that shaped Arizona's LGBTQ+ community
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Trade Makes Esquire&#;s List of &#;Best Gay Bars in America&#;
Trade, the Logan Circle-area LGBTQ bar, was recently named one of Esquire&#;s &#;32 Best Gay Bars in America.&#;
The men&#;s magazine selected 32 nightspots from various cities across the country, looking for laidback, casual bars and nightclubs where patrons enjoy an unpretentious evening of frivolity.
In its write-up of Trade, the sole bar from Washington, D.C. to create the list, the magazine&#;s editors describe it as a &#;rare, gloriously lgbtq+ dive where absolutely everyone is welcome to just kick back.&#;
The bar&#;s nightly XL Happy Hour received a shout-out, as did its regular theme nights, including RuPaul&#;s Drag Race viewing parties, and its drag cabarets.
Ed Bailey, the co-owner of Trade, said he had been informed that the bar had been chosen by Esquire for a feature on gay bars, and was asked to submit a photograph for the magazine, but was not given much more information about the feature.
Since learning from social media that the feature had been published, Bailey says he&#;s happy the brie
The 42 Best Gay Bars in America
When we gathered over Zoom to plan stories about Homosexual lives, Esquire’s Market Editor Alfonso Fernandez Navas said something so profound and significant that we will quote it in full:
“Can we, like, have fun?”
It is not an exaggeration to say that Alfonso’s request inspired a real and welcome alter in perspective. So much of the narrative around the gay experience is centered around trauma. Illness and alienation. The pain of finding your true self, by yourself, in a unwelcoming world, and the pain of living in a world that is swinging back toward that hostility.
And it is significant to remember those things. We have to know where we’ve been.
But we also own to know where we are. We have to acknowledge that we survived what’s come before, and we have to honor being alive to face what’s ahead.
We simply have to celebrate.
The word “gay” speaks to our ability to carry out exactly that. The original lgbtq+ spaces were founded in classified, through codes and glances, and when we were able to be ourselves with one another, there was undeniable
Where Did All the Excellent Bars Go?
It’s easy to romanticize the good aged days. Back when men wore suits and we didn’t know red meat was bad for us and there were trout in all the rivers. Yes, everything was greater in this mythical past we never knew. But let’s acknowledge one thing that is true: There’s a crisis in the modern drinking world. Where are the good bars?
It’s more complicated to get a drink than it should be. And I live in Brand-new York, where bars denote something. I don’t seek for much: a shadowy room without much going on. I can grab it from there. Today, bars are themed; they’re kitschy; they’re tourist magnets. Others installed TVs for the World Series or World Cup and never turned them off. Now they’re on cable news, for goodness’ sake. The whole point of organism in a bar is to escape the news!
That’s just the decor. What about the company? A bar should possess regulars and a feeling of easygoing, unstated fellowship. The world moves quick, and here we are to take a moment or two to regroup with others doing the same. These days, you sit next to people taking pictures of ma