#Gay bars portland or plus#
Try Escape Bar and Grill ! The closest thing Portland has to a full-out lesbian bar, Escape is the casual hole-in-the-wall to unwind in after a long day. The bar used to host a recurring night just for our beloved lesbian elders, making it just the right spot for the 40+ crowd. Other events include Wednesday and Saturday karaoke, plus DJs every second and fourth Friday. Sometimes you want to curl up and get up close and personal with the latest in groundbreaking queer literature. This curated monthly reading series, put on by Literary Arts, fosters in-depth discussion with some of the brightest minds in Portland’s literary community. Try Incite: Queer Writers Read ! Sometimes you want to shake your hips all night long. Try the Siren Theater ! This women-owned comedy theater has cabaret-style seating, making it the perfect place to cozy up with a date. At time of writing, the theater’s up-coming acts include two nights with Liz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show (heard of it?) and That’s What She Said, a queer feminist comedy collective, with many more shows planned for the future. Shannon Funches from Light Asylum, Princess Dimebag, Father Fannie, DJ Sappho, Emoji Heap, and Sham Sisqo are always sure to turn out a n unstoppable party that lasts into the wee hours of morning.įor the Tig Notaro/Wanda Sykes/Kate McKinnon fangirl.
When in doubt, keep an eye out for the city’s most exciting queer DJs. Fans of hyperpop, cosmic disco, and '90s house rejoice! Catch their latest party at VMAC Portland on October 29, $20 presale, $30 for the spontaneous s ocial butterflies. Opal UndergroundĪ relatively new addition to the scene from the creators of Circuit Breaker, Opal Underground shows a lot of promise for femme-forward, psychedelic dance nights. Expect to get very sweaty to a mix of queer hip hop and pop favorites. Sign up for them.'s weekly newsletter here.One of the city’s premier queer dance parties, Blow Pony exploded back onto the scene on October 23 at Bossanova Ballroom with a performance from NYC’s Dai Burger and DJ sets from Portland’s own Zepheur, Sugarpill, Diane Rott, and Sue From Corporate. We're going to dance and get sweaty and be back to doing the things that we like to do, someday. We'll all be back together, and we will all celebrate and hug and hold and celebrate birthdays. “We made it through the ‘80s and we’ve lost a lot of people, but together, we’ll make it through this, too. “Like I’ve said many times, we are a resilient community,” she told them. That feeling is in some ways similar to when the HIV epidemic first began 39 years ago.Īfter emptying out her dressing room when the bar closed on October 11, Carmichaels went home and cried her eyes out.
Gay Bars in Oregon Gay Bars in Portland Silverado. So while CC’s general manager Kevin Hutman recently told the local CBS affiliate KOIN that the business would “love to reopen” in the same location, an era has seemingly passed, leaving many queer locals sequestered in isolation, fearful to touch one another and wondering when, if ever, life will go back to normal. One of the best gay, lesbian or LGBT-friendly bars as part of Portland, Oregons nightlife. When it reopened at reduced capacity three months later, the area’s other shuttered businesses and expanded homeless encampments on the sidewalk reduced foot traffic, owner Bruce Rice said, and the bar’s business remained down by 80 percent, eventually forcing it to shut down for good.Īlong with CC Slaughters and 21 other nearby businesses, COVID-19 has ended many of Portland’s recurring queer dance events like Lumbertwink, Bearracuda, Club Kai Kai, Blow Pony, and Pants Off Dance Off.
But the pandemic ultimately forced CC Slaughters to close in April. Aside from its marked imperfections, it outlasted all the other aforementioned gay bars and others nearby, like The Escape, Embers, and The Fox and Hounds, which all closed in 2017.