Long Beach Pride: A guide to Long Beach’s LGBTQ bars, nightclubs

LONG BEACH — Expect lines out the door and capacity crowds inside the bars and clubs this weekend as visitors will flock to the area to have a gay old time during Long Beach Pride.

More than 60,000 people are expected to attend the festival and parade, the city’s second largest event and most fabulous party along the downtown waterfront.

RELATED: Long Beach Pride: Here’s what you need to know about the festival, parade, road closures, rules

To help party goers navigate the nightlife terrain, Q Voice News contributor and travel vlogger James Quintanilla will be your bar-hopping guide as he makes his way to the Long Beach area’s 13 LGBTQ bars and clubs. Long Beach celebutante Jewels helps Quintanilla with colorful commentary on the venues.

RELATED: Long Beach Pride: Ty Herndon to headline country music stage

The City of Bellflower, adjacent to Long Beach, even has a gay bar, Flux.

Executive Suite is the only club in Long Beach with three levels to party.

The Silver Fox, Jewels said, “is a great place you can lounge in air-conditioning comfort, watch beautiful scenes on their big TVs and have delicious cocktails on their beautiful outdoor patio.”

Club Ripples, across the street from the beach, is the oldest gay bar in town.

Across town, a cluster of bars is located along the Broadway Corridor. The Broadway crawl includes  The Broadway, Sweet Water Saloon, the world famous Falcon, Mineshaft, The Brit and Paradise Bar and Restaurant.

At the Falcon, Jewels said, “There’s always cheap booze and cheaper men.”

Hamburger Mary’s is located in downtown Long Beach. It has the largest dance floor in town an a 20-foot LED video wall.

To see more of Quintanilla’s travel videos, check out his YouTube page.

 

About the author

Phillip Zonkel

Award-winning journalist Phillip Zonkel spent 17 years at Long Beach's Press-Telegram, where he was the first reporter in the paper's history to have a beat covering the city's vibrant LGBTQ. He also created and ran the popular and innovative LGBTQ news blog, Out in the 562.

He won two awards and received a nomination for his reporting on the local LGBTQ community, including a two-part investigation that exposed anti-gay bullying of local high school students and the school districts' failure to implement state mandated protections for LGBTQ students.

Share This

Share this post with your friends!