SF Badlands Club / Gay Bar / Gay Club

Castro, San Francisco –

It’s a party every night at SF Badlands, a Castro institution for young boys who love to dance and older men who aren’t afraid to stare.

Heavily discounted Happy Hour specials draw patrons in by the early afternoon, and Sunday’s regular all-you-can drink beer busts even inspire a few uninhibited straight guys to sidle in.

Bartenders tend to be barely outside of twenty-one, and their normal attire of cut-offs and tiny jeans proves the brick behind the bar isn’t the only thing exposed in here.

The front lounge fills up first with tight-shirted college students and buffed-up older bears chilling on the well-worn couches, but the TV-strewn dance floor in back is the biggest draw.

By 7pm the wooden floor is a sea of gyrating toned men, shirtless locals, and women who’ve discovered they can dance at a gay club without a single person hitting on them – at least not a single guy.

Weekend visits to the club are invariably a sweaty venture, when dancing is often limited to the small space between the sea of shoulders, and condensation drips from the disco balls above. Laser lights erupt from the corners of the room, while multiple flat-screens flicker images of music videos along with the blare of Top 40 and dance hits.

Visually exciting from its TVs to its sticky boys, SF Badlands continues to make getting down and dirty an undeniably uplifting experience.