The Café Gay Bar / Gay Club

Castro, San Francisco –

Rows of cooing young studs always seem to congregate on the balcony smoking area that overlooks the entrance to The Café, so even before walking in, patrons have already been checked out.

Once inside, the crowd of sporty post-grads and casual young professionals fans out onto the large triangular dance floor, where barely-dressed men, and even some women, dance provocatively on a center stage to Top 40 hits.

Gyrating boys in skimpy underpants are the venue’s raison d'être – second only perhaps to drag shows – and the space could easily pass for an industrial frat house most nights, full of college students sporting Abercrombie button-downs and baseball caps as they gawk at the go-go dancers and each other.

LEDs on the steel ceiling account for most of the sparse décor, and flat-screens are known to showcase vintage porn for anyone not sufficiently inspired by the eye candy.

Two bars keep everyone sauced in the main room, while those looking for a change of scenery can step past the glass wall that separates the dance floor from the patio. On this side of the venue, they’ll find a third bar and an upper-level seating area where boisterous queens, burly dudes, and feisty pods of girls hoot and holler as they watch the action below or play a round of pool.

Simple and minimal, The Café proves that as long as there are strong drinks, good music, and an attractive crowd, there's no need to hire a decorator.