Austin

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Gay Austin has gathered on one block of West 4th Street since the mid-1970s, a tight cluster of bars where nobody bothers arriving before midnight. Red River, ten minutes east, trades the gloss for scruffier queer nights and live music. It is a liberal, creative city that wears its difference from the rest of Texas openly. Pride waits until August, then marches down Congress Avenue after dark.

5 gay places in Austin

Cheer Up Charlies

Bar

The outdoor stage is built into the hillside, with rock terracing standing in for amphitheater seating for the bands, drag shows, and dance nights that fill the patio most weeks.

Highland Lounge

Bar

Three floors and six bars wrap around one large dance floor, making this the biggest multi-level gay nightclub in Austin.

Oilcan Harry's

Bar

Open since 1990, this is Austin's oldest continuously operating gay bar, anchoring the Fourth Street block that's been the city's gayborhood since the mid-1970s.

The Austin Eagle

Bar

Austin's only dedicated leather and fetish bar, set in a commercial strip in Northeast Austin rather than the downtown gayborhood, which makes it a destination you drive to on purpose rather than stumble into.

The Iron Bear

Bar

Austin's only LGBTQ+ bar and grill, running a full kitchen through lunch and dinner before the back stage and dance floor take over at night.

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