Club Ramrod Fort Lauderdale

About this place Club Ramrod Fort Lauderdale

Club Ramrod is the leather bar that predates Wilton Drive's rise as the centre of Fort Lauderdale's gay scene — an establishment with roots going back to the 1970s that has maintained its leather and fetish identity through decades in which many comparable venues have either closed or shifted toward more mainstream formats. The bar is located in Fort Lauderdale proper on NE 4th Avenue, geographically separate from the Wilton Drive corridor, which reflects and reinforces its positioning as a distinct community rather than an appendage of the Wilton Manors scene. The atmosphere is the classic one of the American leather bar: dim lighting, a code-conscious clientele, pool tables, and a social culture built around the leather and bear communities rather than the broader gay bar mainstream. Club Ramrod is the oldest continuously operating gay bar in Fort Lauderdale and is a significant piece of the city's LGBTQ+ history. For visitors from the leather community, it is the essential Fort Lauderdale stop. For visitors encountering leather bar culture for the first time, the bar is welcoming to newcomers who approach with respect for the space.