Best Gay Bars & Clubs in Los Angeles

Gay bars in Los Angeles: the honest summary

Los Angeles has two gay nightlife maps. The famous one is West Hollywood, a separate city where the bars run along Santa Monica Boulevard between Robertson and La Cienega. The other is the City of Los Angeles itself, and that is what this page covers: the leather and indie bars of Silver Lake, a downtown (DTLA) scene that keeps getting bigger, and some of the oldest Latino gay bars in the country. Spanish-speaking visitors looking for bares gay en Los Ángeles will find more of those rooms here than in any guidebook top ten. We checked every bar on this page against 2025-2026 sources (Time Out, The Infatuation, LA Taco, LAist, Out x Out, venue pages) in November 2026. Two newer DTLA venues, ANIMAL in the Arts District and Kiso on 4th Street, now sit alongside Precinct. Faultline, Redline, Stache and Oil Can Harry's are gone, and the historic Silver Platter is in the middle of a forced move. Getting around takes planning, because the scenes are 20 to 40 minutes apart by car. Pick one neighbourhood a night and stay there.

Where the bars are: West Hollywood, Silver Lake, DTLA and the Valley

West Hollywood (Santa Monica Blvd). WeHo has the densest run of gay bars in Southern California, and on a Saturday you can walk between a dozen of them. The Abbey on Robertson, Micky's, Mother Lode (the oldest gay bar still open on the strip), Hi Tops, Beaches, Fiesta Cantina, Hamburger Mary's and Or Bar (in the old Gold Coast space at 8228 Santa Monica Blvd) all run there, and Sweetwater opened on the strip in June 2026. WeHo is its own city with its own page on GayOut, so those bars are not listed below. If this is your first gay night in LA, start there and come back here for night two.

Silver Lake, Los Feliz and East Hollywood. This is the Eastside's queer core: cheaper drinks, fewer dress codes, more artists and leather men. Akbar and Eagle LA are a short ride apart, Hi Tops Los Feliz is on Vermont, Honey's at Star Love is the main sapphic bar, and Club Tempo has been the Latino cowboy club at the East Hollywood end of Santa Monica Boulevard since 1991. The Black Cat on Sunset Boulevard, where LA's 1967 protest against a police raid happened more than two years before Stonewall, is now a restaurant and bar under the same name. The original sign still hangs over Sunset, and it is worth a stop before Akbar.

Downtown (DTLA). Within a few blocks of Pershing Square you have Precinct, Kiso, the New Jalisco Bar and Bar Franca, plus the gay-friendly La Cita. ANIMAL is a short ride east in the Arts District. This is the easiest LA scene to do without a car.

Westlake, Boyle Heights and Highland Park. These are neighbourhood bars rather than destinations: the Silver Platter in Westlake, Redz Angelz on 1st Street in Boyle Heights, and The Offbeat on York Boulevard in Highland Park. Bar Flores sits between them in Echo Park.

The San Fernando Valley. North Hollywood has two old Valley institutions, Bullet Bar and Club Cobra, both on Burbank Boulevard.

The verified gay bars of Los Angeles (2026)

Hours and nights below come from 2025-2026 listings. Promoter nights change often, so check the venue's Instagram on the day. Every bar here is 21+ with government photo ID, and California stops alcohol sales at 2am.

Akbar (Silver Lake)

Akbar is at 4356 W Sunset Blvd. It has been Silver Lake's neighbourhood gay bar since 1996 and is the place most Eastsiders would send you first. It opens in the late afternoon and closes at 2am every night. The front room is for talking, with a jukebox people actually use. The back room turns into a small, hot dance floor on DJ nights, and Bears in Space runs outdoors. The crowd is mixed and artsy, there is no dress code, drinks are cheap for LA, and there is usually no cover. Guides in late 2026 note it is under new ownership but running as before. Go after 10pm on Friday or Saturday for the dance room, or early in the week for a quiet drink.

Eagle LA (Silver Lake)

Eagle LA is at 4219 Santa Monica Blvd. It is the city's leather, Levi's and bear bar and now has the Eastside leather crowd to itself, since Faultline closed in 2021. It opens at 4pm on weekdays and 2pm at weekends, until 2am. Expect a large outdoor patio, theme nights (leather, bear, underwear), monthly Cruise Nights and busy Sunday afternoons. It is cash only, so bring bills. Gear is welcome but not required, and the crowd is mostly men, friendly and unfussy. No cover on regular nights. Some special events charge one.

Hi Tops Los Feliz

Hi Tops Los Feliz is at 1714 N Vermont Ave and is the Eastside branch of the WeHo gay sports bar. It is a pub with a lot of screens: Dodgers games, reality-show watch parties, trivia, and happy hour from noon to 7pm. Hours are noon to midnight Monday to Wednesday, noon to 2am Thursday to Saturday, and 10am to 10pm on Sunday. There is no cover, and the crowd is local, mixed and relaxed. Good before dinner on Vermont, and good on a weeknight when the clubs are dead.

Honey's at Star Love (East Hollywood)

Honey's at Star Love is at 1532 N Western Ave. It is LA's main bar for queer women, sapphic and trans crowds, and everyone is welcome. It opens Thursday (8pm to midnight) and Friday and Saturday (8pm to 2am). There is a cocktail list, cheap well drinks, karaoke, and a dance room that fills earlier than you'd expect. The Ruby Fruit in Silver Lake has turned into a neighbourhood grill, so Honey's carries a lot of the city's lesbian nightlife. It sits in a strip mall on a busy road, so get a rideshare home.

Club Tempo (East Hollywood)

Club Tempo is at 5520 Santa Monica Blvd. It opened in 1991 for queer Latinos that no other room in LA served at the time, and celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2026. Sunday is Vaquero Night, which has run for more than 25 years: boots, cowboy hats, live banda and norteño, and couples two-stepping. Other nights bring drag and DJs playing cumbia and reggaetón. Most of the talk is in Spanish. It is 21+ with ID, a cover is usual on show and band nights, and it fills late. LA Taco notes that the club has carried on through immigration raids and the dating-app era. Be a respectful guest and don't photograph other people.

The Plaza (Hollywood / Fairfax edge)

Plaza is at 739 N La Brea Ave. It is one of LA's oldest Latino gay bars and still one of its best drag rooms, with a real stage, a big dance floor and cumbia, banda and Latin pop between sets. It is cash only, the drinks are cheap, and you get chips with every drink. The crowd is working-class Latino gay men, trans women and their friends, plus a growing number of Eastside and WeHo regulars who come for the shows. Shows start late, and a cover is common at weekends.

Precinct (Downtown LA)

Precinct is at 357 S Broadway. Since 2015 it has called itself a "rock and roll gay bar". It fills about 8,500 square feet of a former corrections office, with a terrace, a dance floor and a main stage. It runs Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm to 2am and Sunday from 11:30am to 2am. Sunday drag brunch is ticketed, and Gay Ass Bingo, Boulet Brothers events and themed dance parties fill the week. The crowd is the most mixed in DTLA: punks, drag fans, office workers and visitors. Regular nights are free or have a low cover, and big parties charge more. Pershing Square Metro station is two blocks away.

Kiso (Downtown LA)

Kiso is at 107 W 4th St, in the old Score nightclub space. It opened in December 2024, run by the owner of the late Redline. A mellow front bar leads to a disco lounge and a large dance floor. Hours are Wednesday to Saturday 6pm to 2am and Sunday 3pm to 9pm. Wednesday is drag, Sunday is the afternoon "Sunday Funday", and Friday and Saturday have rotating dance parties. It calls itself a gay bar and welcomes the wider queer crowd. Covers apply to some weekend parties. One of our earlier audits archived this listing by mistake, and we are restoring it.

ANIMAL LA (Arts District)

ANIMAL is at 428 S Hewitt St, on the border of the Arts District and Little Tokyo, in the former Resident space. It is the LA branch of the Brooklyn queer bar and opened in 2026. It is a large indoor-outdoor venue with several rooms, a patio, food pop-ups and DJs playing house, disco and global dance music, with local residents and visiting names. The Infatuation reports no cover. Time Out lists Tuesday to Friday 4pm to 2am and weekends 2pm to 2am. The crowd is young and gender-expansive, and the bar runs a zero-tolerance safe-space policy. It works for afternoon drinks and for late dancing.

The New Jalisco Bar (Downtown LA)

The New Jalisco Bar is at 245 S Main St. It is the historic Latinx gay dive of downtown: cash only, cheap drinks, a back dance floor, and drag and strip shows on a small stage. It opens Monday to Saturday from 9pm and Sunday from 4pm, until 2am. Most of the crowd speaks Spanish and many are regulars. Show up curious and polite and you will be welcome. The surrounding blocks are quiet late at night, so arrive and leave by rideshare.

Bar Franca (Downtown LA)

Bar Franca is at 438 S Main St. It is a queer-woman-owned cocktail lounge in the Historic Core, revamped in October 2025 as a DJ-driven room with a relaunch hosted by the Midnight Lovers party crew. Queer and lesbian parties run several times a month, and the core hours are Thursday to Saturday, 8pm to 2am. It is a dressy-casual cocktail bar rather than a gay dive, and the crowd depends on the night. Check its Instagram for which parties are queer.

La Cita (Downtown LA, gay-friendly)

La Cita is at 336 S Hill St, near Grand Central Market. It is a mainstream dive with a big back patio and cumbia and banda nights, not a gay bar. Queer promoters use it often and queer customers are a normal part of the crowd. It is useful as a cheap first or last stop on a DTLA crawl.

Silver Platter (Westlake)

Silver Platter opened in 1963 on 7th Street near Rampart Boulevard and is the oldest Latinx LGBTQ+ bar in Los Angeles. For decades it has been a home for trans Latinas and immigrant gay men, and Wu Tsang's film Wildness was shot there. Its building is due to be demolished for housing. The owners are trying to move to 1403 W 3rd St, about half a mile away, and the alcohol permit for the new site was still under review in August 2026. Before you go, check the bar's Facebook page or recent LA Taco or LAist coverage to see whether it is pouring and where. If it is open, expect a small room, cheap drinks, Spanish-language music and show nights.

Redz Angelz (Boyle Heights)

Redz Angelz is at 2218 E 1st St. It occupies the site of Redz (also called Redheads), a Latina and Chicana lesbian bar that ran from 1953 to 2015, and it reopened under new ownership in 2016. It is a local LGBTQ+ bar with karaoke (Fridays from 10pm, two-drink minimum), drag nights styled after Mexican pop divas, and well-known micheladas. Parking is tight. The Metro E Line runs along 1st Street, which makes it one of the few Eastside bars you can reach by train.

Bar Flores (Echo Park)

Bar Flores is at 1542 Sunset Blvd, upstairs off a courtyard. This queer, Latina-owned bar grew out of the Sip pop-up series. The cocktails are agave and mezcal (try the tepache margarita), the room is full of flowers, and there is a small dinner menu. It is a cocktail bar, not a club, with a strong queer women's following. Book or arrive early at weekends.

The Offbeat (Highland Park)

The Offbeat is at 6316 York Blvd. It is a queer-leaning neighbourhood dive with a patio, karaoke, and Exposure, the Monday drag night (about 9pm to 2am), which has a new runway theme every week and sometimes headliners from Drag Race and the Boulet Brothers' shows. Mondays are its gay night. On other nights the crowd is mixed.

Bullet Bar (North Hollywood)

Bullet Bar is at 10522 Burbank Blvd. It may be the oldest gay dive in the city, and it opens every day from noon to 2am. Expect an older, unpolished, friendly crowd, cheap drinks, drink specials and Levi's more than labels. North Hollywood Metro (B Line) is about a mile away.

Club Cobra (North Hollywood)

Club Cobra is at 10937 Burbank Blvd. It is a Latin gay club with three bars and a patio. TransFix Thursdays is a showcase of trans performers that was still running in 2026, and go-go dancers appear at weekends. It is busiest late on Friday and Saturday. Its sister club, Chico, is in Montebello.

Roosterfish (Venice): check before you go

Roosterfish is at 1302 Abbot Kinney Blvd. It opened in 1979 and was the Westside's gay bar for decades. It closed in 2016 and new owners reopened it in 2018. Time Out still listed hours for it in 2025, and the owners have also expanded to Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. Recent reports describe a much more mixed crowd, and 2026 listings disagree on whether the Venice bar is open. Treat it as a maybe and confirm on the day.

Closed or changed: don't go looking for these

• Faultline (4216 Melrose Ave): the leather and Sunday beer-bust bar closed in 2021. Eagle LA is the place now.
• Redline and Stache: both closed. Kiso comes from Redline's owner.
• Oil Can Harry's (Studio City): closed in 2020 and became a city Historic-Cultural Monument in 2025, but it is no longer a bar.
• The Ruby Fruit (Silver Lake): now a neighbourhood grill, not a lesbian bar.
• The Oxwood Inn (Van Nuys): the long-running lesbian bar closed in 2017.

Bares gay latinos en Los Ángeles

LA's Latino gay bars are one of the best reasons to leave WeHo. Club Tempo for Sunday vaqueros, Plaza for drag, the New Jalisco downtown, Club Cobra in the Valley, Redz Angelz in Boyle Heights, and the Silver Platter if it has reopened. Covers are usually small and often cash. Shows start after 11pm, and the music is banda, norteño, cumbia and reggaetón rather than pop remixes. Bring cash, tip the performers, and ask before you photograph anyone. Some regulars have good reasons not to appear on social media.

When to go

• Thursday is the best weeknight: Honey's opens, TransFix runs at Cobra, and DTLA starts to fill.
• Friday and Saturday: Akbar's back room, Precinct, Kiso, ANIMAL and the Latino clubs all peak after 11pm. Last call is around 1:45am.
• Sunday is the LA day-drinking day: Eagle LA in the afternoon, Precinct drag brunch, Kiso's Sunday Funday, then Vaquero Night at Tempo.
• Monday: Exposure drag at The Offbeat.
• Pride season: LA Black Pride falls on Memorial Day weekend (late May 2027). WeHo Pride and OUTLOUD come in early June and LA Pride on Hollywood Boulevard in mid-June. Dates for 2027 are not announced yet. Outfest runs in late July, and DTLA Proud takes over downtown in late August. Every bar on this page runs special parties on those weekends, with covers to match.

Getting around at night

Distance is the main thing to plan for. Silver Lake to DTLA is about 15 to 20 minutes by car late at night, Silver Lake to WeHo 20 to 30, and the Valley 30 or more. Rideshare is the default. Surge pricing hits right after 2am, so request a few minutes before last call or walk a block off the main road. Metro helps in a few places. The B Line connects downtown (Pershing Square for Precinct, Kiso and the New Jalisco), Hollywood and North Hollywood (Bullet, Cobra), and the E Line runs along 1st Street in Boyle Heights (Redz Angelz). Late-night trains are less frequent, so check the last train before you rely on it. If you drive, don't leave anything visible in the car. Smash-and-grab break-ins are common in Silver Lake, Echo Park and downtown.

Apps and listings

Grindr and Scruff are the busiest apps across LA, and Sniffies is used heavily for hookups. Lex is the go-to for queer women, trans and non-binary people, and Feeld and Hinge cover the rest. For what is on tonight, Instagram is more reliable than websites for almost every bar here, especially the Latino clubs and promoter nights. If you are meeting someone from an app, meet first in a bar such as Akbar or Hi Tops, not at a private address.

The law and local climate

Same-sex sexual activity has been legal nationwide since Lawrence v. Texas (2003) and same-sex marriage since Obergefell v. Hodges (2015). Under Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), federal law bars employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Protections vary by state, and some states have passed laws targeting transgender people and drag performances. Coastal, urban California is among the most progressive parts of the country, and drag, PDA and queer nightlife are part of ordinary life in Los Angeles. In 2025 and 2026, federal immigration enforcement in LA hit Latino neighbourhoods hard, and Latino gay bars have felt it at the door. Your support matters, and so does discretion with photos.

Health

The Los Angeles LGBT Center offers free or low-cost PrEP and STI testing at several sites, including Hollywood. Most visits are by appointment, but walk-ins are sometimes possible. Many CVS and Walgreens branches are open 24 hours. In an emergency call 911.

Safety and etiquette

• Bring government photo ID every night. Foreign visitors should carry a passport, because some doors won't accept other foreign ID.
• Carry cash for Eagle LA, Plaza, the New Jalisco and most Latino clubs. Card works almost everywhere else.
• Watch your drink and don't accept open drinks from strangers. Drink spiking is reported in LA as in every big nightlife city.
• Downtown and Westlake streets empty out after midnight. Wait for your car inside the bar.
• Many Eastside bars and Latino clubs don't want photos of other customers. Ask first, or shoot only your own group.
• Tip bartenders $1-2 a drink and tip drag performers in cash. Shows are often paid largely in tips.

Nearby alternatives

West Hollywood is the obvious next stop, with the biggest strip of gay bars in the region. Pasadena has The Boulevard (3199 E Foothill Blvd), a gay bar for nearly 40 years with karaoke and a Friday drag show. Long Beach has its own bar scene along Broadway, about 40 minutes south, and Montebello has Club Chico. For the rest of the city's queer life, see our Los Angeles gay guide, the saunas, the cruising page and the gay cruising map. Places to stay are on the Los Angeles hotels page.

Keep this page honest

LA bars change fast. A new owner, a lost lease or a single promoter leaving can turn a gay bar into a straight one in a month. We last checked every bar on this page in November 2026. If a bar has closed, changed its nights, started charging a cover or stopped being queer, use the report button on that venue's page and tell us what changed, ideally with a link or a photo of the door. If we missed a gay bar in Los Angeles, send it in the same way. We add places once we can confirm them from a 2025-2026 source.