Johnny Mac's Tap Room

Johnny Mac's Tap Room occupies the neighbourhood bar niche in Asbury Park's gay social landscape — the place you go when you want a drink and a conversation rather than a dance floor or a drag performance. The Cookman Avenue location puts it in the heart of the city's gay commercial corridor, within easy walking distance of the boardwalk and the other bars that make up the summer nightlife circuit. The tap room format — good beer selection, comfortable seating, lower volume than a nightclub — suits the rhythm of Asbury Park's summer days, when the beach and boardwalk are the primary daytime activities and the bar scene begins earlier and runs more casually than in a city proper. The crowd is local-skewing: residents and regular summer visitors who know the city well and prefer a comfortable neighbourhood bar to the more event-oriented atmosphere of the larger venues. For visitors who want to experience Asbury Park's gay community at its most relaxed and sociable, Johnny Mac's is the appropriate complement to a night that might also include Paradise or a cocktail at The Asbury.