12 Gay Bars in West Village
Julius’ Bar - Scene from The Boys in The Band (2020)
The West Village is historically known as the birthplace of new avant-garde movements, whether political, artistic, or cultural. It was once the core of the bohemian lifestyle in the United States, and it’s the epicenter of the LGBTQ+ life in New York City. The neighborhood, geographically located in the western section of Greenwich Village, is packed with gay-friendly bars and historical LGBTQ+ landmarks that you should visit - including The Stonewall Inn, Julius’, and Cubbyhole.
We listed all the 12 gay bars and clubs you will find in the West Village, NY: The Stonewall Inn, The Duplex, Pieces Bar, Playhouse NYC, Cubbyhole, Henrietta Hudson, Monster Bar, Hangar Bar, Rockbar, Julius’, Ty’s, and Marie’s Crisis Cafe - you will find more information about each one of them below on this post.
What to expect from gay bars in West Village?
Every bar has a different crowd, but they are all super friendly and welcoming to all tribes in general. Most bars do not charge a cover fee, the drinks are usually not expensive compared to other Manhattan bars, and there’s always a great song playing for those looking for a good time.
What is the best gay bar to hang out in West Village?
That’s a hard question! Julius’ and The Stonewall Inn are historical bars that everyone should visit at least once. Cubbyhole and Henrietta Hudson are two of the only three lesbian bars in New York, and they have great energy. Playhouse NYC is a new venue for drag queen performances and fun parties, like Pieces Bar. Ty’s, Hangar, and Rockbar are recommended for those looking to explore their fetishes and kinks. Marie’s Crisis Cafe and The Duplex are perfect for musical-theater fans. You choose your warrior! We personally love The Duplex and Playhouse!
Gay Pub Crawl in West Village
It’s very rare to find someone who went to West Village for a fun night and decided to stay in only one bar. This is because they are all so close to each other that you can easily start your night in one place and finish in a different one. To help you with that, we created a map with all LGBTQ+ bars in West Village. You can click here to save it on your phone!
How to get to West Village?
The neighborhood is easily accessible by train. The nearest Subway lines are 1, A, C, E. If you exit on the Christopher Street Station (1, or 2 late-night), you will be right in the middle of five bars in our list - The Duplex, The Stonewall Inn, Marie’s Crisis Cafe, Playhouse NYC and The Monster.
Fun Fact: Although it’s located in a historical queer neighborhood, Gay Street in West Village does not reference the LGBTQ+ community. The name came from R. Gay, who lived in the area back in 1775. Should we say it was destiny?
West Village Gay Bars Information:
To avoid creating an endless page and getting you exhausted, we gathered only the main information of each bar. If you want to know more about their history, vibe, dress code, and watch videos so you can have an idea of where you’re going, please click on their names and you will find everything you need!
The Stonewall Inn
Location: 53 Christopher Street, New York, New York
Get Directions
Opening Hours: Monday thru Friday 2PM-4AM, Saturday & Sunday 1PM-4AM
Website | Instagram
Phone number: +1 (212) 488 2705
Menu Price: $$
When you enter The Stonewall Inn, you will find a traditional dive bar on the ground floor, with high-top tables, a service bar, and a pool table. On certain nights, you might find an improvised tiny stage in the middle of the floor where drag queens and comedians do their thing. Their parties happen on the second floor, where there's a bigger stage for live performances during the week and a lounge area.
Overall, the atmosphere is always fun and welcoming. Like most gay bars in West Village, this establishment has a mixed crowd with tourists and locals from different tribes. The Stonewall Inn is considered the location where the Gay Rights Movement began. Read more about The Stonewall's history!
The Duplex
Location: 61 Christopher St, New York, NY
Get Directions
Opening Hours: Monday thru Friday 4PM-4AM, Saturday & Sunday 3PM-4AM
Website | Instagram
Phone number: (212) 255-5438
Menu Price: $$
The Duplex features three different areas for your entertainment. First, you will find a piano bar on the ground and primary level where the magic happens. Every day, after 9 PM, there's a Broadway musician on the piano entertaining the crowd. It's fun, it's campy, it's New York! The servers often give us incredible performances, and you're welcome to request any song you'd like to hear - or sing if you are brave enough. Upstairs you will find a lounge and a hidden cabaret theatre, where they host comedy shows and live performances.
It's impossible to not be infected by the sing-along crowd! The energy is just incredible! However, the bar gets really crowded after 9 PM, so try to get there a little earlier and save a table.
The Duplex opened in 1951 in its original location across the street (55 Grove Street) and moved to its current location in the '80s. The establishment is known as New York City's longest-running Cabaret and popular piano bar. Click here to read more about The Duplex!
Playhouse NYC
Location: 100A 7th Ave S, New York
Get Directions
Opening Hours: 2PM-3AM
Website | Instagram
Phone number: (212) 427-2567
Menu Price: $$
The youngest nightclub in the West Village features a basement-level space with a full-service bar, a stage for drag queen performances, and a generous dance floor. It's the perfect place for a dance night with friends and to watch incredible drag performances! Playhouse doesn't try to reinvent the wheel, and that's great. It has everything you expect from a gay bar, including shirtless bartenders.
The Playhouse NYC was opened in 2020 by Eric Einstein and Justin Buchanan, the same owners of Pieces on Christopher Street and Hardware in Hell's Kitchen. The bar is located where once was the historical Actors Playhouse Theater- the owners decided to keep the name to celebrate the building's history. Click here to read more!
Pieces Bar
Location: 8 Christopher St, New York
Get Directions
Opening Hours: 2PM-4AM
Website | Instagram
Phone number: (212) 929-9291
Menu Price: $$
Karaoke: Tuesday Night
Pieces Bar is a classic New York City gay dive bar, providing cheap drinks, kitschy decoration, karaoke nights, drag queen shows, drinking game nights, and everything else that sounds gay and fun. This is one of the oldest gay bars in New York City, and it's owned by Eric Einstein and Justin Buchanan, who are also in charge of Hardware in Hell's Kitchen and the Playhouse NYC in Greenwich Village.
The bar was opened in 1993 and has been established as one of the best gay venues in Manhattan. Many famous drag queens started their careers at Pieces thanks to their Drag Wars competition, which happens every Monday at 10PM. Read More!
Monster Bar NYC
Location: 80 Grove St, New York
Get Directions
Opening Hours: Monday thru Friday 4PM-4AM, Saturday & Sunday 3PM-4AM
Website | Instagram
Phone number: (212) 924-3558
Menu Price: $$
It definitely has an older crowd than its neighbors - The Duplex and Stonewall Inn. One could say it's an excellent spot for daddies! There's a service bar on one side and a lounge area on the other on the ground floor. The parties happen on the basement level, with drag queen shows and different theme nights.
The Monster Bar, owned by Charlie Rice, has been around since 1981. The bar is named after a carved wooden sea serpent from a Coney Island carousel. The original Monster bar was opened in 1971 in Fire Island, and the owners also managed a different location in Key West, Florida, in the 80s. Read More!
Marie's Crisis Café
Location: 59 Grove St, New York
Get Directions
Opening Hours: 4PM-4AM
Website | Facebook Group
Phone number: 646) 470-6040
Menu Price: $ - Cash Only
This is a basement piano bar with a kitschy atmosphere and cheap drinks. The crowd is mainly musical-theater hardcore fans. They know every song ever performed on Broadway, and they are there to prove it. It's definitely an NYC classic, and everyone should go at least once. Maybe you fall in love with this place, or perhaps you will get annoyed by the singing. In the past, they got awful reviews because of a rude server. Well, rude servers are part of New York's charm.
The building dates back to 1839 when it first opened as a boarding house, and then it became a brothel in the 1850s and a "boy bar" (how they used to call a gay bar at the time) in the 1890s. Finally, in 1929, the French Marie DuMont bought the building and transformed it into a restaurant/speakeasy, Marie's Cafe. Read More!
Ty's
Location: 114 Christopher St, New York
Get Directions
Opening Hours: 2PM-2AM, Friday and Saturday 2PM-4AM
Website | Instagram
Phone number (212) 741-9641
Menu Price: $
They are known as one of the most-friendly gay bars in town, including bartenders and patrons. If you have an attitude, you will be better off somewhere in Hell's Kitchen. Ty's welcomes mature men and bears.
For years, Ty's have been a meeting point for men into leather. Nowadays, the leather crowd is slowly fading away, but the bar still welcomes men with any fetish. Read More!
Hangar Bar
Location: 115 Christopher St #1, New York
Get Directions
Opening Hours: 5PM-12AM, Friday and Saturday 5PM-2AM
Facebook Page
Menu Price: $
We're going to be honest here. This is a bar for those who want to cruise and make new friends. The drinks are cheap in cost and quality. The staff is famously rude. The patrons, however, are very friendly. And the bathrooms are always busy if you know what we are trying to say here. The crowd is very mixed, and you notice a lot of mature men hanging out there. Read More!
Julius'
Location: 159 W 10th St, New York
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Opening Hours: Monday thru Thursday 4PM-2AM, Friday 4PM-4AM, Saturday 12PM-4AM, Sunday 12PM-2AM
Website | Instagram
Phone number: (212) 243-1928
Menu Price: $$
A tavern bar with friendly staff and secretly one of the best cheeseburgers in New York City. If you don't believe me, check their reviews on Google! Julius' is the oldest gay bar in New York, a lot of history happened there, and you can see some fantastic pictures on the walls. The crowd has a wide age range, and the place attracts many tourists. You should definitely go there with your friends if you're in town and wants to celebrate gay history.
The National Park Service approved Julius' nomination to the National Register of Historic Places in April 2016. The bar has also been on the New York State Register of Historic Places since December 2015. Click here to read more about Julius’ history!
Cubbyhole
Location: 281 W 12th St, New York
Get Directions
Opening Hours: Monday thru Friday 4PM-4AM, Saturday and Sunday 2PM-4AM
Website | Instagram
Phone number: (212) 243-9041
Menu Price: $ - Cash Only
Cubbyhole's vibe is as friendly as your best friend's hug. Everybody is there minding their own business and having fun. The space is filled with eclectic decorations and ornaments hanging from the ceiling. There's a jukebox with a vast selection of music, and drinks are reasonably priced.
Considered the oldest Lesbian bar in New York City, Cubbyhole opened in 1987 under DT's Fat Cat. In 1994, the owners Tanya Saunders and Debbie Fierro bought the name Cubbyhole from Elaine Romagnoli, who had recently closed her bar with the same name. Read More!
Rockbar
Location: 185 Christopher St, New York
Get Directions
Opening Hours: Monday thru Thursday 5PM-2AM, Friday 4PM-4AM, Saturday 2PM-4AM, and Sunday 2PM-2AM
Website | Instagram
Phone number: (212) 675-1864
Menu Price: $
Karaoke Night: Wednesday
Rockbar is mainly known as a bear bar in New York City but welcoming to everyone. They have "the cheapest drinks you will find" in Manhattan, and their staff is amicable.
"We love our bears, geeks, queens, leather men, jocks, ladies, gentlemen, and people who have no time for any of those labels. We love making new friends every night and hope you come to play with us!" says Rockbar's website.
Rockbar is always promoting different theme parties and drag shows, so keep an eye on their Instagram page. Things can get really intense. Read More!
Henrietta Hudson
Location: 438 Hudson St, New York
Get Directions
Opening Hours: Monday and Tuesday - Closed, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday 6PM-2AM, Friday and Saturday 6PM-4AM.
Website | Instagram
Phone number: 212) 924-3347
Menu Price: $$
Karaoke night: Wednesday
This is one of the three lesbian bars in New York City - even though they recently stopped promoting it as a lesbian bar, but as a "queer human bar built by lesbians" instead. They play good songs, serve decent cocktails and promote energetic dance parties. If you're going on a Holiday, expect it to be packed.
The bar is located where Elaine Romagnoli operated the first Cubby Hole bar in the 1980s. Romagnoli closed the Cubby Hole in 1990, selling her brand to DT's Fat Cat's owners, who then proceeded to rename their bar to Cubbyhole.
Lisa Cannistraci, who bartended for Romagnoli's Cubby Hole, along with Minnie Rivera, took the spot and opened Henrietta Hudson. The establishment is New York City's longest-operating lesbian bar. Read More!
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