This being San Francisco, we have a lot of gay bars — and clubs where go-go boys dance in tiny underwear, and drag shows that straight women like to go to, etc. Increasingly, gay bars have become a place that straight people accompany their gay friends to, and there are plenty of gay-owned establishments in and around the Castro (Blackbird, Qbar, Lime to name a few) that play host to a consistently mixed crowd of lesbigay and straight clientele. So, today, some important words of advice for both male and female heterosexuals who find themselves in gay bars, either by accident or on purpose. more ›

Here's an unwelcome bit of news out of the Castro gay-bar scene: There have been a string of incidents recently involving gay men getting rufied, led back woozily to their homes by crooks posing as potential tricks, and then robbed of their belongings. In one instance, a victim was assaulted after he had been vomiting in his bathroom, and when the thief demanded his computer password, the victim fled to a neighbor's home for help. more ›

Possibly as a small thank you to the gay community who helped give her a leg up in '08 while she was still touring around in semi-obscurity, Lady Gaga allegedly dropped in on venerable gay oldster bar Twin Peaks last night to perform a couple of songs, in advance of her sold-out two-night engagement at Bill Graham Auditorium starting tonight. We're not sure why the lady, or her handlers, chose Twin Peaks -- and we're fairly certain that much of the clientele was confused as to who this strange young lady was with the long bangs and kooky fashion sense, and why was she interrupting their martini time? Any confirmation and/or photos of this appearance in the Castro would be much appreciated. more ›

As many San Franciscans know, getting food after midnight in this town is no easy feat. We still have our share of late-night diners though, like the Grub Steak, Sparky's, Lori's and Mel's. Only one made the cut in Playboy magazine's A-list of the Top 10 Late-Night Diners in the country that "truly embody the late-night experience," and that's Orphan Andy's on 17th Street in the Castro. more ›

The expanding War on Fun has taken another life, ladies and germs. Marke B. over at the SFBG reports that punk-politico drag queen Anna Conda has decided to call it quits on her weekly Friday party Charlie Horse at the Cinch after complaining Polk Street neighbors brought the bar before the Entertainment Commission. Rather than "take a break" and try to tone down the often raucous drag night (where it was likely the noisy smoking porch out back and the spillover out front that brought the complaints) Anna has decided to put a bullet in the head of this five-year-old party and pursue other ventures. more ›

SFist Jay sent us the scoop that Margaret Cho will be hanging with her pal, Monistat, at the EndUp's Chaser club tonight. There's no word on whether Cho will be MC'ing, performing, or simply dropping in. Tonight's theme at Chaser is "Hung," featuring an all-"male" revue. 9 p.m., $8 more ›

Here it is people: the Trauma episode we've been waiting for. On Monday night, the Halloween episode of the SF-based helicopter drama will be airing, and all the drag queens in town who responded to the drag queen casting call a couple months back will be watching the show at a viewing party hosted by Heklina at The Lookout (Noe & Market). We gather that Lady Bear had her own trailer and some actual lines, and maybe Heckles did too? The video above leaves a little to the imagination insofar as the drag queen/nightclub scene that was shot at Great American Music Hall, but hopefully that $3 million-per-episode budget is at least going to yield some good gay television. more ›

You may not be into leather or the BDSM scene, but if you live in San Francisco you've probably breezed through Folsom Street Fair once or twice. Call it what you will, but it is the largest event of its kind in the world, and the third largest single-day outdoor event in California -- behind SF Gay Pride and maybe Long Beach Pride? (We think these numbers are hard to nail down, but suffice it to say the gays like to party outdoors.) more ›

In a truly sad note this morning, Doug Murphy, co-owner of Moby Dick and, most recently, Blackbird, died Friday due to complications from the H1N1 virus, better known as swine flu. He was 41 years old, and was in Palm Springs at the time of his infection, and he had not been traveling abroad, according to business partner Shawn Vergara. more ›