Gay bars riverside
Looking to meet other queer folk in the Inland Empire? The following page lists some of the activities and gatherings we understand of that transpire on a regular basis. We are not affiliated with any of these groups or activities – they are all organized by other community members – but we know it's vital to be qualified to find your tribe and list them here for your information. If you have a regular LGBTQ+ specific activity or team that you'd enjoy to be added to this page – please click the Contact Us link above.
You can click the links to find out more information. Any questions should be directed to the organizers on their respective pages.
Sports & Fitness
Sporting teams, groups, leagues that join regularly:
A queer running club in Riverside that caters to LGBTQIA2S+ communities in Inland Empire. All runners & walkers of any abilities & levels are welcome! Instagram | Website
New LGBTQ+ society group in Riverside, CA for those who are interested in outdoor activities like kickball.
Instagram | Meetup
**ON HIATUS** Unite US AT IE Flows (Below) on Fridays.
Here for the community 🤝🏼
Join us every other Sunday @ 5pm @Fairmount Park, Riversid
Barfly West '73: D. L. M.; Bob Damron '80-82: (D) (some Orientals); Bob Damron '84: (Disco) (D) * (Some Latins)
Ken’s River Club, on Riverside in Silver Lake, was the gay spot common by Latinos and Asians during the 1970s. Pervasive racism in West Hollywood boosted bars in Hollywood and Silver Lake that catered to gay people of color, including the Study at Western and Sunset, and Mugi’s on Hollywood Boulevard.
"Closeted Chicano males, even those who 'passed,' in barrio gangs felt constrained to seek refuge in the 1970's in gay bars that were at least a few miles away from house, such as Ken's River Club."
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ONE Archives
A People’s History of the Inland Empire Digital Archive
Phillip Bailey has been a long time flamboyant organizer and celebrity in Riverside since moving to the city in 1996. He discusses his prolonged involvement in Riverside’s flamboyant community and its beginnings in Riverside’s Menagerie and V.I.P. gay bars during the late 1980s and 1990s. Bailey details the activism role of the Riverside drag community during the AIDS epidemic, during which drag performers held fundraiser events for the Inland AIDS Project. He discusses how the Homosexual community’s organized after the murder of Jeffrey Owens in which a “We Will Not Be Silent” march took place in the city and the Jeffrey Owens Community Center was founded. He talks about Riverside drag events that he has organized, including the annual Throwdown Drag Down Drag Race, his Fant-A-Shes productions commencement in 1997, and various drag shows at the V.I.P. and Menagerie bars over the years. Bailey also discusses key factors to drag history in the Inland Empire, including the famous Halston performative family, the impact of Ru
Gay clubs in Jacksonville history
The former Club Jacksonville gay bathhouse at 1939 Hendricks Avenue in San Marco, now the offices of Group 4 Design.
Jacksonville has been home to bars, clubs and other venues catering to the LGBTQ community since at least the 1950s. At a moment when being out came with huge social stigma and often personal danger, these spaces served as safe havens for LGBTQ Jaxsons to meet, find a date or simply be themselves in public. While online internet dating and broadening acceptance of LGBTQ people in the wider group has led to a decline in the number of lgbtq+ bars and nightclubs, their role in Jacksonville’s LGBTQ history can’t be overstated.
By 1960, Jacksonville was home to at least three gay bars. In 1964, Roverta “Bo” Boen opened what became Duval County’s longest running homosexual bar, Bo’s Coral Reef. Originally located on Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville Beach, Boen later moved it to Philips Highway. In 1980, Bo’s returned to Jacksonville Beach in a building on 2nd Street. For nearly 40 years, it was a favorite hangout for LGBTQ people from across the First Coast and a popular spot in the Jax Beaches bar scene. Bo’s Coral Reef survived Boen’s death in 20