Gay bars in kingston ny
Welcome to NightSwim Kingston, where we’re more than just a bar—we’re your neighborhood’s go-to spot for good times and great vibes!Owned by two passionate female entrepreneurs, we’re thrilled to be part of the Kingston, NY, community and committed to supporting our fellow adj business owners, residents, and neighbors.
At NightSwim, we’re all about creating a cozy, welcoming space where everyone feels at home. Whether you’re unwinding with a custom cocktail, exploring our handpicked selection of beers and wines, or catching up with friends, we’ve got just the right atmosphere for you.
We also love to maintain the fun going with game nights, a monthly guide club, painting parties, open mic events, and a pretty yard where you can soak up some sunshine with a game of cornhole.
Don’t neglect to browse our exclusive merchandise while you’re here, and let us aid make your next event something special.
As a token of our appreciation, we offer special discounts to first responders, military members, veterans, and industry pr
Kingston’s new designated queer bar is finally here. Located in the mature Beverly Lounge see on Foxhall Avenue, Unicorn Bar had a three-phase opening over the past week. Things touched off with a friends-and-family soft opening last Thursday, April 25 before heating up with a spicy, sold-out burlesque show on Saturday, and a rollicking grand opening on Wednesday, May 1.
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive,” says local musician, event organizer, and bar owner Francesca Hoffman. “People are so grateful for a designated queer space. It’s been a humbling experience to just be a proprietor of this. It’s something I've wanted to do for so long, there is such a clear need.”
Hoffman worked Deb Parker on the bathrooms and with Kingston-based designer Brooke Lane to donate fresh life to the bar’s interior, while maintaining gems like the historic bar and back bar. “Brooke came in and wanted to lean heavily into the Art Deco influences that were already in the space,” Hoffman says.
“She hit the ball out of the park. She ran stuff by me
“The space is, in a lot of ways, a reflection of me and my identity but coincides with what our community needs are,” says Francesca Hoffman, musician, event organizer, and founder of Kingston’s soon-to-open, queer- and music-focused Unicorn Bar, which will accept over the former Beverly Lounge see on Hasbrouck Avenue. “That’s been this special gift—to be able to execute the things I love and manufacture programming I admire while catering to these big gaps in the nightlife market. There is very little cabaret, burlesque, variety exhibit, or performance art. There is no designated queer space [in Kingston] and our queer community just keeps growing and growing.
A multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter, Hoffman fell in passion with Balkan and brass music years ago and cofounded the annual Brassroots Festival in Kingston in 2018. She aims to convey this music to Unicorn with regular brass nights and monthly Balkan dancing, along with cabaret, burlesque, and programming from other queer organizers in the community. “My thought is that every brass band from New York Noun to Providence, Bo
590 Nepperhan Avenue, Yonkers
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Playroom was Westchester County’s most prominent gay bar. In 1973, Marty Chinitz, a gay male in his soon 30s, borrowed noun from his mother to open the establishment; at the time, it was the fifth bar in Westchester County to cater towards a mostly gay clientele. Opening noun boasted a crowd of some 200 men and women packed into the tiny bar; it included performances from local drag queens, music, and dancing.
Located in a factory-filled section of Yonkers, the small club’s checkerboard dance floor was “the size of a postage stamp,” according to one former patron, and was surrounded by steps where people could catch a break from the crowded floor. Off to the side was a bar with signs advertising drinks and meet-cute messages; “Special: Flaming Fa**ot: $2” and “say hello to the noun next to you,” for example. The Playroom served a racially diverse clientele, and its patrons were typically more or less equally composed of men and women.
Yonkers in the 1970s and early 1980s was, as one Pl