As someone who tried to stay happily in Las Vegas for a few days, I wanted nothing more than to escape the searing heat that is worse than Fresno. San Diego offered a refuge, with temperatures normally peaking at 80 degrees. I’ve been to San Diego before, but I wasn’t yet 21+, so there was simply no way to reliably check out San Diego’s gay district. Now that I was able to this time around, here’s my thoughts of some of the places I’ve been to.
Flicks
Flicks is a video gay bar and club in the gay district, much like the Splash in Fresno and San Jose. But unlike Splash and almost any other club, there is no cover. Both my visits were during relatively busy times, and it seems reviews of the place also haven’t experienced cover either. There’s no drink specials I’m aware of, but the lack of cover may just make up for that. There’s also some vendors distributing some cheap jello shots if you want a quick and delicious dose of ethanol.
Gossip Grill
Gossip Grill is a lesbian themed bar and club, but all is welcome of course. To me, it is a bit pricey on the drinks, but there’s a lovely happy hour to take advantage of. With that in mind, you can easily grab select drinks for $5 or under, as buying a drink in a specific category gets you a free drink for that category (Domestic, foreign, and cocktail). The bartender at the time was helpful in explaining this 3 category system and what drinks count (or don’t) for happy hour if you don’t understand their system at first. The food was delicious as well.
The Hole (A no-go for me)
I had a not so great experience despite hearing about the place’s great reviews. The Hole isn’t in SD’s gay district, but is kind of in the middle from the gay district to Black’s Beach. My issue was that the place does not advertise their prices nor display any signage of an happy hour. Their site was down so I could not know if they even had a happy hour (they do, apparently), though I probably should of WayBackMachined their site. Drinks are served only in the format of a pitcher, and are nearly $20 (no wonder they don’t show the prices). There’s a food vendor as well, which would be needed as the pitchers are equal to about 2-3 drinks. It was indeed a hole for my wallet.
Black’s Beach
As the name suggests, this isn’t a bar but a beach. Black’s Beach is a clothing optional beach, a longer way of saying a nude beach. Nakes (surfer slang for naked people I reckon) tend to hang out at a specific portion of the beach. It is a relatively calm and safe environment. It has great views for the sunset, be it on the beach or the cliff. Cliff? To get down to the beach, one must take trails, with the easiest having a descent of 170 feet and 0.6 miles long. Then you go back up the same way. There’s even more challenging trails as well. Overall, this nude beach is not for the faint of heart.
