The plan was to go to Bounce @ Slide Bar tonight, but we kind of rocked up at 1:30am.. and by that time, it wasn’t really worth visiting for one hour before the place would start to die, so we walked further down the street. The girls see a Gay Bar.. excitement ensues among them, and I embrace myself as reluctantly we agree to go in. The venue: Stonewall Hotel. I’ve been here once before, before this website was started – basically an Indian dude tongued my ear within my first minute entering, I bumped into one of my primary school friends who ended up gay, and then I had a big black dude try to intro me to other guys, while I was at the time, too scared to tell him I was straight after he had a crack at me as well. Besides these incidents, it was otherwise a fun time. I am older and wiser now, so here we go!

Fridays @ Stonewall Hotel, Oxford St, Sydney
Assessment Time: 01:30AM – 02:30AM
Opening Hours: 09:00PM – 04:00AM
Lockout: 02:00AM
Address: 175 Oxford St (Next to Live / Havana), Darlinghurst Sydney.
Venue Website: http://www.stonewallhotel.com
Promoter Website: Self Promoted
Occurrence: Every Friday and Saturday.
Outside Line: There was no line as we appeared.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Anything goes here. Singlets allowed, drag of course as well.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Appears to be $5 all night. When I was here a few years ago, it was free entry, but $5 is still ridiculously cheap. It’s not even the price of a drink.
Guestlist: No guestlist applicable
Inside: Stonewall is pretty much the largest gay friendly club in Sydney AFAIK. 3 Levels – Bottom level consisting of a seated table and stool area for 30-40 people. A Bar in the centre area, with a permanent stage/podium to hold 10 people or so. Further in is more standing room but it’s very limited here. Head to the middle level where it is more of a lounge area. Lounges everywhere and no much of a dance area at all here. Bar to service this level to hold about 60-100 people comfortably. Top level is the proper dancefloor area where there are smoke machines, lights, podiums along the wall and a DJ booth in the far corner. The main room would hold 50-100 people for dancing, with a smaller back room holding lounges and a bar with standing room for 30 or so patrons.
Cloak Room: $3 an item. Great.
Bar Prices / Line: I didn’t drink tonight. However there was always a spot at the bar for you to be served.
DJs: Unknown
Music Style: Tonight I was only at the top level. Gay anthems were primarily being played, with various pop songs from Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue, and the occasional house/trance song as well thrown in. An eclectic mix to say the least. Most songs were played in their entirely with little mixing done.
Crowd / Ratio: Mostly local gay men of caucasian background. There are some girls, and it would be a safe bet that most if not all the girls here were straight, just to keep away from the sleazy straight clubs.
Entertainment: No extra entertainment
Atmosphere: I don’t know if my memory served me wrong, but tonight the vibe wasn’t that good. Bottom level wasn’t too busy, middle level was completely dead, and the top level was starting to die – we easily found room on the dancefloor in front of the DJ and we didn’t have to make room for other people to pass by us. Very dark upstairs as well – it’s definitely a club atmosphere here.
Video: Walkthrough the middle and top levels – its very dark and fast so don’t expect to see much:
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Video: 360 of the top level
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I set expectations too high
I was pretty underwhelmed to be honest – I thought there would be a few more people in the club tonight, but it was not to be. Very short to no lines at the bar and open space on the floor. Things have changed. Also seemingly more straight people here. I mean, there were some gay guys for sure dancing up on the podium provocatively, and I got a few ass grabs which was fair.

She found someone
Well most of the time up here we just danced around various spots around the club. There was a girl all alone, walking around. One of my friends knew her and said hello. Then she went off to wander around. About 5 minutes later we decided go downstairs, and we saw her making out with some random dude. Yup.. two randoms meeting up and making out in a gay club. What are the chances.

Arrivederci
So buggered, we all left after only an hour. The place was dying quickly anyway. 

Recommendation
Well its a nice place to go. Seems to cater for straight and the gay crowds, and everyone seems friendly. Also there is room to keep to yourself if you wanted to, unlike some of the other bars where you would be forced to interact with others. Could do with a few more people though. Was it the cover charge? The other gay bars appeared to have free entry and were more busy..  but I don’t know. If you decide to do spend a night here, come earlier to make the most of it.

Fridays @ Stonewall Hotel – 4.5/10

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2 Responses to Fridays @ Stonewall Hotel: 19th November 2010

  1. David says:

    Next time if you wanted to go to a gay club. I advise you to go to ‘Nevermind.’ Apparently is the ‘hottest’ gay club in town atm. It would be cool if you checked it out and reviewed it ! =D

    • James says:

      Thanks David, will do. I went years ago before the Nevermind renovation (Mylk?), but back then it was a straight club as well, so it would be interesting to see how it is now.

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