It was 4AM and Marty just got kicked out of the Oxford Art Factory – I asked some trannies on Oxford St what was good at this time. Arq was the definite place to go at this time. Sure thing, here we go!
Ground Level Arq Sydney
Twinkland @ Arq Sydney
Assessment Time: 4:25AM – 6:55AM
Opening Hours: 9PM – Late (apparently until midday next day?)
Lockout: None so far as I am aware of.
Address: 16 Flinders St, Taylor Square (off Oxford St)
Venue Website: http://www.arqsydney.com.au
Promoter Website: Appears to be self promoted by the venue .
Occurrence: Most Fridays. Exceptions are special events such as Fomo, the massive Foam Party regularly held here.
Outside Line: There were just 2 people in front of us when we approached. We quickly got in without any trouble, though the security was pretty strict on not letting drunk people inside. He just stares at you while he asks the standard sobrierity question “How are you tonight?”. Bloody scary.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Anything goes here. Most of the guys dancing have taken off their shirts to set the standard – don’t expect any less in a gay club.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free all night. Free entry policy was introduced in May earlier in 2011.
Guestlist: N/A
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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: 
Video: 360 of the top level 
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Are they real?
Today I am avoiding RnB – and I have never been to Club 77, so lets check it out – Here we go!
The Party @ Club 77
Assessment Time: Part I: 10:30-11:00PM, Part II: 02:15-02:30AM
Opening Hours:10:30-4:00am
Website: http://www.myspace.com/club_77, http://www.myspace.com/mrparty
Address:77 Bayswater Road, Kings Cross, Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual is the norm here.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: I haggled the guy to $5 each, under very suspicious circumstances.
Guestlist: None
Inside: The entrance to Club 77 is a typical black wooden door, with the party smoke gashing out of it. The Club itself is underground, so you got to walk down the smokey stairs to enter the area licensed to hold 280 people. Bar is on the left, DJ at the front, and a handful of lounges at the corners, where it is very dark.
Cloak Room: None
Bar: $3 for a lemonade as far as I can recall
DJs: Who knows, and more importantly, who cares?
Music: I can’t put my finger on the crap that the DJ was playing. It wasn’t quite house, and it wasn’t quite retro and it wasn’t quite pop. It made me feel uncomfortable. You would try to dance to it, but the music was such that you couldn’t go hard at it – you were forced to relax to the thumping noise. Imagine being at a gay bar and hearing this kind of music…
Crowd: Part I: Entirely Asian. Yes, can you believe it? Easy to explain – It was just me and M for the first 30 minutes. Part II, it was more mixed now – half asian, and the other half were two caucasian guys. No females at all.
Entertainment: None
Atmosphere: Dead, dark and shit. I would rather go have my fingernails pulled out to get my adrenalin rush than to be here.
Walkthrough Video of Club 77
Read on about the travesty that is Club 77 – porno, cockroaches and more.
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Sugar Mill Bar – 12th June 2009
Out with backpacker friends. We were in the cross this time, and the hunt was on for a place with free entry.. I had no idea of any free entry places, and we stumbled along The Sugar Mill..
The Sugar Mill
Address: 33-37 Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross (beneath Kit and Kaboodle)
Website: www.sugarmill.com.au
Closing time: 4am
Inside: A medium sized bar with a small dance floor area to hold about 20 people. DJ included. Retro wallpapers and old school furnishings.
Drinks: After midnight, $4.50 schooners. Very fairly priced.
Crowd: Mostly older, 20s crowd
Music: Mix of pop, house, rnb. No complaints – the DJ kept the crowd going.
Cover Charge/Entry Fee: Free entry all night.
Dress Code: As per a normal bar. Casual, and hats allowed.
Atmosphere: We got in around 11.30, and it was pretty dead on the small floor. Just two girls dancing. Everyone was drinking. Our little group found a place near the front nearby and started to drink. About midnight, it started to pick up more, and people were all in a dancing mood now!
Sugarmill - The small dance floor
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