gaypartyblog.com gay nightlife scene

The Winter Party was sooo much fun. We finally made it to Miami for the first time since the Madonna Concert and it’s fabulous Pawn Shop afterparty. The Under One Sun Pool Party from around noon to 6pm was held at the DoubleTree SurfComber Hotel at 1717 Collins in South Beach Miami. It could not have been a more beautiful day to hold a pool party. I think calling this a pool party is an understatement. It was a giant outdoor club taking over the entire back end of the hotel space. The straight people walking by outside near the beach walk were looking back there wishing they could be part of the endless sea of hotties.

It was similar to the gay days pool parties which I think cannot be beat. Typhoon Lagoon’s Beach Ball and the Gay Day Reunion Hotel have the best pool beach parties I have attended. But this one was great because it was right in the middle of South Beach. You could just walk out the gate to see the Atlantic Ocean. Maybe pick up a hot straight boy and bring him back inside for some drinks.

Under the Stars at Karu & Y Club in Downtown Miami was Saturday night. It was a nice venue with an amazing outside. The outside as you can see in the pic to the above left was like a jungle and beautiful. We spent most of the night outside just enjoying how nice it was. DJ Abel and Rosabel were spinning on the inside but the indoors was kind of long and low ceiling. No boxes to dance on.

The outside area had little cabana areas and hut-like bathrooms making it unique. Small man-made river streams and bridges just made this outdoor patio the best I have seen… Karu & Y club is located at 71 NW 14th Street.

Orbit was Sunday night at Cameo (pics below) 1445 Washington Avenue. I have not been there since Crowbar and it looked like they remodeled it some. It was a highly expensive $85 compared to the $45 on Saturday (normally the other way around). Orbit was unbelievably packed and had the greatness of Tony Moran spinning. There were many boxes to dance on, vip areas, lounges, many bars, and lots of bathrooms. I missed it last year and after this years fun I will definately be back again in 2009.

We were in South Florida again for the Winter Party events going on in Miami and decided to drop by the grand opening of the China White night on Friday. China White which recently closed down is now called Jet Set (109 S.W. 2nd Ave.). Not to be confused with the gay adult site called Jet Set Boys or the popular Jet Set Modeling Agency. Jet Set after all means a social group of wealthy people participating in things that ordinary people cannot participate in. Fabulous name for a nightclub.

Keep in mind this is a straight club on every night but Wednesday and Friday. But the gays definately dared the drunken straight streets of this downtown Ft. Lauderdale area to take over that night. Yes, and police everywhere like a terror zone. Make sure you do not get stuck behind a train trying to walk from your car to the club.

There was a performance from a singing diva, cabaret umbrella girls, and drag queens. It was a fun night with house music and top 40/hip hop, and I think I even heard Grease Lightning.

Here are some pics from the China White Friday Night in Ft. Lauderdale:

While we were partying on the opposite coast there must have been a Hurricane crashing ashore New Years Eve in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  The Copa nightclub has been closed down for a few years from hurricane damages but I felt the time bomb was ticking on Coliseum the last time I saw the building.  Although, Lauderdale residents had the Coliseum to party at on Friday nights even while they survived China White.  Florida nightlife changes around constantly but I would assume it was the bad sound system and repairs needed on the Coliseum building that lead it to close down this week.

Emails have been coming in about the closing of the Coliseum nightclub and what is next so we looked over their site and noticed they are promoting parties at two other clubs named Purgatory (formerly The Saint) and Steele.  Steele is already busy on Saturday nights but I guess they are moving the Coli crew over there to bring in a new club night called Flash.

The new party is named Nu on Friday nights to bring in College Night with the usual performers such as TP Lords and Mizz Cori.  The entire staff is moving over for Friday’s including promoters such as Gary Santis, 305BOYZ, DJ Miik, and the bartenders.  Purgatory is located at 1000 West State Road 84, being only a few blocks west of Coliseum.  It’s a big dance area and has three rooms or so of different music so it should be fun.

Will this be the hot, steamy college night in South Florida it once was we don’t know but it’s looks like it could compare.

But what happened to Coli?
Is it remodeling? Did it cash in on the real estate?

There is a new T Dance in the South Florida area.  This T Dance is located off of the Los Olas Riverwalk on the second floor over looking the area.  The Simple T is held every Sunday with free admission from 4p-6p and free drinks during that time as well.  We stopped by the event Sunday afternoon and it was not real busy (everyone said it was much busier last weekend) but they had fabulous music.  The Winter Music Festival in Miami and Gay Pride in West Palm could have diluted some of their business.  The DJ was great playing all of our gay anthem songs and they had great drinks and gorgeous toned bartenders.    If you go to this event make sure you pick up your Simple T card and register for their promotions where you can save at many businesses.

Every year you get many tourists visiting the Broward country area and the Southbeach area of Miami. You also get lots of people who are looking to move from New York, Ohio, Michigan, Chicago, and many other U.S. cities hoping for that dream place to live in exotic Ft Lauderdale or Miami. They normally turn to Miami and find out that scene is just to freaky and pleases the straight females more than it does the twinks who really have no where to go. There used to be a place called Coliseum which had the hottest college boys in Ft. Lauderdale every Friday night. There was never a Friday you did not see hundreds of super-hotties. Then came hurricane Wilma and the destruction of the Copa night club down the street from Coliseum where they would loose parking. From what used to be a small gay strip where you could walk drunk from Copa to Coliseum that is not part of the past.

Coliseum suffered from its sound system, lighting, and maybe some personnel changes which led it to a lesser hot spot over the past year. I remember the hottest days of Coliseum they had boxes setup in the middle of the dance floor with hotties grinding to the hottest house music a DJ could play. They opened up that hip hop room and that seems like its lead to so many problems including shootings. My opinion is that hip hop should be played to an extent at a gay bar/club and not in access of the diva gay house music.

The Daisy D show Friday night was noting impressive like I was used to seeing. She came out in some African garb I guess to cater to the bootie dancers. They had some man up there singing some club songs before the Daisy show. The vocals were not very good and he sang for way too long. The place cleared out pretty good after that. Daisy’s show was mostly about the Shake your booty contest which was the typical ghetto shaking that belongs in straight clubs. I am not sure if Paul Hugo still runs this place but I can’t believe he has let it run into such a ghetto place. I really felt like I was at a club in the south side of Oklahoma City instead of the hot club it used to be.

China white is where the majority of the 21 and up crowd are running to on Friday nights for Fag Fridays which is basically he same people you see there on Wednesday. China White has no cover and actually serves alcohol until 3am instead of the new Hollywood law that requires Coliseum to quit serving at 2am.

China white has the smallest dance floor I have ever seen in a club. I have seen bars with bigger dance floors. It is located in the middle of the straight breeding grounds of the Los Olas Riverwalk next door to Dennis Rodman’s Rehab and Voodoo Lounge. China White is just too light up and cheesy to be a gay bar. They would go from playing hip hop to Michael Jackson and no real good house music. The DJ was not the worst but in a cheesy den like China White you do not have too much choice in the music.

I hope that Paul Hugo develops something to get the Ft. Lauderdale gay scene back. Maybe even building a club in Wilton Manors near Rosey’s.

Here’s a few tips on China White: Make sure you walk across the train tracks and do not get stuck behind a train. Their will be one or two at least coming through. You will be waiting forever. Also, don’t expect big drinks. Their cups are so small they are like the kiddie drink cups you get at McDonalds.

The Ft. Lauderdale and Miami scenes have changed a lot in the last year just like most clubs in America have shifted to a new phase of music and atmosphere. Ft. Lauderdale ranked as one of the world’s best clubs with Coliseum nightclub until hurricane Wilma ripped the roof, sound system, nitrogen system, and even the sign is missing. The drag shows from Daisy Deadpetals and T.P. Lords are not as frequent and the crowd is thinning out to surprisingly worse clubs. We noticed on our last trip to Ft. Lauderdale that people are going hysterical over a club in the Riverwalk/Los Olas downtown district called China White. China White is nothing to get excited about. It reminds me of the cheesy clubs you find in the West End of Dallas, TX. China White started out capturing the Wednesday night crowd taking that away from the recently closed down Cathode Ray. China White then went on to capture the Friday night hottie crowd from Coliseum. The gay scene has been begging for a new club in ft Lauderdale for some time but I think a club in the Wilton Manors area or something to have replaced the hurricane battered Copa nightclub would have been better. This club is located in the area that is in the center of the straight hangouts and clubs leaving some gays to feel uncomfortable walking around. I think China White should have made Saturdays the gay night because there is no where to go on Saturdays if you are under the age of 35 or so and want to meet someone around your age. China White was two levels with good music and hot bartenders revealing little clothing. I recommend Coliseum on Fridays since its more of a real nightclub and features the 2am drag show from Daisy Deadpetals or T.P. Lords. If you go out on Wednesday then make China White your hangout that night. The crowd is hot that night.

Saturdays in Ft Lauderdale for gay kids features no clubs that are 18 and up. Coliseum recently started some 18+ Saturdays but those are very rare. There needs to be a way for the 18-21 crowd to know what nights they can go out. If you are under 21 your best is to drive 45 minutes or so to West Palm Beach and go to Kashmir nightclub located on Forest Lane.

If you are 21 and enjoy the circuit crowd then check out Steel nightclub located on 19^th and Powerline. Steel is located in a shopping center and features a video bar, dance club with boxes, good music, and an outside patio. The other Saturday night option is Coliseum where they book circuit dj’s every other weekend at least including Manny Lehman, Peter Rauhaufer, and more. You also get performances from T.P. Lords on Saturdays. China White is straight on Saturdays for now at least.

Saturdays in Miami are not at all what they used to be. I remember back when Salvation was open and Tuna Caserole paraded around the club. The straight clubbers always get the best clubs in SouthBeach and the gays are almost forced to do the straight club scene. Twist and score are the two gay clubs/bars in the Sobe strip. Twist is located on Washington where you have a circuity/jungle room, hip hop/r&b room, outside sports bar, and multi leveled places to shop for boys. All clubs in Miami and South Beach are 21 and up.

We took a cab ride from Twist to Ozone and that was a big mistake. We did not realize that Ozone was so far from the Sobe area. It was a $40 cab ride – do not make that mistake. It was not worth it either. The music was ok but was strange because they would play house music and never finishes a song then go to some retro and then reggaeton Latino music. The guys were mostly buff circuity crowd guys and it felt very strange when they busted out with retro music without any techno beat at all. Maybe this dj does not know how to remix or they were celebrating a retro night with the buff men. I did notice the lines to the bathroom got longer when the retro music came on.

Ozone was certainly far from everything in Miami and South Beach and I would not consider driving so far to party. Unless of course Madonna was expected to show up and I doubt she would stumble into this small of a venue. It was not nearly as large as I had expected and the drinks were outrageously priced.

Updated: http://www.gaypartyblog.com/south-florida-college-night-moved/

An establishment that has catered to the gay clientele for many years has been sold for an unlisted price.  We have learned the owner of Cathode Ray put the club up for sale without an intention to sell it but to see if he would get any offers on the club.  He got an offer he couldn’t refuse and it has officially closed its doors.  Cathode Ray was home to the Wednesday night pick-a-trick contest where you wore a number around and got to check the board for messages to see if anyone was interested in you.  They were located on Los Olas not far from the beach and shopping area.  We are sad to hear that this club/bar closed its doors but do hear reports the past owner may re-open another gay establishment next year sometime.  I will still wear my cool sleeveless shirt I got from Cathode Ray!