… if the club is named “Heaven”; anything “…Mining Company”; or “Tallulahs”.
Any other “you know its a ____ bar if” signs?
Aww man I thought you were going to be making fun of people that tell storys about the time they sat down ordered a drink “then just at that moment” realised that they were in a gay bar.
I would guess that all those people knew what kind of bar that they were going into.
You know its a gay bar if you hear “In the Navy” blaring out of the windows
My husband was just talking about this yesterday. A gay friend of his was just telling him a few things about this very subject. Triangles and/or rainbows in the decor are supposedly an indicator, but don’t quote me.
Or anything industrial, like the Mineshaft, or Brass Rail, or somesuch. Also look for key words or puns indicating famous dead celebrities, such as Judy Garland, etc. Country bars are also something to be aware of.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that… 
Esprix
There’s this great scene in this book Cosmic Banditos
There’s this very tough, masculine and macho mexican contrabandisto. He has a huge mustache, and a leather vest, and is a real bad-ass, always bragging and looking for trouble.
He and a friend make a trip to San Francisco (on drug smuggling business.) They go into this bar and all of a sudden the Mexican guy gets very quiet and subdued. He looks around at all the guys in studded leather with mustaches, and such. The whole nine yards.
“We better be careful,” he says in a hushed whisper. “These guys are tough.”
In Evansville Indiana there’s one called THE SWINGING DOOR. It has a big arrow painted on the side of the building that says over it “ENTRANCE IN REAR.”
I’m not making this up.
Reinforces my themes. Mineshaft, Mining stuff. Talullah’s, Talullah Bankhead. Actually, Talullah’s really was a gay bar in Waco back in the 80’s.
Usually the rainbow/pink triangle stuff makes it pretty clear. But the names can be a dead giveaway: The Closet, Different Strokes, the Manhole, Cell Block, Manhandler Saloon, Eagle Leather bar, Man’s Country, Gentry, Bucks, etc. If it’s in Boystown, it’s probably a gay bar, or at least very gay-friendly. Although right in the heart of boystown there’s a place with a big sign out front that says “Michael’s: The Place for Games” and a picture of a youth (looks, hm, 15?) in a sailor outfit…and it appears to be an arcade, not at all what I thought it was going to be. Even now I have trouble believing it’s really an arcade with a sign like that. 
Heh. Minneapolis had (when I lived there) The Gay 90’s (duh!), the Brass Rail, and the Amsterdam Hotel. They’re the only ones I went to, though there were undoubtedly others. There was a Rumors over in St. Paul.
jayjay
Here where I live, there is a bar called the “Rainbow Lounge” needless to say, its a gay bar. Rather interesting to drive by at 1 AM, lots of strange looking people.
Montreal gay bar names:
Sky, Unity, La Track, Backtracks, Stud (duh), Aigle Noir, Parking, L’Entre-Peau (RIP), KOX ( - not making this up! They had a lesbian night called KLYTZ. I swear to God! RIP), Q-Zone, Agora, Drugstore. Lesbian bars: Sisters, Dietrich’s (RIP).
Now, no gay person goes to The Gay 90s. Just straight girls who think it’s still a gay bar, and think they’re being so cute and cool by going to a gay bar.
Ha ha! I quoted you! 
You know it’s a gay bar if… Someone named Justine Time or Gayle Force will be joining you for the night. Not joking, Justine Time was Ms. Gay Calgary in 1991. He was a better looking woman than me!
The Roost in Edmonton is the nastiest looking place from the outside, but it’s got a rainbow.
Heh. Really? Do they still have the dancing boys?
jayjay (misses the dancing boys)
I’m not sure–I’ve never been there, but they do have drag shows every Sunday.
There is this gay bar outside of Philly called the “Lark Bar”…sort of a dead giveaway in a steel workering town. A sign also points out that the entrance is in the rear.
I’ve been to the Lark. First place I ever sang karaoke, and fell in love with a hot tennis pro on the dance floor to Vince Gill’s “Look At Us.”
San Diego has Montage, Kicker’s, the Brass Rail, Flicks, Rich’s, Flame (lesbian bar), Numbers, and a leather bar whose name escapes me at the moment.
Esprix
Okay, time for the older gay guy to jump in:
In any smaller city in Canada, you want to find the gay bar, look for the place called either a) Secrets or b) Rumours.
You heard it here.
road rash, you’re in houston, aren’t you.
-fh
Here the coolest gay’ bar is, The Stone Wall, it’s really cool, I’m not there to pick up other guys, not that there is anything wrong with it, just to dance to techno music.
I did hook-up with two bi-chicks this once, that was pretty cool.
And get this tonight I tried to order an icehouse and a snake bite and the bartender didn’t know what the snakebit was so he said you just want me to make something “really hard”, I was like yeah sure.
Well next time I come back he says “Want it again” kinda sexually, I said “sure”, because it was a good shot! So he comes back and tells me that it is on him. And I said “cool,… so like what was in it?” he tells me, then "I asked what it was called and he liened over the bar and said “it’s called, bend over and let me fuck you” AAAHHHHHAAA, I just turned and walked away really fast. I had no idea the bartender dude, was going to try to hit on me. I expect to get hit on while I dance or something, but at the bar I had let my gaurd down, and then when I realized what he was trying to do I was like “ahhhaa”
Anyway sorry i’m rambling on I’m kinda messed up right now