Although Cedar Springs has a large number of gay bars and restaurants, there aren’t actually that many places to dance.
That is why we’ve found ourselves going to more straight bars. Here are our three favorite straight bars in Dallas right now:
1. Beauty Bar
1924 N Henderson Ave, Dallas, TX 75206 / Website
Who knew that chain dive bars were a thing? Beauty Bar is a bumping place in the Knox/Henderson neighborhood of Dallas. It’s a nail bar during the day, and a dance club at night.
Beautiful people at Beauty Bar in Dallas (Hi Walter!)
Beautiful people at Beauty Bar in Dallas (Hi Walter!)
The No Requests sign at Beauty Bar in Dallas.
Beauty Bar is a small, single-room place with a retro setting. (It actually reminds me a lot of Liquor Lyle’s in Minneapolis.)
The bar has a pretty diverse crowd and great music. Many of the bartenders are also gay and will take care of you if you consistently go to them.
People are typically dancing sloppy hard, so make sure that you hold onto your drink.
2. The Whippersnapper
1806 McMillan Ave, Dallas, TX 75206 / Website
Directly across the street from Beauty Bar is The Whippersnapper, which is like Beauty Bar’s ratchet little brother.
The Whippersnapper has a very young crowd and it is not unusual to see fraternity boys there in themed costumes (like Togas)
Decorations at The Whippersnapper in Dallas.
Stickers in the men’s bathroom of the Whippersnapper bar.
The Whippersnapper is a very narrow L-shaped bar that gets extremely packed. The music features a lot of throwback (e.g. early 2000’s) jams. They also serve 40 oz. beers, if you’re feeling classy.
A young crowd also means that there is occasionally drama at The Whippersnapper. Last time we were there, the 300-pound bouncer had a full-out slugfest with a patron. The fight started on the dance floor and continued out in the parking lot.
Other customers actually had to pull the bouncer off of the patron.
Ambulance pulls up to the Whippersnapper after a fight.
Medics help a drunk girl in front of the Whippersnapper.
That incident highlighted how potentially dangerous tightly-packed The Whippersnapper space is if something serious happened like a fire or shooting. On the same night, an ambulance had to come to rescue a girl who was throwing up in front of the bar. The medics helped her into the ambulance as the earlier fight started again on the corner.
Quite the sight.
3. The Church at Lizard Lounge
2424 Swiss Ave, Dallas, TX 75204 / Website
Finally, we’ve found ourselves attending The Church at Lizard Lounge.
The Church is essentially goth night – they have two dance floors and play a mixture of 80’s / new wave, industrial house, and industrial rock music. There are also usually vendors and special performances.
Some of the nights also have special themes like steampunk or vampire ball.
An acrobatic performer at The Church / Lizard Lounge in Deep Ellum.
Performers at The Church / Lizard Lounge in Deep Ellum.
Although we haven’t outright abandoned the clubs in Oak Lawn, it’s nice to finally expand our horizons and dance a bit.
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