The slow, steady dismantling of Chelsea as a Manhattan gayborhood continues.
After twenty years in business, “G Lounge” will be shutting down operations on New Years Eve.
The roomy lounge opened its doors in 1996, and helped usher in a micro-trend called “lounge chic,” which… we were never quite sure what that was supposed to be. Basically, it boiled down to drinking frozen Cosmos and wearing tight-fitting shiny shirts. Something like that.
Related: How Do We Love Chelsea? Let Us Count The Ways
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At the time, it was a big deal for G to feature large open windows that allowed passerby to ogle the customers playing bingo inside. Prior to that, gay establishments were uniformly dark, windowless, and inconspicuous.
G Lounge follows a small militia of other Chelsea gay bars and clubs that have come and gone over the years, including Splash, Champs, Rome, King, The Break, XL, XES, The Roxy, View Bar, and Rawhide.
Related: There Goes the Gayborhood…
A note on their Facebook page reads:
I’m sad to say after 20 years G Lounge is closing its doors permanently.
We want to thank everyone for their patronage and express our gratitude and recognition of our team over the years.
Come join the staff on our final weeks.
We love you, and see you soon.”
Since hearing the news, fans have been saying goodbye on G’s Facebook page.
“This is the most depressing news of my day,” one regular writes.
“Wow,” writes another. “I’m mad can’t see the strippers no more it’s probably because of the high ass taxes.”
“Chelsea is officially dead,” decrees a third. “So sad. So many memories. This is something…”
luvit00
I thought that place closed years ago…
Kangol
It’s pretty sad, but it’s the new, de-gayed, hypergentrified NYC. Once upon a time you could walk down Christopher Street or 8th Avenue, or even go to lots of spots along Avenues A-C in the East Village, and find quite a few gay hotspots, but now they’re few and far between, with a tiny group in Hell’s Kitchen.
JerseyMike
WOW!! NY’s gay spots are slowly but surely going away.. This is happening all over the country.. Prime real estate. DC and Atlanta prime examples.
Danny279
Yaass! Another cesspit of hedonism and promiscuity bites the dust! On G Lounge’s grave, let a thousand wholesome gay flowers bloom.
Heywood Jablowme
@Danny279: A lot of non-promiscuous guys met their boyfriends in a gay bar.
Where did you meet your boyfriend, at a church picnic?
Jack Meoff
@Danny279: Geesh Danny lighten up.
Sluggo2007
I believe gay marriage is a main reason the bars are all closing. Guys don’t cruise like they used to. They stay home and play house.
Ogre Magi
@Danny279: Who peed in your Cosmo ?
Heywood Jablowme
@Sluggo2007: Hardly. Guys are as slutty as ever, they are just on apps like Grindr (where it’s cheaper) instead of in bars.
Also, millennials tend to lack basic social skills, so bars are a little too socially complicated for them. They would rather do sex like ordering a pizza.
viciouslies
I moved to LA from NYC in the summer of 2015, and clicked on this thinking “eh, G peaked in the early ’00s, no big loss.” Then I saw that XES has closed! So sad, that place was super laid back, had the best happy hour and their back patio was THE place to hangout in the summer. RIP XES. 🙁
Also, @Heywood Jablowme, this. Even IN the fucking bars, everyone’s on their phones. Like, hello, there are hot guys all around you, maybe turn off Grindr for ten minutes?
JerseyMike
@Heywood Jablowme: BINGO!!!
Heywood Jablowme
@viciouslies: “Even IN the fucking bars, everyone’s on their phones.”
Ha! I’ve noticed that too. They don’t even look up when anyone new walks in. You’d logically think they’re on Grindr but sometimes I’m not so sure, they don’t seem to look around much. Some of them, I swear you could slap a 13″ d!ck in their face and they still wouldn’t look up from their phone.
SonOfKings
I went to a once popular gay dance club in my area and no one was dancing. It was full of Millennials and younger all facing the walls staring into their phones.