Philadelphia - Guide for Gays, Lesbians and Queers

Philadelphia's queer life concentrates in the Gayborhood, part of Washington Square West, running roughly from 11th Street to Broad and from Chestnut down to Pine. Rainbow street signs mark the corners, which is the quickest way to tell that you have arrived.

Woody's on South 13th Street is the best known address in town: bar downstairs, dance floor upstairs, karaoke and drag on fixed nights. Around the corner on narrow Camac Street, Tavern on Camac keeps the piano bar tradition going, with Bar X in the basement of the same building. The Bike Stop on Quince Street serves the leather and bear crowd across several floors, each with its own tone. U Bar on Locust Street stays quieter, closer to a neighborhood pub than a club.

For dancing there is Voyeur on Saint James Street, which runs late, and the sports bar with a club floor on South 12th Street. During the day the same blocks work as meeting points: Knock on 12th, or Graffiti Bar tucked behind 13th.

The William Way LGBT Community Center on Spruce Street covers everything that is not nightlife, including support groups, counselling, exhibitions and an archive of the city's queer history. Club Philly is the one bathhouse still trading; the older venues of that kind shut their doors a long time ago.

Getting around is simple. The whole district is walkable, and the Market-Frankford Line stops at its edge, so most visitors never need a cab once they are there.