New gay bar-disco opens in Buenos Aires centre

Last night I went to the opening night of Eminence situated at Lavalle 918. The facilities there are:- on the first floor, pub and cruising bar; on the second floor, dark room and private rooms; on the third floor, chill-out space and room for private functions; on the fourth floor, disco. There is a lift to transport customers between floors. The building must be around sixty years old and the rooms have very high ceilings. The lift is a classic reminding one of a Paris hotel of the 1920s.

The place was full last night as one would expect on an opening night and the crowd were really a mixed bunch and included taxi-boys and transvestites. I will return in a month or so and review the place properly. However there were three aspects from last night which need attention. The air-conditioning was hopelessly inadequate given the warm night and large crowd; there was no bottled water at the bar; and the city's no-smoking regulations were being totally ignored.

Eminence is open from Monday to Thursday from 2 p.m. to 3 a.m. and Friday to Sunday it is open 24 hours. The web site is here

For up-to-date information on gay places in Buenos Aires, Argentina see Guide to Gay Buenos Aires

Contramano re-opened

Contramano Closed
Following an inspection by city government officials a few days ago the oldest gay bar in Buenos Aires has been closed. This is very strange because all enclosed public spaces that re-opened after the Cromagñon tragedy have to comply with strict regulations before they are granted a certificate which Contramano undoubtedly has. Could be a case of homophobia. News here if and when it re-opens, or you can check the Contramano web site here.

Later
Further to my earlier post, Contramano has now re-opened as a bar-disco with a capacity for 220 people. I intend to check it out at an early opportunity.

For up-to-date information on gay places in Buenos Aires, Argentina see Guide to Gay Buenos Aires

Gay World Cup 2007 - Mundial Gay 2007

In case you missed the news, the Gay World Cup 2007 will be held in Buenos Aires between 23rd and 29th September. At present there is hardly any information on line in the english-speaking internet although there is more in the spanish-speaking part (do a search on "Mundial Gay"). If you are a gay football (soccer) fan you should put these dates in your diary.


In the meantime there is a petition against homophobia in football being organised by Gay.com in the UK. Please go to Kick Homophobia Out of Football and add your name.

For up-to-date information on gay places in Buenos Aires, Argentina see Guide to Gay Buenos Aires

Angels - hottest disco in town?

To be honest I am no great lover of discos (sign of advancing years I suppose) and so I am a thousand miles from being an expert but after visiting Angels (Viamonte 2168) last Saturday night I may be tempted to indulge more often.

Tell any Argentine that you plan to go there (or have been there) and the reaction may be a grimace, a curled lip, or a wrinkled nose. Its not really that Argentines are phobes, snobs and racists because mostly they are not but Angels attracts a crowd that is one rung lower down the social ladder than the regular gay discos and includes a proportion of immigrants like Peruvians, Bolivians and Paraguayans. Add to that several transvestites, some aging queens, and a lot of very cute young boys and you will realise that Angels isn't like any other popular gay disco in Buenos Aires. Additionally there is a not-very-dark area on the first floor which gets busy later in the night. For my money this disco has character that all the others lack.

I hadn't been there for quite a long time and the new smoking laws have made a big improvement. The ground level dance area (latin music) and the first floor bar are now smoke-free and only the second floor dance area (dance music) is for smokers. Also, unlike other discos I have been to here, the sound level isn't so loud it causes your skull to reverberate. I have heard complaints about the newly re-opened Amerika that it is too straight which you can't say about Angels which has to be 99% gay.

The one big problem with going to Angels is getting in. The club nominally opens at 1 a.m. but it doesn't start to get busy until around 2:30 a.m. This is because entry is pathetically slow with only one pay box open. If you arrive before 1 a.m. you will get in reasonably quickly but then have to sit around inside waiting for more people to enter. However if you arrive from 1:30 a.m. onward you need to join a long queue in the street which advances about 5m every ten minutes and you could be queuing for an hour or more.

The disco web site (in Spanish) is at http://www.discoangels.com.ar/ and the entrance charge on Saturday without a promotion ticket is $18 (includes three drinks - beer or soda).

For up-to-date information on gay places in Buenos Aires, Argentina see Guide to Gay Buenos Aires

Amerika Re-opens!

As you can't fail to notice if you go to the Amerika website the disco is finally re-opening on Friday 22nd December.

However only part of the first floor will be open and none of the second floor so reducing the total area from 2500 sq.m down to 1346 sq.m and thus reducing the capacity of the disco down to 1866 people. There is inevitably going to be a big demand so if you are planning on going I suggest you arrive early (for Buenos Aires, that is)!

Later
Note added January 2007: Amerika is now open at full capacity (includes the popular dark area).

For up-to-date information on gay places in Buenos Aires, Argentina see Guide to Gay Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires Gay Pride 2006

In case you missed it you can read all about it at BA Gay Pride 2006 (web site in Spanish), and see pictures of the parade at BA Gay Pride Pictures


For up-to-date information on gay places in Buenos Aires, Argentina visit Guide to Gay Buenos Aires

Amerika re-opening soon

The Appeal Court has ruled in favour of the the very popular gay disco Amerika and so plans are being made for the re-opening. The date will be announced on here when it is known.

For up-to-date information on gay places in Buenos Aires, Argentina visit Guide to Gay Buenos Aires

GLT Film Festival in Buenos Aires

The 3rd International Gay/Lesbian/Trans Film Festival of Argentina will be held in Buenos Aires between November 9th and 19th, 2006.

It will take place in the following theatres:
MALBA, Av. Figueroa Alcorta 3415, Tel: 4808 6500
Cine GAUMONT - Espacio INCAA Km 0, Av. Rivadavia 1635. Tel: 4371 3050

The festival includes films from USA, Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Norway, France, Finland, UK, Hungary, Australia, and Uruguay.

Full details of the programme schedule and film catalogue can be found at this web-site (in English) - GLT Film Festival 2006


For up-to-date information on gay places in Buenos Aires, Argentina visit Guide to Gay Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires Gay Pride - Saturday 25th November

The march for Gay Pride 2006 takes place in Buenos Aires on Saturday 25th November. Participants can gather in the Plaza de Mayo (in front of The Pink House) from 3 p.m. onwards and the march commences at 6 p.m. towards Plaza de Congreso. The official web site (in Spanish) is Marcha del Orgullo LGTB where there is a list of events taking place throughout the week prior to that. You can use Google Language Tool to assist you translate part or all of the web pages.

For up-to-date information on gay places in Buenos Aires, Argentina visit Guide to Gay Buenos Aires

Argentina to repeal gay military ban

Reproduced from Pink News UK

01-September-2006
PinkNews.co.uk writer

The government of Argentina has announced plans to repeal its ban on gay military personnel, according to recent news reports, making it the second country in South America, following Colombia, to prohibit discrimination in its armed forces.

Argentina's government intends to modernise its code of military justice which, among other changes, will no longer prohibit same-sex relationships among personnel in its armed forces.

"The ban was nonsense," said Colonel Judge Advocate Manual Lozano, "It's a matter of people's private lives."

According to C Dixon Osburn, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defence Network, Argentina's move toward non-discrimination makes the United States increasingly isolated in its prohibition on gays in the military.

"From Israel to South Africa to Argentina, countries are recognising that banning qualified service members only hurts their readiness" said Mr Osburn.

"Eva Peron once observed that 'shadows cannot see themselves in the mirror of the sun.' Today, in her country, gay patriots are emerging from the shadows and being recognised for their dedication and service," he added.

Argentina joins a growing list of at least 25 nations that no longer exclude openly gay service personnel. American military allies, including Great Britain, Canada and Australia, have lifted their bans on open service.

Membership in the European Union requires nations to abolish any prohibitions on service by gays. Openly gay personnel from allied nations are currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, alongside American troops.

2006 GayWired; All Rights Reserved.

For more up-to-date information on gay places in Buenos Aires visit Guide to Gay Buenos Aires

A bit chilly in Anchorena SW

Buenos Aires is going through an unusually cold spell of weather just now and the heating at Anchorena SW (Anchorena 1121 5th floor) takes a while to take effect. If you get there before 11 pm on a Monday night you will find people congregated in the bar/pool area which is the warmest spot in the place. However, when the heat reaches the other darker areas with mattresses then bathrobes and towels come off, the action heats up and the heating becomes redundant.

For more up-to-date information on gay places in Buenos Aires visit Guide to Gay Buenos Aires

Amerika disco still closed

The long-running dispute with the neighbours over noise continues. Amerika disco was closed at the beginning of June for (supposedly) two weeks. The dispute is still not resolved; I will put a note on here when it does re-open.

For more up-to-date information on gay places in Buenos Aires visit Guide to Gay Buenos Aires

New gay cruising bar opens in Buenos Aires

Zoom at Uriburu 1018, Recoleta, opened its doors at the beginning of June in the premises of the former W.C. It is nothing like its predecessor, the extensive toilets have gone and the interior has been completely re-built. It now has 21 cabins with porno video screens, glory holes and sliding partitions. There is also a dark maze, a lounge bar and a cloakroom. It is very much in the style of the popular Toms. I imagine there is space for two bars of the same genre in this city and the new bar is more likely to poach customers from some of the rather seedy porno movie theatres nearby. Zoom is open daily from 12 mid-day until 3 am and entrance charge is $10.

For more up-to-date information on gay places in Buenos Aires visit Guide to Gay Buenos Aires

New guide to gay Buenos Aires

After checking around recently I discovered that every web-site with a gay guide to Buenos Aires, either in English or Spanish, was out-of-date and had incorrect or misleading information. So I set to work last weekend and created a web site which, when completed, will have enough information to keep any gay visitor to Buenos Aires busy during their stay in the city. Obviously I intend to keep it maintained; while it will not be a definitive guide I welcome any suggestions for inclusion. My email address can be found in my profile accompanying this bLOG.

You can find my new guide here Guide to Gay Buenos Aires There are still a few pages to be completed so keep checking back for the latest version.

Anchorena SW revisited

Last Monday night my bf and I had something to celebrate so we decided to pay another visit to the gay night at Anchorena SW (Anchorena 1121, 5th floor - see my entry of Februay 3rd). It had been nearly three months since our last visit and we found a few changes and improvements. The rooftop terrace is now closed until next summer (nice to have a shag under the stars but definitely only on warm summer nights). Instead the club has opened a room on a lower floor with a very large mattress with space for at least 8 bodies. The heated swimming pool now has a safety rail around. When a customer arrives he is now given a card so that the barman can enter drink consumption on there (previously it was necessary to carry cash to pay for the drinks). And when getting undressed every customer is given a pair of disposable sandals (no more need to wear shoes or walk barefoot). The place is very clean and the staff are friendly and helpful.

When we arrived it was nearly 1 a.m. and there around 50 customers. We stayed until 4 a.m. and had ourselves a lot of fun. It seems that customers are less inhibited now and there are less spectators and more participants. Highly recommended if this is your idea of fun.

Gay Maps of Buenos Aires

I have a collection of about half a dozen gay maps of the city of Buenos Aires. With one exception they appear to be produced on the principle that a business has to pay to be included in the publication and to be shown on the map, and since not all businesses can afford to include themselves in each and every map so nearly every map is deficient. (On the other hand, one map - GMaps - has so many dots on the map it looks to have a disease; many businesses on there have only a very tenuous connection to the gay life here and so the map can be quite overwhelming and somewhat misleading.)
The exception (and IMHO the best map) is the one called BSAS Gay produced under the auspices of the government of the city of Buenos Aires which shows all of the most significant businesses and it has the clearest map. The map is obtainable at tourist information offices and in the leading gay places.

A Full Sauna has a new broom

Whilst this gay sauna is the best in Buenos Aires by far there have been repeated complaints in the past about the bad service and poor attitude of the employees there. Now it seems that a new broom has been busy there. When I went last week there were several new faces among the employees all of whom were pleasant (although the grumpy cashier is still there). Also, there were several notices stuck on the walls saying (in Spanish) something like "we hope you enjoy your visit here, please ask an employee if you need a tour or explanation of how things work", and there were two phone numbers and an email address given in case of complaints. That's better!

New HOT gay place in Buenos Aires

I couldn't help adding another entry about this latest place on the gay scene in Buenos Aires. It is possible it will not be advertised in the gay press, either in print or on-line; this place is likely to become very popular purely by word of mouth alone, so remember you read it here first.

The place is Anchorena SW Club at Anchorena 1121 5th floor, and the time is Monday nights only from 9:00 p.m.. The web site is Anchorena SW and in case you haven't guessed already, SW stands for swingers. Anchorena SW Club has operated for about 5 years as a club for straight swingers and at the beginning of 2006 started to open its doors on Monday nights for gays only.

My bf and I decided to try it out last Monday and when we arrived at 10:00 p.m. as is common in this city, there weren't too many people there. Entry per person is $20 pesos, or $15 with flyer (that $ is pesos by the way). The ground floor is given to bathrooms, cloakroom, showers, sauna and a fairly dark lounge area. The next floor up there is a heated swimming pool (about 4m x 4m) and a small bar, tables and chairs. Going upstairs again there is the roof-top terrace with several dark corners equipped with large PVC-covered mattresses and cushions.

The general idea is that customers undress, put their clothes into a plastic bag and hand that over to the cloakroom attendant who will provide either a bath-robe or a large towel. I should point out here that it is a good idea to take a small bum-bag because you will need something to carry your money, cigarettes if you are a smoker, and safe sex supplies. It isn't possible to run a tab so you have to pay on the spot for every transaction. Use of the cloakroom is $3, hire of towel or bath-robe is $2, purchase of a condom is $2, and drinks at the bar cost $5 for either beer or soda.

The club starts to get busier around 11:00 p.m. and then runs on to 4:00 a.m. We stayed until 1:30 a.m. and had our fill of fun. Veterans of the sex bars in Madrid or Barcelona may find this place somewhat inhibited at present. Not everyone was there to participate; I guess about 50% were there just to spectate. This is a new venture for gays in Buenos Aires so I am guessing that as time progresses people will get the right idea, become less inhibited and join in the fun more.

Gays Away in Buenos Aires