Throughout the weekend, I pretty much hit up as many of the gay bars as I could drink at, visiting some of my favorites repeatedly. Sunset over the Philadelphia skyline at the One Liberty Observation Deck And while the crowd was mixed, it was a good introduction to the Philadelphia gay scene. Every friend I had who has ever passed through Philly told me to go to Woody’s, so naturally, my weekend started there.īoth my Friday and Saturday nights started at Woody’s. It’s hard to miss.Īt the heart of the area is Woody’s -a gay bar that’s expanded to two levels and multiple bars taking up almost an entire chunk of a single city block. Since 2017, the Philadelphia gayborhood has had a rainbow crosswalk and the streets of the neighborhood are all adorned with rainbow-colored street signs. I spotted gay and lesbian couples across town, but most of my weekend was spent in about a 5-block radius in and around the gayborhood (with the occasional excursion a little further for art and food because #culture). Philly’s population of about 1.5 million is comparable to many cities, but the gayborhood was significantly bigger than I’ve ever seen. The “city of brotherly love” seems to embrace love in all its forms and the gayborhood was better than I could’ve ever imagined. Philadelphia, just two hours from NYC on Amtrak, is easily accessible from here, but the city is also home to an international airport (one of American Airlines’ new hubs with flights as far away as Eastern Europe). And for one wild weekend in the gayborhood, I finally got a small taste.
That kind of community spirit and openness is indicative of the kind of community that Philly is really trying to foster. Famously, last year their pride organization even released a new version of the pride flag that incorporated black and brown stripes to be more inclusive of other races part of the LGBTQ community. The city has always had a reputation for being a gay hotspot.
So when I got a last minute invitation to visit with my friend Freddy, I jumped at the chance. It’s always been that place I knew I needed to visit, but seemed so inconsequential. So many of my college friends either moved out to Philly at one point, or went there for extended summers to create art and write music. For years my friends have been trying to convince me to visit Philadelphia.