Off the Beaten Path

Gabe Vasquez • August 8, 2018

Some of the best bars in town!

The main hot spots are usually found on Cedar Springs. But some of my favorite spots to go and where I have had the best of times felt the most comfortable are off the strip.

The first spot I will talk about is Marty’s Live. The best thing about this bar is that it is less than a 3-minute walk from my apartment. This place is probably where you will find most of my group of friends on a Friday for happy hour. It is usually the starting point for the night. What you can find here are some good drink specials and pretty good looking go-go dancers. When the weather doesn’t feel like the gates of hell are opening, it has a pretty good sized patio to hang out.

I started going to this place regularly the past year. So I really don’t know everything that they do. But I have seen that they have had pretty famous Drag Queens perform there. I believe the last one was Farrah Moan. But one of the best and recent thing that has started here is a party called DILF. Now I won’t go into all the details about this event. You will have to attend to find out. But this was one of the first events where my circle of friends first started hanging out. We came over to my apartment and all walked over. I don’t think I have ever danced so much in my life. The music was amazing and the energy in the place was on another level. I remember standing there, looking around at the group of people that I came with and realized how lucky I was. I finally understood what it meant to find my “tribe”. Since this night we have attended a couple more of the DILF parties and cannot wait for the next one!

Another bar that I enjoy going to is called the Hidden Door. If you are looking for a place that has cheap and strong drinks this is the place to go. This is another starting point for some nights. The inside is a little small but if you love pool and darts they have you covered. The patio is where it is at, even in the summer they keep the misters and fans going. We also refer to the Hidden Door as “going to Church” on Sunday’s. Now I don’t always participate , but when I do it is always a good time. The atmosphere is always chill.

But the one day out of the year that I can never pass the Hidden Door up is during TBRU (Will dive more into this event at a later time). This also takes place on church Sundays as it is the final day of TBRU. It is usually packed with bears and cubs. If you don’t know what bears and cubs are Google it! They close off part of their parking lot to allow for more space and it is definitely needed. This is a great time to relive all the stories from TBRU and meet people from all over. Around 5:00 in the afternoon it is time to head to the Dallas Eagle for Trash Disco.

The Dallas Eagle is Dallas’ main leather bar. When I first got to Dallas I had only heard about the Eagle. I was always nervous to go and my friends at the time were not fans. So one night I decided to put my big boy pants on and try it out...by myself.

Now they don’t have a strict dress code but it certainly has its own style. Think of it as you don't want to show up to a country bar in flip-flops and a tank top if you are going to go line dancing. I showed up in khakis and a button up shirt pretty much looking like I just left a frat party. Now I didn’t get any rude comments or anything like that, but I quickly realized it was probably not the best choice. I have never been one to take off my shirt in public. But I started talking to a guy and I told him I felt awkward with what I was wearing. He simply said take off your shirt and you will be fine. BTW it is perfectly fine to do that at the Eagle. So not going to lie after a couple of drinks I finally mustered the courage and took my shirt off. After a few minutes of feeling awkward...I started to feel liberated. I didn’t feel judged if anything I was actually seeing guys check me out. Which that had NEVER happened.

The rest of the night was great and knew I would be back. If you have never been Saturday nights are probably the best night to check it out. Also, one of the best days is Trash Disco, this happens on the first Sunday of every month. From about 5 pm -9 pm they play disco music. It is always a good way to finish off your weekend.

Since then I have found more people who went to the Eagle that I just vibed with. Now most of those people are some of my closest friends. The Eagle puts on events almost every weekend and it is just a place to go and literally dance like no one is watching. I would honestly say the Eagle is my favorite bar hands down.

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