Whilst there’s little information about the gay bar experience for POC this was a perfect memoir of the nights in my past. An indispensable, intimate and stylish celebration of the institution of the gay bar, from 1990s post-AIDS crisis to today s fluid queer spaces. I'm surprised of the X-Rated actions in the gay bars dance floor the author and his companion attended. Lively and dirty, intellectual and gossipy, Gay Bar is the rare book that feels both like a guilty pleasure and like it is making you considerably smarter as you read.

Furthermore, the author frequently came across as very pretentious (and at times a bit creepy, especially when he talks about not being able to follow the 'rules' of not being lecherous in a club), particularly when talking about young queer people today and their identities and safe spaces - it often sounded a lot like the right-wing 'snowflake' rhetoric that I'm sure we're all familiar with. Gay is an identity of longing and there is a wistfulness to be holding it in a building", "Identity is not just inscribed in our bodies, but articulated in places we inhabit. In Gay Bar: Why We Went Out, Lin traces the history of the gay bar through time, from truly secret places where discovery could be deadly, to places where joy could reign unfettered, even for a few hours, from places where people gathered to mourn, to spots that have their own places in their neighborhoods. For those who would like a more diverse story, I recommend Jewel's Catch one about the fabulous social minded Black lesbian who ran one of the most popular diverse LGBT nightclubs in LA. At the bar in London, the guys just shuffled him around and pushed him down onto his knees asking him to suck someone because his was the biggest one there while somebody commented that the place reeked of the smell of penis.It is a privileged, intellectual account of urban gay culture, and I feel it may have been improved if some of its characters had a little more depth or warmth. Of which the number is startling, to say the least, and engaged in with a commitment to synaesthesia and general wanton abandonment that is, well, quite alluring.

First, a travelogue about the various bars that Lin has frequented throughout the various stages of his life. In fact, the traditionally Black and LatinX bars, from which much of mainstream gay culture is derided from, is only briefly mentioned in Lin’s otherwise fantastic history of gay venues. He has contributed to the Times Literary Supplement, the Yale Review , the Guardian, the Face, the White Review and GQ Style. Coming back to the aspect of identity though, Lin stresses that gay bars as communal spaces helped individual people to find their own place and character, and this is why it is justified to tell the story of the gay bar as an autobiography, or an autobiography via non-fiction about gay bars - it's this smart idea that renders the book so unique.

I nevertheless enjoyed running around the world from gay bar to gay bar with the narrator and his boyfriend “Famous”, and by the end landed on finding the overall uneventful and anecdotal nature of this story to be part of its charm. Combining the intoxicating narratives of his nights at the bars with the social and sometimes dubious legal histories of the bars that he frequents, the book makes the personal more universal. Thanks to this cross continental adventure and Lin’s dense, detailed examination of the scene—those memories that shaped my life can live on more happily ever after.

I'm surprised to learn that there are public urinal in London to collect discarded semen where men rendezvous in public places to reduce the odor left on the streets or alleyways. But there are moments when he reveals some historical facts that are important, such as the impact of AIDS, the police raids, gentrification, and diversity issues. The subtitle of this book “why we went out” feels especially poignant when considering why he and his long term partner 'Famous' went to bars to make friends, view the “scene” and have sex with other men. I found it a bit difficult to figure out which side of the fence Lin himself straddles (sorry, one has to beware of bad puns in a review of a gay book). Perhaps the publisher's description of the book was just a bit misleading on this front, which may not be the author's fault.Lin notes sniffily that youngsters these days are not only fluid in gender but also in terms of their sense of community, and generally do not have a need to gravitate towards gay-only places and spaces (of which many in their day were racist, misogynist, classist, exclusionary and just generally pretty fucking awful on so many fronts, so who can blame them). Focusing mostly on various spots in the UK and US, we trace the movement towards wider queer acceptance, and what this means for the clubs, bars and community spaces around them. In Gay Bar, the author embarks upon a transatlantic tour of the hangouts that marked his life, with each club, pub, and dive revealing itself to be a palimpsest of queer history. And do not get Lin get started in on the subject of History, which the youngsters seem to think refers to what version of smartphone they currently own, or whether or not their hook-up apps have been properly updated.