When I happened upon Mark’s Bar after it opened, the first thing I noticed was the sound from the street. From outside I could hear the laughter and the sound of bar dice slamming on the bar.

For Sean Ray, the AIDS crisis has never ended. The cabaret and former Gay Men’s Chorus performer has lived with the virus for many years. On May 14 and 15, Ray hosts the tenth annual Cabaret to Fight AIDS at The Rrazz Room in San Francisco’s Hotel Nikko.

I spoke to some locals to find out their favorite unusual and alternative spots that make San Francisco night life special.

Bearded muscle bears cavort in pink tutus. Mustached twinks wrestle while coated in lube. Local authors verbally joust in bars. These are a few of our favorite new things.

Founded in 1982, The Valencia Rose Cabaret was an ambitious project that housed the world’s first gay comedy club, a queer activist meeting center, a vegetarian eatery and more into a two-story Spanish style building with 3D camel sculptures jutting out o

Restaurants come and go so quickly here! One minute you’re making a reservation, the next your favorite tapas bar is a cupcake shoppe. Here’s a random sampling of new and recently opened eateries all over town, plus a few with a record of success.

Each week I host a new lot of guest comedians and entertainers, which proves to be equal parts exhilarating and unnerving. Anything can go wrong, and in the history of this show, it has.

Comedy events with a gay bent take place all over town this month, and we’ve got the inside scoop!

Years before the first Gay Games (1982), San Francisco's gay community already had a lot going on in organized sports. Several gay softball teams had been organized before the historic Gays vs. Cops games in 1973 and 1974.

San Francisco’s history as a brewing town is well documented. It’s no surprise that there’s also a robust community of beer geeks who are well served by bars with beer programs that go far beyond the standard American mega-brews.

For Castro bar patrons, nearly every venue sponsors a team or hosts fundraisers, where the draft beer and other libations flow generously. Enjoy the "Linsanity" of NBA games through March Madness, or watch a local pool team compete.

It’s an age-old stereotype: gays and sports don’t mix. While I haven’t participated in a proper sports league in well over a decade, my "inner bro" has manifested as an avid football fan, which confuses those who thought they knew me well.

Is your Valentine tired of chocolates and flowers? Does sipping champagne with a strawberry dropped in a fluted glass induce an eye-rolling response?

"Why be a queen, when you can be an empress?" That was the question José Sarria asked after being named Queen of the 1965 Beaux Arts Ball. The man formerly known as the Nightingale of Montgomery Street answered his own question...