D.C. Nightlife Highlights: Howard Homecoming Megaparty, U Street Bar Mixer, The Big Board, and more!
Our picks of the best LGBTQ nightlife in the D.C. area!
ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS: HOWARD HOMECOMING REUNION MEGAPARTY
To help usher in Howard University’s homecoming weekend, promoter Daryl Wilson presents a special night this Friday, Oct. 11 at Southwest’s spacious LGBTQ entertainment complex. The Megaparty is open to all who want to celebrate with the many Howard alum and partygoers from out of town and getting down on both dance floors to DJs Sedrick, Mike Malapit, and Cameron spinning house and DJs UNKNYC, Tim Nice, and Markie B aka Scientific mixing hip-hop. There will also be a live performance by celebrity guest Saucy Santana, the social media sensation and budding musical artist, as well as MC Roy Jones. Naturally, there will be a bevy of all-nude male dancers shaking and sizzling things up on the upper level. Ages 21 and up only. Ziegfeld’s/Secrets is at 1024 Half St. SW. Call 202-863-0607 or visit www.secretsdc.com.
FALL U STREET BAR MIXER
Four Shaw neighborhood watering holes have partnered up for a daytime pub crawl this Saturday, Oct. 12, to benefit Casa Ruby, which assists the most vulnerable members of the area’s LGBTQ community. A donation of $10 gets those of legal drinking age a wristband granting “super cheap” specials at all four participating establishments, capped by a free shot for those who manage the feat of hitting all four venues over the course of six hours — from 2 to 8 p.m. The promotion offers a $3 Absolut cocktail as your first drink at Nellie’s Sports Bar (900 U St. NW), followed by $5 refills. Across the street at the Dirty Goose (913 U St. NW), the same deal applies for those drinking Deep Eddy Vodka. Orange Crushes are the chief $3-then-$5 drink specials a few blocks east at Shaw’s Tavern (520 Florida Ave. NW), which adds food to the mix with $5 Fried Green Tomatoes and $5 Hushpuppies. Finally, at Uproar (639 Florida Ave. NW), you can enjoy a $3 Bud Light draft and then a $5 “Bear-sicle Watermelon,” as well as $5 Bourbon BBQ wings. Search “U St Bar Mixer” at www.eventbrite.com.
CHURCH! AT TRADE
If she asks, you can tell your mother you did indeed go to church this Sunday, Oct. 13. She doesn’t need to know that this isn’t a traditional daytime service. Church! — note the punctuation — isn’t really traditional whatsover. It doesn’t even take place in a house of worship. Instead, this regular party at Trade features DJs in the pulpit, and drag queens who get down and dirty with the crowd. Helping whip all the proud parishioners into a “Hallelujah, tomorrow is a holiday” frenzy will be wesstheDJ and StrikeStone!, and a show hosted by Pussy Noir with Citrine and Sippi. Service starts at 10 p.m. Trade is at 1410 14th St. NW. Call 202-986-1094 or visit www.tradebardc.com.
THE BIG BOARD: MARKET CRASH HALLOWQUEEN LGBTQ NIGHT
This popular watering hole in the H Street Corridor offers an early Halloween-themed treat for regulars of its Market Crash party, touted as “H Street’s longest-running LGBTQ+ Night,” and held every first and third Wednesdays. “Costumes and Lewks are highly encouraged” for patrons attending the annual Hallowqueen party next Wednesday, Oct. 16, with additional costumes and lewks to come a la performances from drag queens Summer Camp, Vagenesis, and Daisy Confused, plus beats by DJ Dean Sullivan, and drink specials including $2 specialty shots and $5 draft and rail offerings from 9 to 11 p.m. The Big Board is at 421 H St. NE. Call 202-543-3630 or visit www.thebigboarddc.com.
BLOOMINGAYS SPOOKY SZN AT EL CAMINO DC
One night after the Big Board’s Halloween-themed LGBTQ event comes a similar party at El Camino DC. The “kitchy-cool” Mexican restaurant in Bloomingdale, which reopened in August under new ownership (and with a revamped menu), welcomes back BloominGays and the regular third-Thursday gathering on Oct. 17, with a “Spooky Szn”-themed party where guests are invited to “hang out and share ghost stories.” Prepare for a spirited outing, aided and abetted by $6 margaritas, as well as other late-night happy hour drink specials on offer from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. El Camino DC is at 108 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Call 202-847-0419 or visit www.elcaminodc.com.
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