A Queer Night in Mexico City

The entrance may deceive you. On a residential corner in the Juárez neighborhood, you’ll start by walking into a seemingly ordinary parking garage. But, as you walk further back, you’ll approach a line of stylish weekenders winding up a narrow flight of spiraled stairs.

At the top, once the bouncer finds you on the list, the heavy doors will open, and you cross a threshold into a world of streaming neon lights against a dark club floor. The door shuts and the parking garage disappears, as does the city behind you. Welcome to Estéreo, a gay club in Mexico City.

Bartenders swiftly pour drinks behind the bar. Drag queens perform on top of platforms. The DJ grooves to the beat of his remixes.

Estéreo / March 2022

In the back, a corridor opens up into what could have been a colonial mansion, where, tucked around a marble staircase, artisans sell clothes. Further past them, the club features another neon-lit dance floor equipped with another DJ directing the vibe of an alternative flow. On this smaller, more intimate dance floor, peer out frosted windows to see the neighborhood streets of Mexico City below.

Estéreo / March 2022

Here, several stories from ground level, queer people and their friends come together to dance. And with its covert entrance, Estéreo suggests the illusion of secrecy, or exclusion.

That sensation is reminiscent of a queer history cloaked in secrecy.

In 1901, the police invaded a private house party in Tabacalera and ‘uncovered’ 41 men dancing together. The ‘Dance of the 41’—as the story goes—became the historical and cultural marker recognizing Mexico City’s queer community for the first time.

Filmmaker David Pablos told Americas Quarterly:

“The dance of the 41 was the first time that homosexuality was made visible [in Mexico City]. It revealed that there was an organized group of homosexuals and that they had formed a community. So in one way the gay community has come to see this as its coming out of the closet.”

Sourced from Americas Quarterly

Over a century of human rights movements followed. Nowadays, Mexico City is a cultural hub for queer culture, Zona Rosa at the heart of the vibrant scene. Hugged between the avenues Paseo de la Reforma, Chapultepec, Insurgentes, and Florencia, Zona Rosa is home to restaurants, boutiques, and several night clubs. Check out Almacen, Nicho Bears & Bar, Boy Bar, Kinky, La Botica, Cabaretito Fusión, Drama by 42, and Botas Bar.

If Zona Rosa is the gay heart of Mexico City, Condesa and Colonia Roma are its shoulders. These two queer-friendly neighborhoods feature sophisticated culinary experiences, unique vintage shopping, independent art galleries, boutique hotels, romantic tree-lined streets, and historic plazas. In these areas, queer couples should certainly feel safe roaming the streets arm-in-arm.

México City / March 2022

Mexico City is a whirlwind of art and culture. Tourists: bike through parks guarded by Aztec statues, wander down avenues lined with Spanish architecture, and rediscover the elite flavors of Mexican cuisine at a diverse array of restaurants. Queer or not, I recommend paying this beautiful city a visit on your next bout of travels.

Photos by Andrew Tamarkin