Gay & Lesbian
Night and day in the city's gay scene
When world travelers refer to a city as one that never sleeps, the name that invariably crops up is that of New York. Istanbul, while having more population than New York, would definitely pale in comparison to the latter's pace but the difference might be gauged more from a personal perspective because here too you can do things 24/7 if that's what you're into. But 'specially if you're gay and of course bouncing with the requisite energy not to mention with the cash flow, this city offers options to the hardy and determined nighthawks. The good news is that these would set you back a fraction of what it would in the Big Apple.
Mind you, you can mainly do so in the confines of Beyoğlu, specifically in the Taksim area. While a couple of years back saw some efforts of the club entrepreneurs in the other Beyoğlu sections - in the tucked-in areas of bars and clubs around Galatasaray Meydanı and on Balo Sokak - to extend their weekend if not daily run, all came to a halt early part of this year when Oz shuttered the door to the faces of several partyphiles who had up to then made a pilgrimage route of ending their outings in that funky, third-floor dive. Suddenly the last resort for a last round of drinks or to indulge in what is the allowable scope of public debauchery in this country was history. I'm referring to the heavy hooking up among all the genders present including the roving hands and simulated humping flagrantly done on the crowded dance floor and the questionable goings-on in the back tiny toilet. It didn't take an astute sensibility to feel the sexual energy as soon as you go up the stairs leading to the club. Oz was definitely the closest to being a local equivalent of a before-gentrification East Village after-hours den. Sad that it bit the dust without so much of a whimper. By the way, the local nocturnal business hours of closing usually 4 or 5am on weekdays and 5:30-6am weekends are still impressive compared to those in western cities (I was checking out some Berlin and Sydney venues closing at 2am on weekends and I gasped! Are they kidding me?) It's just that after-hours in this city has basically dried up to a few unheralded places for the in-the-know crowd only- Lucky for you then that you have this TOIST issue to map out your after-closing peregrinations.
5 or 6am: So, after downing your last call cocktail in any of our G&L listings and after docking some of the aggressive moves of would-be treats and tricks that populate any wall-to-wall venue, where to head to afterwards other than your or somebody else's bed is the order of the (ahem) day, not just the question. If you've been partying in Central Beyoğlu and closer to Taksim Meydan, then you're in luck and it's easier for you look up or locate our short list:
Lale Iskembecisi
(0212) 252-6969
Tarlabaşı Bulvarı 3, (Cartoon Oteli Karşısı) Taksim. Open 24/7
The boy you exchanged phone numbers with earlier in your bar or club crawl? You'd most probably spot him head bowing to a medium-sized bowl and sitting in one of about six sidewalk tables or inside this 3-story establishment which is a Turk's idea of a night cap. Instead of adding alcohol to your body, you neutralize the effects of whatever you imbibed before with a good dose of the wonderful garlic-laced tripe soup called Işkembe. The rationale is that the fat from mainly sheep entrails would counter-act the alcohol's build-up. Whether it's scientifically proven or one of grannies' potions, its popularity seems to indicate that it works. That's why most if not all Işkembeci joints are open 24/7 and confirms anybody's notion that Turks love to drink. 42-year-old Lale, is particularly popular among the night-to-day denizens, the vampires on the prowl, and they all congregate here from Ortaköy and other party centrals to check each other's outfits and overhear the happenings they missed before slurping on tripe or trotter soup or the dry offering of the same meat pieces called kokoreç. The gays on the move, however, are here to reunite with comrades they lost in one of the pit-stops and all partake of the nourishment as fuel for the next stop.
The breeders who have a bit more budget and have the means of transport go to this other popular Işkembecisi in Dolapdere, Apik - open since 1947 - queuing up in their latest -model cars and paying a lot more for their soup than here at Lale where it's 6.50ytl.
Çağdaş Börek Salonları
(0212) 237-6741
Tarlabaşı Bulvarı, Taksim Caddesi 20A, Beyoğlu. Open: 24/7
Börek - for those few souls who are in this part of the world and who have never ventured into the ubiquitous salons selling these fluffy and deceptively-light pies - is the Turkish name for filled pastries (cheese, meat, veggies), its popularity tracing back to Ottoman times and in among the old Balkan colonies including Greece. At Cağdaş in Taksim, one of its six branches scattered around the city, these pies are often just the pretense to savor the after-hours crowd milling around its small salon either eating in or ordering a take-out. You're bound to recognize the trannies from No Name Club along Tarlabaşı Bulvarı or the hard-core gay party-hoppers spilling out of the late-closing Prive, a stone-throw away. If you're ready to party privately with someone, this sure is a good place to start by hooking up. It's easier than you think when you factor among the clientele rent boys walking in from nearby Zambak Sokak.
Aquarius
Tel. (0212) 251-8925
Istiklal Caddesi, Sadri Alışık Sokak 29/1, Beyoğlu. Open 24/7; 30ytl entrance; massage 50ytl/hr.
If you came out lucky with someone from the above two establishments, you can choose to head home or, this being Turkey where you're bound by conservative hotel policies if you're staying in one, bring that person to Aquarius where you don't only enjoy each other’s company in the privacy of an assigned cubicle, but join in the community of like-minded party-till-you-droppers gathered in its main seating area right outside the sauna, swimming pool and bath facilities. Since almost everyone is towel-clad in various degrees of exhibitionism, there is bound to be a lot of crotch-watching. But that's a given in a sauna-cum-sex club. That and swaying to the musical grooves piped in specially for those coming in directly from the neighboring clubs and bars. So you can say that in here's a really fun mix of people with their (red) eyes open. And you might just leave the vicinity in time for the regular venues to open.
Editor’s note: Lale İşkembecisi and Çağdaş Börek Salonları are not gay venues.
Dusk to Dawn and Beyond
Writer: Rene Ames
Night and day in the city's gay scene
When world travelers refer to a city as one that never sleeps, the name that invariably crops up is that of New York. Istanbul, while having more population than New York, would definitely pale in comparison to the latter's pace but the difference might be gauged more from a personal perspective because here too you can do things 24/7 if that's what you're into. But 'specially if you're gay and of course bouncing with the requisite energy not to mention with the cash flow, this city offers options to the hardy and determined nighthawks. The good news is that these would set you back a fraction of what it would in the Big Apple.
Mind you, you can mainly do so in the confines of Beyoğlu, specifically in the Taksim area. While a couple of years back saw some efforts of the club entrepreneurs in the other Beyoğlu sections - in the tucked-in areas of bars and clubs around Galatasaray Meydanı and on Balo Sokak - to extend their weekend if not daily run, all came to a halt early part of this year when Oz shuttered the door to the faces of several partyphiles who had up to then made a pilgrimage route of ending their outings in that funky, third-floor dive. Suddenly the last resort for a last round of drinks or to indulge in what is the allowable scope of public debauchery in this country was history. I'm referring to the heavy hooking up among all the genders present including the roving hands and simulated humping flagrantly done on the crowded dance floor and the questionable goings-on in the back tiny toilet. It didn't take an astute sensibility to feel the sexual energy as soon as you go up the stairs leading to the club. Oz was definitely the closest to being a local equivalent of a before-gentrification East Village after-hours den. Sad that it bit the dust without so much of a whimper. By the way, the local nocturnal business hours of closing usually 4 or 5am on weekdays and 5:30-6am weekends are still impressive compared to those in western cities (I was checking out some Berlin and Sydney venues closing at 2am on weekends and I gasped! Are they kidding me?) It's just that after-hours in this city has basically dried up to a few unheralded places for the in-the-know crowd only- Lucky for you then that you have this TOIST issue to map out your after-closing peregrinations.
5 or 6am: So, after downing your last call cocktail in any of our G&L listings and after docking some of the aggressive moves of would-be treats and tricks that populate any wall-to-wall venue, where to head to afterwards other than your or somebody else's bed is the order of the (ahem) day, not just the question. If you've been partying in Central Beyoğlu and closer to Taksim Meydan, then you're in luck and it's easier for you look up or locate our short list:
Lale Iskembecisi
(0212) 252-6969
Tarlabaşı Bulvarı 3, (Cartoon Oteli Karşısı) Taksim. Open 24/7
The boy you exchanged phone numbers with earlier in your bar or club crawl? You'd most probably spot him head bowing to a medium-sized bowl and sitting in one of about six sidewalk tables or inside this 3-story establishment which is a Turk's idea of a night cap. Instead of adding alcohol to your body, you neutralize the effects of whatever you imbibed before with a good dose of the wonderful garlic-laced tripe soup called Işkembe. The rationale is that the fat from mainly sheep entrails would counter-act the alcohol's build-up. Whether it's scientifically proven or one of grannies' potions, its popularity seems to indicate that it works. That's why most if not all Işkembeci joints are open 24/7 and confirms anybody's notion that Turks love to drink. 42-year-old Lale, is particularly popular among the night-to-day denizens, the vampires on the prowl, and they all congregate here from Ortaköy and other party centrals to check each other's outfits and overhear the happenings they missed before slurping on tripe or trotter soup or the dry offering of the same meat pieces called kokoreç. The gays on the move, however, are here to reunite with comrades they lost in one of the pit-stops and all partake of the nourishment as fuel for the next stop.
The breeders who have a bit more budget and have the means of transport go to this other popular Işkembecisi in Dolapdere, Apik - open since 1947 - queuing up in their latest -model cars and paying a lot more for their soup than here at Lale where it's 6.50ytl.
Çağdaş Börek Salonları
(0212) 237-6741
Tarlabaşı Bulvarı, Taksim Caddesi 20A, Beyoğlu. Open: 24/7
Börek - for those few souls who are in this part of the world and who have never ventured into the ubiquitous salons selling these fluffy and deceptively-light pies - is the Turkish name for filled pastries (cheese, meat, veggies), its popularity tracing back to Ottoman times and in among the old Balkan colonies including Greece. At Cağdaş in Taksim, one of its six branches scattered around the city, these pies are often just the pretense to savor the after-hours crowd milling around its small salon either eating in or ordering a take-out. You're bound to recognize the trannies from No Name Club along Tarlabaşı Bulvarı or the hard-core gay party-hoppers spilling out of the late-closing Prive, a stone-throw away. If you're ready to party privately with someone, this sure is a good place to start by hooking up. It's easier than you think when you factor among the clientele rent boys walking in from nearby Zambak Sokak.
Aquarius
Tel. (0212) 251-8925
Istiklal Caddesi, Sadri Alışık Sokak 29/1, Beyoğlu. Open 24/7; 30ytl entrance; massage 50ytl/hr.
If you came out lucky with someone from the above two establishments, you can choose to head home or, this being Turkey where you're bound by conservative hotel policies if you're staying in one, bring that person to Aquarius where you don't only enjoy each other’s company in the privacy of an assigned cubicle, but join in the community of like-minded party-till-you-droppers gathered in its main seating area right outside the sauna, swimming pool and bath facilities. Since almost everyone is towel-clad in various degrees of exhibitionism, there is bound to be a lot of crotch-watching. But that's a given in a sauna-cum-sex club. That and swaying to the musical grooves piped in specially for those coming in directly from the neighboring clubs and bars. So you can say that in here's a really fun mix of people with their (red) eyes open. And you might just leave the vicinity in time for the regular venues to open.
Editor’s note: Lale İşkembecisi and Çağdaş Börek Salonları are not gay venues.