Blog Post #3 - The Abbey Bar & Club

*Not sponsored content*

Why not continue the trend blog about another gay bar and club! This excursion took place at West Hollywood's historically significant The Abbey. Known to be an affectionate and colloquial "badge of queerness" for folks who are new to the scene, The Abbey definitely goes back to its more homely and rustic looks. From the wooden beams and chandeliers to the three (four?) inner bars, The Abbey is a testament to various waves of queer culture reflected in its design. The color scheme follows the usually deeply red, pink, and purple looks to emanate a feeling of intimacy. Blue was also a common color within the space as it cast strong shadows on dancers both on the floor and by the poles, creating an alluring space of anonymity with motion.

As compared to Strut, The Abbey was significantly larger and consisted of areas that gave their own charm and unique vibes. With that markedly larger size, there were many lights to witness being projected into corners and onto the ground as well as go-go boys (not pictured above). Follow spots were quite common, and they added at least a bit of motion into spaces where more people took the time to sit down and face one another amongst other actions. With the fullness of light and its movement, the space itself did not feel empty despite its very agglomerate in design. I will note that one prominent and consistent element about the area are the body type of these go-go boys as well as how the light was shining on them. Being on elevated platforms, a front light revealed their faces and very well-toned muscles, though it definitely lacked the dynamism and mysticism that being side or backlit could convey.

Again, there were many interesting things to look at throughout The Abbey, but due to classroom guidelines, I cannot show much because there were those gosh-darn go-go boys in every nook and cranny you can quite possibly image a go-go boy to be dancing at. One piece of furnishing that really intrigued me was a pole that had moving text on it. I was pretty sure it was a projection onto the pole, but I couldn't figure out the source due to the haze as well as a security guard telling me I could not touch the pole.