May 2, 2026
Made for the metro.
6 picks

LGBTQ+ Nightlife in the Twin Cities

Minneapolis and St. Paul have long been one of the most LGBTQ-friendly metros in America. Twin Cities Pride is one of the largest in the country. The Gay 90s has been operating in downtown Minneapolis since the 1940s. Town House in St. Paul is the longest-continuously-operating gay bar in Minnesota. The community here is real, established, and welcoming to visitors.

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★
Downtown MinneapolisMulti-room dance club, dragEditor’s pick

The Gay 90’s

The Gay 90’s has been operating in some form on Hennepin Avenue since the 1940s and is one of the largest LGBTQ entertainment complexes in the country. Multiple bars, dance floors, drag shows, karaoke, and the kind of multi-generational crowd that has been showing up for decades. An institution.

Downtown Minneapolis$$
02
Downtown MinneapolisDance club

The Saloon

A downtown Minneapolis gay bar that has been a fixture on Hennepin for decades. Dance floor, strong drink program, late-night energy. The most reliable Saturday-night move in the downtown gay scene.

Downtown Minneapolis$$
03
St. PaulLongest-running gay bar in Minnesota

Town House

Open since 1969, Town House on University Avenue is the longest continuously-operating gay bar in Minnesota and one of the most historically important LGBTQ spaces in the upper Midwest. A neighborhood bar with a deep community legacy and consistently warm welcome.

St. Paul$
04
Loring Park, MinneapolisQuiet neighborhood gay bar

19 Bar

A small Loring Park gay bar that has been a quiet community anchor since 1952, making it the oldest continuously-operating gay bar in Minneapolis. Conversation-friendly, low-key, no dance floor. The right move when the dance clubs are not.

Loring Park, Minneapolis$
05
Northeast MinneapolisDrag, cabaret, dinner

LUSH Lounge & Theater

A Northeast LGBTQ entertainment venue with a drag and cabaret programming calendar that runs nearly every night. Dinner service, dance floor, and one of the more design-forward LGBTQ rooms the metro has had in recent memory.

Northeast Minneapolis$$
06
Loring Park + downtown paradeAnnual festival

Twin Cities Pride

Not a venue but worth listing here. Late June every year, Twin Cities Pride takes over Loring Park for the festival and downtown for the Sunday parade. One of the largest Pride celebrations in the country and one of the most genuinely civic events the city does.

Loring Park, MinneapolisFree