Gay Nineties

SO MUCH FUN. I was on vacation in Minneapolis for the last part of Pride Week, and I asked the locals what the best gay bar was. Everyone said this place, and I definitely see why! Their drinks are strong and delicious. There are three different dance rooms, a back bar with a pool table, and a room with a stage where an awesome drag show was going on. Wish I had someplace like this back home!

Amazing! Best time ever! Best bartenders and so much fun! I have nothing but positive reviews! So Nice!

If you want to dance and not be surrounded by douchebags, Gay 90s is the perfect blend of people with the best selection of dance music to be found in the state!

We were in town for a business trip. One of my co-​workers had her birthday that week and was away from her family in London. We went thinking it was karaōke night but it was drag night. We really had fun and the MC even sang one set of Adele for our birthday girl. We all went nuts and none of us were drunk lol. She made our night so thank you. All the talent was great. If you have an open heart and mind you’ll love this place. Good vibes only, good people only. xoxoxo

We walked from another bar tonight Jan 30^th 2016 to go have some more drinks and dance about 11pm. The security man outside said we looked like we had to much fun and said we are not allowed in. 7 people from out of town with money to spend. We went back back to the brass rail. How ridiculous was that. We are in our 30’s to 40’s just having fun with friends. You lost our money gay 90’s and won’t be back.

Go only for the penis ride… no beer on tap, unfriendly joint but has a lot of history

The space is impressive but the management can definitely improve. The website and posters all over said that they had food. I went in at 11:41 on a Saturday night and spent 20 minutes looking for the food, only to find out they didn’t do that anymore. They charge $ 5 to come in again after midnight and even through it was their mistake on the food and I had to eat. I spent another 20 minutes talking to 5 of the staff including the head of security, both in and outside the club– they wouldn’t make an accommodation nor would get a manager who had any sort of discretion. So either they don’t care about the customers trying to give them business, or the management doesn’t have a good system to help the staff be friendly. I left to get much needed food came back 30 minutes later & paid $ 5 to get back in at 1:14. I will never go back until that is reconciled. As the night got later the music seemed less interesting, but I am grateful that the volume was at a good level that I didn’t need earplugs to avoid the post club ringing in my ears.

I used to come here all the time for a good night. It used to be a good place to hang out to have a good time and be with friends. I am deeply saddened with how far the place has demised in the last decade. It has gotten to the point that so far in the 2010’s, I have only been here a few times for the benefit of the doubt. Even then, I see the place get worse and worse.
Over the last few years, I keep hearing about their plan to reinvent the place. So far, they have only redone the happy hour bar. I am puzzled as to why the rest of it has not been touched yet. I think that if they need to either follow with their word soon or stop advertising their plans.
A couple years ago, the manager fired all of the bartenders and replaced them all with «updated» ones. The ones from before were far better, could carry a good conversation during slow times, knew how to do their jobs well, and knew how to make drinks well. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about most of the current bartenders. Their drinks are weak, they are often snotty, and they are not good at carrying a conversation even at their slow times.
I have also noticed that the security has started to act more like thugs than actual security people. I feel like they intentionally intimidate people for a power trip, even if the customers are doing nothing wrong (most of the time, the customers aren’t). There have been times that I have been scared of approaching them and them approaching me. I have seen them screaming at customers for no reason except for a power trip.
The only reason I give this place two stars instead of one is because of their La Femme drag shows. Even though even those shows have shown some demise in quality, most of the queens are still entertaining. My favorites are a tie between Roxie Marquis and Monica West. The drag queens often walk around the crowd in between their numbers to talk to customers. They are pretty friendly.
The only drag queen who has been a problem is Nina Diangelo. How she remains the program director after all these years is beyond me. She is a mediocre performer. Every time I see her, she is also extremely rude to customers. I have overheard her mistreating her fellow performers for no reason. On several occasions, I have heard her say racist comments about people of color (even the N-​bomb), including fellow performers. Some of those racist comments were said directly to the people of color. The worst I’ve seen of her is a couple years ago when I watched one of their pageants. Nina was ridiculing some of the contestants on stage. Those contestants were obviously humiliated to the verge of tears. This is unacceptable of Nina to do to anybody. Nina needs to go!
Overall, I hope that The 90’s improves in quality to where it was before its demise. Until then, I will continue to avoid the place whenever possible. I hope that management and ownership read this review and take this review under consideration. I would love for this place to go back to being enjoyable like it used to be.

Pretty cool place. They had a huckleberry finn suspenders night. Plus they had a small stage for me to spit my sick free styles and preform my poetry.

It’s not really a gar bar anymore. It’s now mostly straight couples, and hearing slurs against gay people isn’t that uncommon. They also have a predatory parking racket going on.
Their parking lot policies are really messed up. Their parking lot, adjacent to the bar, starts towing at 12:00, a full 2 hours before the bar closes. They tow very quickly, they don’t warn anyone, and they don’t help you if they strand you in the middle of downtown at 2 am. You have to go across town, pay $ 200, and deal with some real a-​holes that were threatening to keep people’s cars if they weren’t polite. I’m not talking making a scene… the couple before us told the guy that towing their car wasn’t fair and wanted to get his info. The guy had a freakout, threatened to kick them out and impound their car, costing them more money, and said he wasn’t going to help them unless they accepted responsibility for the car being towed.
Seriously.
At 2 in the morning.
We kept our heads down, got our car, and vowed never to return to the formerly gay 90s.

worst karaōke ever! no alanis, no garth, no shania, no spice girls. no birthday specials! wtf.

Unilocal warned me and took down my last review because of my foul language and dirty mind. I apologize and will keep this one more «G» rated. The 90’s is a great place for everyone. People refer to it as a «gay» bar but it really isn’t anymore. Plenty of males and females, gay and straight, young and old, show up. There are multiple rooms to dance, but if that is not your thing, the drag show goes on all night! More fun to go with a large group of people. Downstairs drinks closest to the door, seem to taste the strongest and get the most value for your money. Plenty of cute dancers as one would expect :) Haven’t tried much of the food, so don’t want to post an opinion on it, but I’ve only heard good things. Things don’t normally pick up until 11:30 or 12, business can vary.

To call this a gay bar in 2014 is to be very misleading. The times have changed. With acceptance of Gay Marriage comes the erosion of things gay men once held to be their own. One of these things is the gay bar. If you have never been to the 90’s you will enjoy the large place with many different bars and the upstairs drag show. One of my favorite places has been the back bar that is only accessible through the men’s bathroom. There was a time when only men would be back in this large bar with private sitting rooms. No longer the case. Women have no problem walking into the men’s bathroom and then into the bar. The large dance floor looks like a straight bar with more women then men. At the drag show the other night I noticed such a diverse age of straight couples. In a room of two hundred people when asked by the MC to applaud if gay, about ten people cheered. About 5 lesbians cheered and a few bi people cheered. The rest cheered when asked if they were straight. To be in a gay bar in no longer to be gay. There is always a cover charge of $ 5 or $ 10 but worth it. Parking is on the street or many nearby lots. Well lighted and plenty of security outside of the building. If you want a gay bar in 2014, try the Eagle Bolt. If you want a fun night and be who you are, Straight, Bi, Gay or Whatever, head to the Gay Nineties.

This place was very fun, $ 5 cover. I must have come here on a good night, because there was a foam party, which usually doesn’t go on. I was worried I would ruin my clothes in it, my friend was worried she would ruin her $ 250 silk shirt, but we danced and played in the foam like children in a bubble bath and we videotaped it to remember.
You would have thought we were 5 year olds, and we didn’t even need drinks to have fun. It was the most innocent fun I have had since the Wild West Waterpark! And I was soaked in foam by the time we were finished.
Going through the bar was interesting, like walking back in time to Harlem, NY trying to learn the Lindy Hop in the 1930’s, only there was modern music.
As we walked upstairs I passed a giant penis named «Dick» and I just had to get a sexy picture with me on top! I rode «Dick» like the Wicked Witch of the West on a broomstick.
Actually, I didn’t because it was too big to wrap my legs around, but I tried.
Then I got off and had a walk of shame up the stairs to the drag queen show, as I realized I did not feel very sexy at all, I felt dirty, not because I was soaked in soapy foam, but because my clothes were soaking wet.
The drag queen show at the top surprised me and I instantly felt good again. My friend fell in love with Hiroshima or whatever her name was. (S (he) was so pretty, she almost turned my friend straight.)
Then we snuck backstage to meet the drag queens, took a few pointers on how to act more ladylike and walked back to our hotel room and tried to find sexy female masseurs to give us a happy ending. (Where are the sexy female masseurs in Minneapolis?)
We realized we were taking the night a little too far, and that we should just end it, as was.
It was a good night.

What. The. Heck.
I like a gay bar. Pumping music, happy people, everyone loving everyone.
My jaw dropped when we went into Gay Nineties when we visited Minneapolis from Chicago. Our friend called one of his gay friends to make sure that THIS was the real deal — no poser ish.
Gay Nineties. What to say about Gay Nineties?
It was about 11:30 PM on a Friday night. We were already lubed up from our bike riding brewery tour and this was going to be a place where we could cash in on our buzz.
I don’t usually enjoy sweaty bodies. I don’t usually enjoy a crowd. HOWEVER, I love both of those things on a dance floor. It’s a rare breed who can dance alone on a dance floor. I was feeling a crowded dance floor that night. I craved it.
Anyway, so we showed our IDs to the bouncer, paid $ 5 cover at the window, and entered the Gay Nineties through a hallway that smelled like smoke.
There was nobody.
I take that back. There was a DJ in a glass booth overlooking the empty room. There was a bartender chatting it up with the attractive twink who was supposed to be dancing on the counter for our voyeuristic pleasure. There was a pole and a stage. It smelled faintly of mildew.
A bachelorette party came in after us, tried dancing for about a minute, and then left.
M hooked us up with drinks. They were served in clear plastic cups. I quickly drank mine and then stole hers. I became drunk enough to dance in my group of three — the three of us alone on the dance floor.
The music. Oh the music. I think we heard one or two songs that we really enjoyed but we danced to all of them anyway. I made eyes with the DJ and he motioned for me to go around to the door and up the stairs to his booth. I asked him to play a certain genre of music, he said he would, and he didn’t. We continued to try to dance to the same stuff.
More people trickled in but it still wasn’t a flood — no ocean of bobbing heads.
Every once in a while some costumed people came out and danced on stage. An Egyptian guy came over to me and lasciviously licked my arm. I’m not complaining. I’m a little flattered that he chose my arm to lick instead of a dude’s (considering that the place was called Gay Nineties and all).
At one point we wandered to the bathroom and saw that there was a hallway to another room. A room with more people.
That room had rows and rows of colored lights flashing on the ceiling. Some of the bulbs were out and the whole feeling was carnival dream crazy. All of the dancers were lined up on the bar dancing, gyrating, and shoving their butts toward adoring patrons. It was truly captivating and M and my friend had to pull me away.
They took me back to the front room where the DJ was still playing his own jams. He came down when he saw us leaving and he gave me a hug.
Outside we saw that there was a patio area (for getting fresh air and smoking) and a parking lot. There was a man and woman wearing boards over their shoulders trying to lure people in.
It was early in the morning and we rode our bikes back to the hotel behind a blockade of police officers on horses marching down the street. It was an absolutely surreal night.

A fun place to go for a good time. The drag show is amazing and the drinks are very strong. Always something fun going on with a great atmosphere.

Get ready to not believe your eyes.
I first originally went to Nineties to dance, but ended up going upstairs to watch one of their drag shows. Since, my life has been changed for the better. Their Whitney Houston impersonator is jaw-​droppingly spot-​on, and I still can’t listen to Pink’s «Blow Me One Last Kiss» without imagining drag Pink doing her thang.
If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, I’d stick to avoiding the barely-​clothed shot boys walking throughout the crowds of the show. With a $ 10 cover fee at the door, it’s all you could dream of and more.
Every Sunday, they have a brunch called Eggs n’ Drag, and I’m dying to check it out. Until then, take my word for it that this is one of the greatest drag routines I’ve seen, and that’s comparable to NYC. Werk, Minneapolis.

Probably one of my favorite bars downtown Minneapolis.
Straight, Gay, WHATEVER! It’s always a good time!
There are male dancers as well as females.
They have quite a few bars and dancefloors, all playing different styles of music. So there’s bound to be something you’ll like to dance to there.
The BEST bartender there is named Brandon. He’s downstairs by the hip hop area.
Upstairs is where the drag show happens. Want to go out, but you don’t want the dancing scene? Just sit back and enjoy the show!
Bring some spare money to tip the performers… they work hard at their craft!

Love the drag show. Pretty sure this is just a place for straight girls to go be with the gays and straight guys to accompany those girls and look at the gays but the drag show is pretty fun. N Drinks are kind of outrageously expensive but hey it’s downtown.

Ah… the Gay Nineties: The best place to see the rare heterosexual in their natural gay-​ogling habitat.
Seriously.
The drag shows are interesting though they can be awkward should you happen to get picked out of the crowd to get ripped on in the beginning.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m not into the whole ultra gay bar thing. Maybe the scenes are typically meant for and geared towards gay men.
The clientele teeter between straight people that are apparently (?) offended by actual gay people and skeezy drunkards.
In an ironic twist of fate, I’d almost rather give my girlfriend a kiss and hug smack dab in the middle of the straightest dive bar in Kentucky than I would in this place. I guess it’s only cool if you’re on stage or pretending because we were repeatedly getting the stank eye from some obnoxious bachelorette party-​goers.
Of course, I’m making the crass assumption that they were so based on the sparkling penis necklaces and pack-​like nature they exuded.
The drinks are strong. I think this is a pretty standard practice at a place like this.
It’s like a dark, run-​down, kitschy little seedy bar that a sick gay clown covered in rainbow glitter vomit.
I’d go for the experience at least once. Who knows? Maybe it’s your thing.
Just try not to be too shocked when/​if you see a fur trader at a gay bar.

This place is da bomb (figured that I should use 90s slang for this place… seems appropriate)! The best way to describe this place is LOUD AND PROUD. The decorations are ridiculous — shiny, big, outrageous, rainbow, etc.
There are several different rooms and levels to this bar. The main area is a lounge and dance area with a huge bar. This is the place that my friends will meet up, have a drink or two and then head upstairs. The upstairs has 3 main rooms — a bar, the drag room, and a dance room. I love to watch the girls shake their bootay and get bills shoved into their generous bosoms. They are all both hotter and better dancers than me, much to my dismay. When I am ready to shake my own bootay, I head through the magical rainbow tunnel to the back of Gay 90s, where there is a massive dance room, complete with well-​stocked bar and poles. My friend finally convinced me to dance on the poles the last time that I was there (which consisted of me holding on to the bar and awkwardly stepping side to side… probably the worst poledance this place has seen).
You are guaranteed to have a great time, complete with cheap drinks (which in and of themselves guarantee a great time) at this bar. A MUST VISIT!