It’s a rag-tag, come-as-you-are kind of town that’s short on huge dance-y madness and big on small-scale hipness. What it lacks in glamour it definitely makes up for in great music, unstressful scenes and trendsetting gaiety.  Below is a basic overview of the parties that go down in this pretty city on a regular basis.

ALSO: See our guides to New York and LA.

photo by Brandon Norris

Tiara Sensation @ The Stud
9th and Harrison

Mondays, 10PM – 1AM, $5

Come on. No one goes out on weekends anymore. And Mondays are hard with nothing to look forward to, so check out this recently relocated DIY drag fest, featuring a craft table, good music and many a drunken cool kid in a borrowed wig.

Manic Mondays @ Bar on Church
Church & 14th

Mondays, 8PM – 2AM, $2

When you offer 80-cent well drinks, expect the kids to show up in droves, even if it is a Monday night. 

Show & Tell @ Kimo’s
Polk & Pine

Tuesdays 9PM

Sister Roma and Bebe Sweetbriar bring you this weekly funfest in the heart of the TenderPolk.

Pink Slip @ The Stud
9th & Harrison

Tuesdays 9PM

It may not be Trannyshack, but the trannies are trying keep a toehold on Tuesdays at the Stud.

Booty Call @ The Bar on Castro
456 Castro Street

 Wednesdays, 9PM – 2AM, $3

Juanita MORE! and the MOREboys can always be counted on to bring out the cuties and cool kids at this mid-week dance party, while beloved Sword portrait photographer Brandon Norris shoots your new Facebook photo in the back room.

Brain Farts @ The Lookout
Market Street @ Noe

Wednesdays 7:30 – 10:30

Dork out on some way gay trivia with co-hostesses Pollo Del Mar and Bebe Sweetbriar at this weekly pub trivia night in the Castro.  Drunk fags and their hags in attendence tend to take their trivia pretty seriously, so come armed with at least one friend who hasn’t melted their memories with crack.

Frat House @ 440
440 Castro Street

Wednesdays, 9PM – 2AM, $2

The name says it all. Oh, and they sometimes have a midget selling beer bongs and usually a skinny go-go twink who looks like he could use a sandwich, and tox screen.

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge
133 Turk Street
10PM, $4

Aunt Charlie’s is one of our favorite bars of all time.  The carpet probably hasn’t been replaced since the mid-70s… read more

 
Buck Wild @ Buck Tavern
1655 Market St (at Gough)
7PM

Miss Nixx and Lady Bear bring you a pool party. As in billiards, not water. And they’ve got $6 Long Island Iced Teas. Made with Soju, not Vodka. (No liquor license.) But that’s cool! $4 Jumbo Tavern Dogs and $2 Miller Lite drafts are all you’ll need.

Ghetto Disco @ The Endup
6th and Harrison
11PM – 11AM

The unofficial after-party for those jittery, sex-crazed alcoholics we love to cuddlefuck.

Charlie Horse @ The Cinch
1723 Polk Street (bet. Clay & Washington)
10 PM, show at 12.
 
It’s a hike if you don’t live in the Russian Hill/Nob Hill/’Loin vicinity, and with hostess Anna Conda and a bevy of part-time trannies this is the most rock-n-roll that drag gets. Free, with half-price drinks before 11.

Black Friday @ Cat Club
1190 Folsom Street
Third Fridays – 10PM

DJs Pee Play, Sex Wax and Randy bring this new monthly, every 3rd Friday, featuring electro, 80s, and indie-type stuff.

Snap A Licious @ Deco
510 Larkin St
Third Fridays – 10PM

Join Ginger Snap and her army of hos for performances and binging. Freakshow begins at 10. $5

Boy Bar @ The Cafe
2367 Market Street

Every Friday 9PM – 2AM

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to feel old before your time, washed up by age 28…

It’s finally here! A new party we can really get behind, featuring a locker room theme, slutty go-gos and the musical stylings of DJ Earworm. Brought to you by the brilliant mind behind 2004/5′s Faggot.

Manquake @ The Gangway
841 Larkin Street
4th Saturday – 9PM, $5

DJ Bus Station John hosts this monthly party in the TenderPolk, where the alterna-gays nudge aside the colorful cast of elderly regulars to order cheap drinks and nod to the 70s and 80s beats. The dancefloor at the back always reminds of a suburban basement family room, minus Dad’s golf trophies.

Social Club @ The Lookout
16th & Noe (at Market)
9PM, $4

They call it “Sophisticated Saturdays” and they encourage ties and such, but let’s just say there are a lot of polo shirts and t-shirts and while it’s definitely a cute crowd, it’s also turning into a very Cafe-ish, twentysomething crowd indistinguishable from Boy Bar or Frat House. That said, it’s way more tolerable than most of the shitshow that is the Castro on a Saturday. $4.

 
The Hot Boxxx Girls @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge

133 Turk Street
10 PM

Get your dollar bills ready and get there early (they’ve been turning folks away lately) as the girls pull out all the stops–and at least five costume changes apiece–at this old-school dragztravaganza. Tips are a definite must and Gina LaDivina is sure to blow you away. $5 …read more

Beer Bust @ The Eagle
398 12th St
3PM to 7PM

Put your alcoholism to some good use for once: not only does $10 get you a bottomless cup in a sea of bottoms, but also The Eagle donates the proceeds to a different charity each week.

Honey Soundsystem @ Paradise Lounge
1501 Folsom
8PM – 2AM

This rising DJ collective gains points for throwing a dance party on a Sunday and calling it something other than a Tea Dance.

Cocktailgate @ Truck

1900 Folsom @ 15th
9PM

Suppositori Spelling hosts this weekly venue for turning your Sunday hangover into a Monday hangover. She works the room, performs and generally spazzes out for your drinking pleasure

The Eagle Tavern
398 12th Street
San Francisco

Every Sunday, 3PM to 7PM

Whatever you do, don’t wear flip-flops to this weekly $10
all-you-can-slug beer fest–your feet will get stepped on and covered
in sand, and beer… and who knows what else.

Aunt Charlie’s Lounge
133 Turk Street
San Francisco

10 PM til 12:30ish, Fridays and Saturdays

Get your dollar bills ready as the girls pull out
all the stops (and at least five costume changes apiece) at this
old-school, non-ironic dragztravaganza.