Tucson AZ A Friendly Town – Everyone is Welcome
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Everyone-friendly Tucson
Ask a long-term LGBT resident of Tucson which bars and hotels are gay-friendly and they might bristle with good humor while telling you that such designations aren’t really useful in their city, since everyone is warmly welcomed.
Agreeing, many visitors to this bastion of Southwestern culture and Arizona desert beauty find Tucson to be a blue oasis in an otherwise red state. With two Pride parades every year to boot — a national nod in June and another in October for Tucson Pride Month — the city’s liberal leanings seem to be in good, sun-tanned health.
Tucson does its tidiest trade between October and April, when winter chills settle into most other places and the city fills with travelers defrosting in the almost permanently tan-worthy weather. LGBTQ folks, also drawn by the city’s October Pride Month and Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, make it a busy month for the gay-owned bed-and-breakfasts, so reservations in advance are recommended. For those who like a Continental accent, summers find Tucson brimming with queer Europeans.
SLEEP
Though local accommodations frequently do not broadcast the fact, Tucson has a higher gay-friendliness baseline than many other Southwestern cities — queer couples are welcomed in most places, but here are few sure bets.
At the gay-owned Catalina Park Inn (309 E. 1st St; 800-792-488; www.CatalinaParkInn.com) occasional homemade lemon ricotta pancakes and shaded, private cactus gardens go a long way in creating a comfortable camaraderie between guests. The 1927 building (which is blanketed in wireless internet) is a short walk from the University of Arizona campus.
In downtown’s center, the gay-owned Royal Elizabeth Bed and Breakfast (204 S. Scott Ave; 877-670-9022; www.RoyalElizabeth.com) is a 19th-century Victorian mansion with period furnishings to match. The owners prepare delightful local fruit ensembles every day for breakfast, and the accompanying greenery-lined pool is luxuriously secluded.
Nestled in the upscale Catalina Foothills just outside the city bustle, gay-friendly Casa Luna (4210 N. Saranac Dr; 888-482-7925; www.Casa-Luna.com) makes outdoorsy stuff like hiking, national parks, local wineries and amateur spelunking easily accessible. Of course, you could also just enjoy the poolside view and ponder which spa treatment best follows a late night downtown.
EAT
Deep couches, tasty snacks and free wi-fi are enticing, as is the fine local coffee, but all may still be second to ogling the fine local LGBT folk from the sunny, bamboo-sheltered patio of The Rainbow Planet Coffee House (606 N. 4th Ave; 520-620-1770; www.ThePlanetCoffeeHouse.com).
Nearby, Cafe Poca Cosa (110 E. Pennington St.; 520-622-6400) attracts a devoted — and often queer — following with its inventive mole sauces and alchemic blends of chilies and spices. The menu may change daily, depending on what the owner/chef selects from the morning markets, but reservations are always recommended.
On weekdays, the gay-owned Colors Food and Spirits (5305 E. Speedway; 520-323-1840; www.ColorsTucson.com) serves up standard American fare, doubling after hours as one of the friendliest piano bars in town. Sunday Champagne brunch is also a long-standing tradition at this neighborhood-style eatery.
PLAY/MEET
Tucson’s LGBT community may be well integrated into city nightlife, with most neighborhoods having heavily gay-trafficked spots, but here are a few watering holes frequented by a good concentration of queer folks.
Spinning hip-hop, Latin beats and a few love-to-hate-it pop classics alongside some of the best drag acts in town, Ain’t Nobody’s Biz (2900 E. Broadway Blvd; 520-318-4838; www.TheBizTuc.com), often just called “The Biz,” is probably Tucson’s best-established LGBT dance club — and the only one with a weekly video game night.
The club at downtown’s historic Hotel Congress (311 E. Congress St; 800-722-8848; www.HotelCongress.com) also gets a pretty queer crowd, especially on Mondays when they dust off for ’80s night. Revelers can often be found sopping up the wee hours with goat cheese and artichoke crostini at the hotel’s late-night cafe.
Venture-N (1239 N. 6th Ave; 520-882-8224), a few blocks away, attracts a steady supply of gay men with its outdoor gazebos.
Outside downtown, Woody’s bar is known for events like gay volleyball, while Howl at the Moon (915 W. Prince Rd; 520-293-7339; www.HowlAtTheMoonTucson.com) is beloved of country-dancing folk who appreciate a long beer menu.
SEE/DO
There are malls and Southwestern craft shops aplenty in Tucson, but most visitors like to take in a day trip and lose themselves in Arizona’s wellspring of unique natural beauty.
Just outside the city, Saguaro National Park (Old Spanish Trail; 520-733-5153; www.nps.gov/sagu) — named for the iconic giant cactus — is a hiking universe with delicious views, bizarre desert creatures and strikingly bright flora. Adventurers are just about guaranteed exclusive blazing experience on the massive 165 miles of trails.
Twenty minutes away, the Biosphere 2 (Biosphere 2 Rd; 520-838-6200; www.B2Science.org) project offers daily tours of the unique, three-acre self-contained ecosystem that made headlines in the 1990s when a few lucky people lived in it for years to demonstrate the possibility of space colonization. It can be like wandering around a lush sci-fi movie set — only stranger, because it’s real.
If “activity” per se is off your map, just an hour outside of Tucson lie some of Arizona’s best vineyards. The wines from Callahan Vineyards (336 Elgin Rd., Elgin, AZ; 520-455-5322; www.CallaghanVineyards.com) are ranked particularly high for the region by wine guides.
MORE INFO
Wingspan, Tucson’s LGBTQ Center (425 E. 7th St; 520-624-1779; www.WingSpan.org) compiles a handy calendar of the city’s queer goings-on, from clubs to group meetings. With its list of gay-owned and -friendly businesses, the Tucson GLBT Chamber of Commerce (P.O. Box 14312; 520-615-6436; www.TucsonGlbtChamber.org) can also be a helpful resource.
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