The second-tier gay resorts

Where's Olgunquin?

And are we talking about Saugatuck, Michigan?

GIYF, r1.

Google won't help when OP is ILLITERATE.

Ogunquit is in Maine. WTF knows what Olgunquin is.

Is Olgonquin supposed to be Algonquin?

What are the first tier gay resorts? Fire Island and what else?

first tier = Ptown, Fire Island, Key West, Palm Springs. I don't count South Beach and Ft. Laud because they are in large cities.

One goes to Olgunquin to collect eggcorns.

Rehoboth isn't really laid back. It is fun but lots of east coasters. I would think Saugutuk. Seems nice too.

Rehoboth Beach blows and is not laid back at all. Full of screaming children and it lacks any sort of charm.

There's not a lot to do in Ogunquit.

The beach is pretty but the water is really cold.

There are a few nice restaurants and the Playhouse is campy fun.

Olgunquin at least has the Olqunquin Round Table, where you can hear many a witty remark by Darathy Porker and her friends!

While Saugatuck is a nice little town and very gay friendly, it's primarily straight. There is only one (very large) gay bar attached to a "gay resort" offering a range of accommodations. In Saugatuck and adjacent Douglas, there are a couple of exclusively gay B&B's and a smattering of gay-owned shops and restaurants appealing to a mixed clientele.

Agree Rehoboth sucks. Barely gay and filled with straight Mid-Atlantic families. Not sure how it maintains its reputation as a gay destination.

Same for New Hope. Maybe in the 1970s, it was a gay destination. But now it’s an exurb of Philly/NJ with one gay bar. Lots of suburbanites and straight couples on dates on Saturday night. I think of it as the gay bar for suburbanites. Definitely not worth a weekend - unless you like the suburbs.

R12 - Saugatuck (well, Douglas actually) does have a lot of gay people, but there really isn't that much to do. Gay people flock there for...?? I don't know why really. One large gay resort with bar and danceclub. You take that away and there really is no reason to go there.

What about Lost River in West Virginia? Seems like a lot of gays go there but I drove through once and saw zero reason to stop. What did I miss?

Must we stick everything into hierarchies?

If a town has a few gay owned and operated establishments, bars and restaurants is that what makes it a gay destination?

R17 - No - there has to be a sizable gay population who vacation there.

Saugatuck used to be a lot gayer. You can walk down main street now and not see a single gay couple. That was unimaginable in the '80s and '90s. Used to be a nude beach almost exclusively gay, too -- that no longer exists.

Would Asbury Park, NJ count?

R20 Asbury Park has suffered the same fate as places like New Hope, Rehoboth, etc.

The straights have infiltrated now that the gays spent the past decade fixing the town up. I’m the resident DJ at Paradise, the only gay dance club in town, and it’s absolutely obnoxious how the club has been co opted by squealing hordes of bachelorette parties and drunk girls wanting to know when we’re playing hip hop (the answer: never).

R21 - always wanted to go there! Is it still owned by Shep Pettibone? His name was on every major remix in the 80's.

"His name was on every major remix in the 80's."

IIRC, Shep Pettibone's name was on a lot of Madonna's late 80's/early 90's records as a writer.

"Same for New Hope. Maybe in the 1970s, it was a gay destination. But now it’s an exurb of Philly/NJ with one gay bar."

At least well into the 1980's, New Hope had 3 gay bars: The Prelude, The Cartwheel, and The Raven. The gay spots started disappearing when New Hope was being invaded by asshole New Yorkers looking for country living, driving around in their monstrous SUV's and generally being assholes extraordinaire.

R23 - and Pet Shop Boys, and Bananarama, and Mariah Carey, and Janet Jackson, and New Order. The list goes on and on. Seriously, I remember his name was on a good half of all the albums and remixes I bought back then.

Names, names, names dahling. He was everywhere and then disappeared.

St. Thomas?

Love u R21!

Sitges, Brighton, Maspalomas, Torre del Lago

Rehoboth Beach is changing, rapidly and badly. The former mayor was vehemently anti gay and harassed as many gay owned or gay friendly business out of town as possible. Noise enforcement was used selectively on gay bars, while straight bars were ignored. Not that the bars were helping themselves: incidents of customers getting roofied and robbed - sometimes by the boys who worked in the bars. One of the bars famously had a bartender who was driving drunk, hit and killed a well known local gay kid who was riding his bike. The bar wound up selling, and the buyer lost the bar about two years later when he was busted for DUI and possession. It's now a "what am I today" bar that's mostly filled with screaming women who come in as a group and take over. The owner doesn't care and doesn't give a crap about the gay community that's kept him in business for decades. Yeah, he's the original owner.

Traffic is a misery, thanks to the morons who run the county. It can take 40 minutes to go the 2 miles from where you get onto route 1, whether it's from the cape may ferry or from rt 404 because there's an endless parade of outlets malls, no effective traffic management - and you're forced to drive through the shopping centers to make right/left turns to get to your place.

You have to get a city pass to park on the street - per day. There's also meters because the passes don't work near the restaurants and bars, just the beach. If you want to use the state park, you pay another $10 a day.

What used to be the gay beach in the state park is now overrun with MAGAts, their kids and dogs. What had been the quiet beach is now another redneck shitstain on the shore. New Jerseyans are moving there like crazy and it shows. They lay on the horn nonstop, run lights - even when there are pedestrians in the walkway *with the walk light*. The local paper reports the anti-gay crime, which does exist. It puts on a gay friendly face, but it's anti gay under the pancake.

I used to go 8 weekends a summer. I went once last year.

It's odd there are no comments about Russian River.

Many of these places became "gay" after a long decline after WWII--Saugatuck, Rehoboth, etc. There are still plenty of gay people in Rehoboth, esp. retirees---they have all kinds of gay clubs that keep the gay life going. Rehoboth is really 3 places: Rehoboth itself, Dewey Beach and bethany Beach--each with a different personality with Bethany being the more moneyed. It is probably the most conservative county in Delaware. Has never appealed to me for anything more than a day trip or a quick weekend, but clearly it's still pretty gay.

Like Maggie Biederhoff, Rehoboth Beach is strictly middle class.

I was in Saugatuck, Michigan 2 years ago. Saugatuck has a sister-city called Douglas very close nearby. Both are small but nice, and the beaches and sand dunes on Lake Michigan provide some relaxing sunbathing and fresh water swimming. The area isn't terribly gay though like Provincetown. A few shop owners perhaps, and the bar/resort, which is fairly rundown and unimpressive, and some rainbow flags on houses around the area add a little gay flavor to an otherwise midwestern family-oriented vacation town. Maybe years ago it was more predominantly gay. A lot of folks from Chicago vacation in Saugatuck. AirBnBs are popular. I'd say that a long weekend there is plenty of time, unless you're renting a house with a bunch of family/friends and can pass the time as a group.

I love Russian River but it's really bear-y.

R22 and R23 indeed Shep still owns Paradise, but no longer DJ’s tea dances like he used to. I am keeping the traditional alive though, playing lots of classics that everyone enjoys. And let me tell you... Shep has Madonna stories for DAYS!

Guerneville / Russian River is probably one of the best of these. Surrounded by beautiful country, drive to the ocean, a few gay bars, the Northern California vibe. Downside is the meth-y, druggy people hanging around the town. Most importantly, it got flooded this year and the main resort/pool still hasn’t reopened. Will be interesting to see what happens to it.

[quote]It's odd there are no comments about Russian River.

I'm staying in a VRBO in Forestville (just down the road from Guerneville) right now!