The Hippo

This is a pretty cool bar and it will certainly be missed. The Hippo is literally a place where you can come as you are or whoever you’d like to be and not be judged. There is always someone willing to buy you a drink in exchange for a conversation. It is the place where millennials meet baby boomers and the world doesn’t bat an eye. Everyone is welcome here. Do yourself a favor go on karaōke night (get drunk by awesome bartenders who can make anything especially drinks they’ve coined (I sincerely hope you get Ron the bartender)) and sign up to sing songs for karaōke. Even if you sound horrible it will be soo much fun. That being said ladies and gentlemen its a dive bar don’t expect too much.

Fun top hit songs for dancing. Don’t expect to sit and talk. It is loud in here. Just shot and dance.
Ok it’s a gay bar. I feel safe here. Just dance and have fun. Nothing else.

I am a straight guy but I love going to Gay Bingo with my wife. We have the best time there.

I can’t believe it! I was denied entrance for being «too drunk «. I am writing this review ten minutes after the fact. I was NOT too drunk to write this review. I seriously cannot believe this. This was my go-​to bar for Alternative lifestyles. Never again. Back to Grand Central for me.
**Update**
I wrote that first review after walking across the street to Grand Central and was sitting in the Ladies Lounge, using my phone to write it.
About a week after this incident, I wrote a message to The Hippo via Facebook. I got what I believed to be a sincere apology. I was invited to ask for Jessica the next time I came in. I figured I would do just that.
When I went out again, I went to The Hippo (early, about 9ish,) to speak to Jessica (who also turned out to be the woman who refused entrance). I got a half-​assed «my bad» kind of apology. She barely looked me in the face and was obviously way too busy to take two minutes to sort it out. I had explained on Facebook that at times, yes, I am clumsy, due to my epilepsy medication, but that I had not been drinking that night. I was embarrassed during the incident because there was a long line to get in and was mortified to be turned away in front of so many people. I had been sitting inside with friends and stepped out to have a smoke. Two minutes later, I was «too drunk.» Hmmm…
I wrote that first review after walking across the street to Grand Central and was sitting in the Ladies Lounge, using my phone to write it.

The Hippo is a Baltimore institution (my parents used to go with friends in the mid 80s) that is as fantastic as ever. Definitely a gay club jsyk, but it’s tons of fun if you consider yourself straight, gay, or anywhere in between/​outside. The staff is very nice and very outgoing to everyone. There’s usually a $ 10 cover, but it’s a little cheaper if you get there early.
The place is split into a club section and a bar section. Both sections have full bars, but the bar section has more tables and karaōke and has a bar feel. The club side has two bars and a huge dance floor in the middle of the room. It’s great if you love dancing because there are always people out on the floor. The crowd is very laid back and talkative. You’ll meet a lot of people so I wouldn’t recommend the place if you plan to keep to yourself the whole night.
Definitely one of the best places in the city to have a great time with a lot of open minded fun people.

What a great venue. Always something new and fun. Drag karaōke dance bingo.
Nice choice of beers. And mixed crowd

Karaōke!!!
I love, love, love The Hippo for impromptu and totally random fun.
No matter the night they have awesomely priced drinks and colorful bar attendees.
Friday & Saturday are typically their nights for Karaōke. I’ll say that if you wish to sing, you should get there on the early side because the list fills up fast!
As far as atmosphere and having to be a professional singer, The Hippo never seems to place that pressure on anyone. Everyone typically sings along and/​or is either jamming right along with you.

I love The Hippo! It’s always a pleasant atmosphere and is the première gay club/​bar in Baltimore. There are events happening everyday (especially on weekends!) The bartenders are awesome and will eventually know you by your drink and/​or name. The place is always clean, security is nice and friendly but enforce when need to. Drink specials are nice.
Everyday is something here which keeps me coming back 2 or 3x a week.
Mondays — RuPaul’s Drag Race and drag show
Tuesdays– trivia and Showtunes musicals
Wednesdays — BINGO
Thursdays — Hip Hop Night
And on the weekends there is usually a party or a drag competition. Come here, you’ll love the place and friendly service you get. You’ll come back for the shows, an appearance from a celeb or contestant on Drag Race and prizes you can win on a weekly basis!

I went to The Hippo last night with nine of my closest friends to ring in my birthday and it was FABULOUS.
I love that if you’re within a week of your birthday you can get five of your friends in without a cover. I also loved the sassy gay man who checked ideas and threw shade at me about actually having five friends. It was great.
I was also all about having our own balcony to act like fools in.
The sunken dance floor was really neat and it was a lot of fun to drop it low.
I can’t speak to drink prices, but given how much alcohol was fed to me by my friends, I’m guessing they were pretty reasonable!
I wish it had been a little busier, but that’s not The Hippo’s fault. I’m sure it was due to the holiday, and that’s OK, it’s never bad when you bring the party!
Would love to come back and try my hand at some karaōke next time I’m in Baltimore.

I’ve had pretty much all positive experiences here. There’s music, there’s drinks, there’s dancing. I’m not too picky about any of those things. Sometimes the experience feels a bit confused, for example is it 90s night? Or a 90s dj? Not communicated or promoted well enough to know. It’s a really good space that seems underutilized. That said, things are well enough for what they are and there are often drink specials that help cut cost.

I love this place! Every time I go it’s just a big gay (happy) party. Whenever I go to straight clubs there’s always fights and I feel endangered. Don’t get me wrong, it can happen anywhere but I’ve only had positive experiences at the hippo. The music is great! One of my favorite places to go dancing!

1÷13÷14
So real random! lol!
My girl and I were actually coming from a Unilocal Elite event and our cars were parked in from of the Hippo! We were like lets go in and see what’s going on if there isn’t a cover.
We use to club at Eden’s and Red Maple so we have seen it before and knew what it was but never went in. It was a really nice chill spot. They had an ameture drag show going on and the performers were real very entertaining.

This place is such a fun time! I am not gay but absolutely love THIS PLACE! My friends and I come for Drag Queen Gay Bingo Nights and its always such a hoot! It’s usually packed with all sorts of people-​straight and gay. So don’t feel shy! All ages! Great crowd! On bingo nights, you pay 20 $ for about 10 sheets of bingo fun. Each time O-​69 gets called, they give out $ 1 shots! HELLO! Every few games they will play small little games as well where you always win money or gifts. HELLO! Each round of bingo, the winners win money as well! HELLOOOO! haha, this place is such a fun time and your chances of winning are high which calls for a great night!
Bring a group of friends and some dollar bills and great ready for a night of bingo fun!

The Hippo is not a place I patronize very often, but I love that it’s in my neighborhood because it’s a great place to take a large crowd to. The normal crowd at the HIppo tends to lean slightly older compared to Grand Central (on the opposite side of the intersection), but all are welcome, and I’ve always had fun when I was there. It’s nice to have places like this to try and balance out the crowds that need to be patted down for weapons who are drawn to some of the other late night clubs in the area.

I had one of the best clubbing/​dancing experiences in recent memory at The Hippo in Baltimore in mid-​January! My friends and I went out dancing and it was a great experience. A gay bar is the best place for girls to go out dancing and have a great time. The drinks were excellent, the atmosphere was awesome, and they had karaōke! (sign up early for songs, because it fills up quickly!)
Ironically, I danced with straight male friends almost the whole night. I had a fantastic time at The Hippo. The music was great, the dance floor was big and open and fun. It was all around one of the best nights out in recent memory! I would HIGHLY recommend this club for a fun Saturday night out in Baltimore: D

Dance, Dance, Take Off Your Pants!
…ok try and remain clothed. But honestly, if you took them off, nobody would notice in a negative way!
I know you don’t have time to do the research on what kind of person I am so lemme tell you. I do NOT go to clubs. I dislike clubs, they’re crowded, loud, expensive and generally,…people are so rude and nasty to each other. Hippo is nothing like that!
We came at 10 and left at 1:30. Cover was only $ 6. I see some of the peoples reviews here were mentioning that it’s not super crowded at this club. I agree, and I love that about it! I hate feeling like a sardine.
I love that there is no judgement here. All night there was a man dancing in a speedo on either side of the dance floor. Every where I turned there was a different type of situation. At one turn i saw two men flirting, the next I see a group of women just having a good time.
We weren’t bothered at all (I’m not gay or bi, I came here for a birthday party for a friend). There was nothing unwelcomed that occured. I was complimented many times on my sick dancing SKILLZ. That just doesn’t happen at straight clubs.
I am ecstatic about the mixed gender bathrooms. I was way too happy about that, I just haven’t seen it before but I was all like, «Take that, society. We don’t need gender barriers!»
Go with an open mind and enjoy yourself!

A Mount Vernon staple for the LGBT community for decades, The Hippo has always been one of my favorite Baltimore hangouts. It doesn’t matter if you are straight or gay (most straight people hang out on the weekends), you will always have a good time here. I have attending shows, pageants, and even met contestants from RuPaul’s Drag Race here. Watch for the random, ridiculous bachelorette party they are always a hoot, they just don’t realize it.
This club/​bar/​disco/​pool hall (which as of 12−7−12, I noticed, the pool tables are missing) has something for everyone here. First, the drinks are good and cheap. Where else can you get two rounds for less than $ 20? Also, there is a great assortment of people to watch and everyone seems to be real outgoing and friendly.
Note: bathrooms are unisex, although there is a long standing tradition that the women’s bathroom is on the right and the men, the left. But The Hippo blurs the gender line and tonight I had the honor of waiting for a drag queen to come out of the stall. Loved the shoes!
We typically go for the karaōke, which is always fun. Shannon, the k-​jockey, is brilliant singer. Last weekend we walked into ballad night, however this weekend was fun and humorous assortment of drunk straight people, someone from India singing Lenny Kravitz, a shocked military lady who had her first experience with a unisex bathroom, and a chunky drunk housewife who wet the stage with her beer and dropped the microphone during her song and didn’t realize it! Kept singing though!
If you smoke or don’t smoke, take a chance on cabaret, drag show night and hang outside with the drag queens lighting up. Sometimes a good show happens outside too. Patrons, staff, and entertainment are very friendly, energetic, and diverse.

Well, let’s face it — Club Hippo is the pinnacle of indoctrination in Mount Vernon. Girls — get your groove on for the greatest Girl’s Night Out — and yes — there is plenty of eye candy, but zero pressure or advances from the clientelle ;o)
This place is perfect for a mixed group of single and taken peeps who just like to have fun and enjoy each others company. The jello shots with whipped cream are fabulous, and the DJ’s enraptured us all night long.

I saved this review for my 600^th just because I think the Hippo is fabulous. Bill D hit it right on with his review.
The Hippo is where I go with friends to have a great time, hear great music and we never have to worry about getting sleezed on. The place is a little older and the one bar on the right has a funky cigar room feel to it with a pool table. It reminds me of a VFW feel. The left side opens up later and there’s a $ 5 cover with a dance floor and two bars on either side. There’s bound to be interesting people to watch, a group of girls for a bachelorette party and delicious lime jello shots with whip cream for $ 1. I like the vibe and no one cares what anyone is doing, we’re all just having a fun time. The bathrooms are clean too. The downside is that if you’re a single girl thinking of hooking up with a handsome guy, don’t feel let down if he’s just not into you.

I have nothing but mad love for the Hippo.
First, it’s in Baltimore which should win at least Miss Congeniality if there was a Miss America contest for cities. Second, it’s the kind of gay bar that isn’t just for guys. It’s just as welcoming to women and it’s completely uncreepy for both genders.
I can say this because I’ve been going here on and off since (gulp) 1981. Not regularly, except for 1984 – 1985. Let me explain what I mean by «it’s Balitmore».
In that Baltimore is a real city and not a manufactured one like DC, people are a bit more comfortable in their skin. There’s surprisingly no attitude and perhaps — less expectations. There’s also none of the «I’ll look at you, you look at me and let’s all go home alone» nonsense that’s the DC standard. Everybody is extraordinarily genial. Sure, I’m a very married guy (translation: homo don’t play)
When you come through, it seems kind of serious. Cash cage. Security. Then — it’s the dance floor. And, honestly — it’s a really beat up old lumpy dance floor that theoretically sucks for country dancing (yeah, they do country dancing on occasion and the place is packed).
For me, back damn flash back to my military days when I’d go up there with my roommate who later became a bartender here and we’d dance our butts off all night and had such a great time that it didn’t matter whether or not either of us scored. Lots of crazy drama because we were young and it was the early ‘80s. Fast forward to 2010 and 2011 — and it’s a lot of the same women and men. We’re oh so damn much older, but everyone’s kinder, gentler and so much more Balitmore. If you live here, you understand what I mean.
Baltimore is kind of like a river filled with stones. It just looks tough, harsh. But the river smooths the edges of the stones, and gives them polish, while the stones purify the water. When people know you here, you get invited to dinner before and to breakfast after dancing because this is Baltimore.
There’s parking across the street, and no — it ain’t free children. It’s a cash honor box. Pay, fools. Don’t risk it.