Jet

I used to love this place, still kinda do but not as much. I used to get in for free and get free drinks a lot, which I never expected to get but it was just the cherry on that sweet ice cream sundae of a night.
But alas, that streak of VIP-​ness ended and it decided to charge like $ 8 cover or something (Café is around $ 3 with a much bigger space) and have ugly go-​go dancers on top of the bar. I hope the increase in cover didn’t go to pay them. I have read that Jet has been planning to take over the space next door to expand, which would make the place much better so I hope the money goes towards a speedy upgrade.
The place has great music, great vibe, great bartenders, and great fun. My plan was always to go to Jet for a few drinks and then head to Café but 75% of the time, we would never make it there because we were just having too much fun. The 25% we did go to Café has happened more recently since Jet hasn’t been as fun.
Here’s hoping the expanded Jet, whenever it comes, will keep the essence of what I really loved about it and kept coming back for.
NOTE: Jet is only temporary closed for renovation and expansion. No idea on when it will be done but the website says it is «returning with a vengeance» in 2009 (
).

I went to this place for the first time last Friday and overall this place is okay. The space inside is actually pretty cool — it’s modern and interesting, which is different from most of the bars in the Castro which tend to be divey. The music is pretty good — a blend of pop, dance and hip-​hop. The crowd isn’t all that great… I guess it depends on what you’re into: you don’t have to dress up to get into this place and once inside, some people can dance pretty sleazy, which in its own way is kind of entertaining, but I don’t necessarily want sweaty people dancing next to me.
Keep in mind that they do charge a cover and sometimes the line can get pretty long and doesn’t move very fast. Is the line worth it? Definitely not. Is this spot good for pretty people-​watching? No. Is this place good for dancing? Only if you’re 21 and don’t mind being bumped and shoved by crazy, sweaty «dancers».
BTW — bad drinks.

I went a couple of hours ago… the buzz is wearing off. But this place is seriously off the hook. They played the best music, had three dollar drinks (and i guess I went on the wrong night, because on Monday it’s only ONE dollar!), and the crowd was feeling it. It’s small, but honestly, it was better than the other bars I visited tonight (Bar, The Café, and Badlands … The Café sucked tonight!). I met some cool people, danced with a bunch of gay dudes, and I was in heaven. Sort of. But all I know is that I ended up eating some burrito on Mission, which was really good after a long night of drinking, dancing, and wearing my ghetto-​fab sunglasses inside while dancing to «Love In This Club.» Seriously.
p. s. they should probably fix that bar thing up on the stage, because me and a bunch of folks were literally hanging off that thing and it was ready to break off.

UPDATED 3÷23÷08!
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Made it here on a Friday night. This place is more crowded than a pizza joint next to a Curves.
The music is fun, a change of pace from the usual Castro *thump thump* repertoire (but I do like that kinda of music also). Lotta booty shaking going on too. However, cover was gouging. 8 bucks, and though fun, its totally not worth that kind of money. Dancefloor was packed, it kinda smelled like ass, and drinks are overpriced as well.
Funny thing too, one of my friends got hit on by someone that looked like Little Jon, braid flicking and all. YEAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
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Yay dollar drinks! Went for my first time on Thursday, no cover, STRONG dollar drinks. I really wanted to ask for more tonic in my vodka tonic, but I felt like a pussy doing so, I sucked it up and, well, sucked it up (the drink!).
The space could be better utilized, but I do like the industrial chic look that this place is trying to portray.
I will definitely swing by if I’m around on Thursday, but I doubt I would go here on any other night.

Terrible space. I can’t believe with the makeover they did to rip out the Detour and replace it with a new club they didn’t do obvious things that would have opened the space up more (ie, tear down the hallways from the door, move the bar closer to the front, put the dance floor in the back, rent the building next door as well, expand into that building…)
A cover. Uhm, okay. A doorman in a suit… uh, is this LA?
Now, I’m going to give this place two stars for the Latin night on Sundays. They have an amazing drag show (in Spanish, but still funny to a non-​Spanish speaker.) And the crowd switches over to spanish speaking working class latinos. The vibe of this place goes from pretentious Rolo wearing cunts to friendly latinos in 30 minutes flat. Oh what an improvement!
So for Sunday night alone, I give this bar two stars.

Cheap cover– 3 $ after 10:30 on a Friday. 2 $ for coat check.
I have not been in such a mixed crowd… EVER. We’re talking Age, Race, Sex Pref, Gender, Dancing ability… Damn that was a fun night.
Go in without expectations as to who’s gonna be there and you won’t be disappointed. Great DJ, and interesting décor. Everyone looks like a vampire with brown eyes turned to violet and teeth glowing in the lighting. The walls are padded and very comfortable to rest upon while just perusing the eye candy. Its always fun to see how freaky people get on the dance floor.

Definitely the place in the city to see and «BE SCENE».
I was not expecting much of this place, but I was really impressed. Generally, everyone here is nice. Admittedly, I felt a little sad when I realized I was not in West Hollywood anymore — instead, I was getting pushed around because I was the straight girl roaming around but then a wonderful group of men brought their glasses up to cheers me and then another man ditched his boyfriend and saved me to dance with me! I mean wow, loved it! *still got it* :)
The décor is simple but nice, music was great and I loved the crowd, staff was also very nice. The cover does not help with crowd control :(. but I’d love to come back!
Minus one star because the place is incredibly tiny and kind of smelly/​humid/​musty. The smell upon walking in is pretty gross, but their effort in making the place a bit festive with a fresh wreath made it smell like public bathroom meets generic car freshener shaped in a tree. The weird thing is, I don’t really know where the bathroom is in this place and I’m not so sure it’s near the entrance so I have no idea where the smell is coming from. Also, I did not like the mini-​room (the only other room, not facing the bar). If your friends wander in there, I suggest you wait for them to come and find you because you will NOT be able to shove your way through or kindly ask to pass by to find them. It’s 2007/​8, send a text message.
Can I also minus one star for the hot guys? Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink… sigh.

Good things about JET:
–cheap drinks (at least when i’ve been there)
–decent music
–people there are okay
–they used to have a stripper pole, i think, that anyone could use
–cheap cover
–close to other places if you wanna leave…
Not so good things about JET:
–the bartender’s boyfriend kept harassing me and my friends
–men there hit on me, because they think i’m a boy when i’m not
–pretty small space… so its gonna get packed and there could be a line
–one time i was there, the bathroom overflowed
yeah, jet is aiight i guess.

Thanks Jess, I saw you shakin that thang on the box… whoooo!
I’m gonna give the place my special kinda review with certain points in mind…
First of all, I gotta say this is one of the best dj booths I’ve ever worked in, the booth is nice and private, the gear is all new and lucky for me, not that many djs use turntables anymore so there’s no abuse on them… gotta love that. There’s not a lot of clubs where you can see almost the entire dancefloor from booth but this is one of em.
Bartenders/staff…this place and ICON lounge are the best (entire) staff I’ve worked with, they really take care of you. The bartenders, manager and even Greg the owner will constantly check up on me while I’m spinning to see if i need anything to drink, they’re always very welcoming of my friends and take care of them on drinks as well… to the point where we had our own private «bottle service» in the dj booth on sunday night during pride weekend
My friends… so far, everyone I’ve invited out has had a great time, straight or gay, they love the place. Now, I’m straight but I’ve come thru a couple times even when I wasn’t spinning and its always just a chill spot to hang out… funny story, I passed through after the castro street fair and met a bunch of girls & guys. Once one of the guys in that group found out I was straight, he was all introducing me to all his female friends, it was great.

Sexy people of color! Gays! Dykes even! Hip hop (thank heaven)! Good drinks! Not a ripoff!
Aside from the tiny size, the crowding later into the night (due to the aforementioned size), and the mean, grabby bouncer (that was MY water bottle, damn it, though the door guy did look really apologetic), my mini-​posse and I had a great time… even though one guy seemed to think a simulated seizure is a good dance move. Whatever.

It’s a toss-​up between Jet and Midnight Sun as to exactly which bar is the worst gay bar in the Castro… as much as I pity the «Sun», the award for most pathetic attempt to pimp my money goes to JET!
This is perhaps the lamest bar I have ever had the displeasure of entering. The drinks are average, yet slightly over priced. The dance «area» is about the size of my closet, and the «furniture» is about as comfortable as the holding areas at SFO… I guess we know where they got inspiration for the name!
Fasten your seatbelt, put your seat-​trays in the full upright position and Jet yourself somewhere else, because this bitch has decidedly taken a long landing on a short runway… crash and burn!

Jet was made for the weekend. It may depend on the DJ, but Fridays and Saturdays seem to usually be hip-​hop/​pop. And great hip-​hop/​top pop stuff at that.
I’m kinda over the pounding incessant beats of hard techno and house. I can deal with it once in a while, especially if it’s good, but I miss the stuff that I can really dance to. The stuff that makes you shake it. Even if you’re shaking up on top of about 10 other bodies that are shakin’ it just as hard as you.
Jet’s a cute space. It’s tiny, but they do a great job of making it look bigger, with clever lighting, and some key well placed «dancing» blocks (about 2), if you want your own space to dance.
DJ Ajax, had everybody moving last night. I haven’t seen that much hard-​core booty shaking for awhile. And everyone was right on rhythm too. It was good energy all around, and I can’t tell you how good it is to hear.
Britney — Gimme More played on full blast.
Beautiful stuff.

First off, that’s not a mirror in the hallway. That’s a painting. Everyone knows vampires cast no reflection, silly!
Anyway, here are the elements I considered in my rating:
(Relatively) clean bar = +2 stars
Not being able to reapply lip gloss in supposed «mirror» = (–1) star
Bar is the former set of Soul Plane = +1 star
Joy of seeing whitey dancing to hiphop = +1 star
Relatively well-​dressed clientele = +1 star (oh go fuck yourself, like the tragic A&F wastrels over at Sadlands are better)
Claustrophobia requiring massive doses of haldol and seconal to correct = (–1) star
Cute bartenders who, more importantly, mix good drinks = +1 star
Grand mal seizure induced by blinking lights behind bar = (–1) star
A bed = +1 star
A bed WITHOUT cumstains = (–1) star
TOTAL = Three stars

I was here once when this place first opened. A friend dragged me there for some 92.7 promotion. All 6 of us who were in the bar and not involved with the promotion just kinda starred at each other.
Can I just ask… What’s with all the lights behind the bar?
Much like Badlands (see my review for that), this place is trying waaaaaaaaay too hard. If you like to pretend that you’re in LA and want to act like a snotty bitch, this place is probably for you

It is impossible to «jet» anywhere in this place. It is small and you are sardined amongst so many people that you can barely move. They have a bed, which is good if you feel like taking a nap, but the music is so loud you probably wont be able to sleep. The décor is pretty awesome, dark and chic. It is definitely not your typical thoughtless bar and dance floor setup that most of the Castro bars are fond of. This place would be much better if they moved to a larger space or limited the amount of people they let in on a weekend. Try it on a Tuesday, you may be the only customer in the place but you will be guaranteed to score the bed.
I said score the bed, not score ON the bed, sheesh!

Although I am by no means a «big booty ho» …I had a tremendously awesome time pretending to be one!
Anyone who has ever been to a club with me knows that I can’t dance for shit. The DJ here kicked ass and I couldn’t help but move to the fantastically ghettofabulous music they were playing. There was enough hip grinding, booty bumpin music for dayz.
Now, They get 5 Stars because I had such a good time here. It was pride weekend and everyone was just having a blast. The club itself was a bit too crowded for my tastes, but i was so faded (haha) that I didn’t care. 5 Stars for now, we’ll see how it is on a non-​busy night :)

Every once in a while when I go to the Castro and hit up the clubs there is something new to be seen, a new coffee house to be opened where the old coffee house closed, a new antique store… you get my drift. It was a time like this when I came across Jet. Formerly known as Detour, the club from the outside looks like something of a car garage/​warehouse of sorts. I didn’t think about going into it… that is of course, until one of my friends convinced me to join him in viewing it for the first time because… Why not?
As we leave the Café that Thursday night (A very difficult thing for me since I love Pan Dulce) and cross the street to enter Jet, we are stopped by this juggernaut of a doorman who requests that we relinquish one of the 5 dollar bills that reside in my wallet. I laughed and walked away but my friend, who was also drunk insisted on paying for me. Of course I let him and I walk right in.
This club was a haven for vain queens who have nothing better to do than look in the mirror and fix their faux hawks and sip on their cosmos. A perfect spot for them since this place is all about the mirror image… perhaps it makes cruising more conspicuous, perhaps not. I felt like it was hard to breathe inside the place because it was hot, either from ventilation issues or too many people or both, the only places to sit down were completely filled with people who weren’t even conversing with each other. «Why are you here?» I thought to myself as look at my friend who knew I was not enjoying this place, so we finish our drinks (Our only saving grace) and dip out and head back to Latino Land.
The point of the story? If you want to be around a bunch of pretentious twink queens who love mirrors more than they will love you, you’re probably better off hitting this place up. But remember, you can get the same thing at Badlands with a bigger crowd… the downfall to that is that you’ll have to supply your own compact.
Overall this place has a lot of potential, and while I am ragging on it I can say that it isn’t impossible for me to not show my face here again. If they had more space, lost the cover charge and keep the cute bartender, this place could have a recipe for success.
2 Yellows

The first time I went here was to stop in for a drink on st. patty’s day. I met my friend Martin here cause he is always cruising the stro. It was nice and low key. I had just bought my canon 20D so we were taking pics. Hottie hot hot bartender alert and he could make a mean Sauza margarita. We had a few cocktails then a heard of bears came storming through the place on a pub crawl. The hottie bartender busted out his whip and put those bears in their place. I have been there a few times since and no bears… grrrrrrrrr
Tip-​great cove with pink lighting for a hot make out session.

Yes, this is a gay bar
Yes, they refer to themselves as a Gentleman’s club
Yes, they have a unisex bathroom
Yes, hearing men tinkling next to me turns me on
Yes, even if they are pole smokers
Yes, Jet has a B-​E-​D 3ft away from the B-​A-​R
As a straight woman with enough sass and ass to get down with ‘the kids’ — I love this place. But, if bitchy boys make you cry you’d better head on down to Union Square.

UPDATE: It’s gotten way better. Thanks Luis — my hot Latino caliente boyfriend who is the general manager at Jet and who is also unfortunately straight and in love with my gal pal. (UGH why is it ALWAYS like this? I’m like Michelle from Destiny’s Child, always the bridesmaid, never the solo singer with the successful career and a Spanish-​translated re-​released album!) But, yeah, a club with receptive employees? Get out! This NEVER happens!
~*~*~
I am bespectacled. I’ve accepted that when I go to a club that happens to be, say, on and popping, that there most certainly will be a transition period of 1 minute whereupon the lenses upon my face will be fogged up, and everything looks really gray and cloudy, before I am acclimated.
At this place? It takes like 5 minutes! In gay time, and especially in the clubs, that’s like 3 life partner ceremonies and a Cher Farewell Tour to boot! There really needs to be like a crazy super-​powerful fan blowing air (UPDATE: They have installed a gigantic ceiling fan. Let’s hope it never breaks off and falls on the dancing queens!) onto the majority of the customers are tiny little Asian hoodrats because the Asians don’t possess the same amount of musk-​producing hormones as other races do, so it don’t really ever unbearably stink. UPDATE: The clientele has evolved to include a wide variety of colors and affectations. You got your preps, your thugs, your averages, your crazies, your lezzies, your drunks, and you got your young’uns.
The décor is very interior coffin chic. Lagerfield would have a field day, honeys! And the super star army of bulbs behind the (incredibly hot but mostly heterosexual [curse them!]) bartenders is sooo Chicago and you totally feel like Velma and Roxie doing «Hot Honey Rag» or some such thing)
The $ 5 has been lowered to $ 3 I believe, which is awesome, and you can still get in for free before 10 pm, but who goes clubbing that early right? Well, I say, WHY NOT? Then you can go home earlier and don’t have to ruin your sleep cycle, especially if you got a 9 – 5 that starts at 8 am! Viva la dance dance revolucion!