Lipstick24

I was in Austin for work and happened to be going through a tumultuous break up so my friend insisted on taking me to the local gayborhood to drink and flirt my sorrows away. Well… she tried.
We arrived around 11pm on a Friday evening. The place was empty save the bartender, a handful of very unattractive women and a cold, abandoned stripper pole. Maybe I was just there on an off night, but I’ve experienced much better girl scenes in smaller cities/​towns. We stayed for five minutes before abandoning the joint for a much livelier straight bar.
I’ll be back, Lipstick24. I refuse to accept that this is all the love that you can give me, because I love Austin. I really hope we can click the next time around. xoxo.

We had time to kill for a show at Red 7 and I noticed the mural of Leslie Cochran across the street. That’s how my fiancée and I ended up in this place. The door person was very friendly… almost a little too friendly *nervous laugh*. The bartender lady was sweet and cool with us. We actually ran into a straight guy friend of ours and we all had a «What are YOU doing here?» moment. Apparently there is a music venue adjacent to this bar. You have to go around the outside to access it. This place is ok, I guess. Good people-​watching experience, though. I like to play this game in my head called, «Man, Woman, or Midwestern». It was fun.

I did not realize that it was a common experience for men to be glared at in a Lesbian bar. Most men who go are going with female friends or are gay themselves. Not every man who goes to a lesbian bar is trying to be a pervert who will save the gay woman from a life of homosexuality by showing her what a «real man feels like» (brrrrr). Anyway, I digress; the reason for that statement is that it is wrong for my husband and I to go to Lipstick 24 and as soon as I go to the bathroom, he gets glared at by so many of the lesbians that it looked like he just offered to impregnate the whole bar in the back seat of his Dodge. I understand that this is a lesbian bar but if the people want to be hostile then it makes me feel like I’m driving in the worst part of the ghetto with 14K rims in a Lamborghini with a flat tire. I do agree that the place has a tacky atmosphere. It’s not because it is not allowing us to think we are going to step into some groovy bar from the L Word. It was disappointing. The only thing that will make it fun is going with good «female» friends who will not be discriminated against.

DO NOT ENTER if you have male genitalia.
I was enticed to visit Lipstick24 when friends invited me there to see Lesbian pudding wrestling. While I’m sure it wasn’t vegan pudding and I prefer the gents… I am always down for a couple of ladies throwing down in some Bill Cosby loving pudding. After walking through the door, we stopped at bar to grab drink before partaking in the action.
There were three of us (all gay men) at the bar attempting to order a beer. We waited for nearly 20 minutes for a bartender to even acknowledge us. This staff was completely inept, I’ve never seen such incompetence with when most of the ladies here were only ordering beers.
After finally, receiving our beers we headed to back patio for some girl-​on-​girl pudding action but we were too late. While we waited at the front bar, the pudding wrestling had ended. In order to console ourselves we decided to grab a couple more drinks from the outside bar. While this bar was not well stocked, we were greeted by a very gregarious and adorable bartender that was in stark comparison to our earlier experience.
This place was packed but I guess that’s to be expected since it’s the only lesbian bar in town. Overall, I don’t think I’d go back. I understand the infighting between the gays and lesbians but I don’t like to be treated like a second class citizen.

Great atmosphere and friendly staff. I always have a good time here. Jeanna and Kristen are two of the best bartenders ever! The management is awesome and extremely supportive of the LGBT community (as a gay bar should be, of course)…and they are always open to suggestions on how to improve the bar. They have a great exterior patio and entertaining DJ’s…and sometimes infuse some hot dancers into the mix, as well. I highly suggest visiting this bar if you enjoy a laid back, friendly gay bar. Never judge a book by it’s cover. It doesn’t look like much from the street, but you will be pleasantly surprised after walking through the doors. I know I was. This is now one of my «regular» nightlife spots in Austin.

This place has come a long way. Honestly when it first opened, I wasn’t impressed, but since the staff and management changed, I love this place. It’s not swanky, but lets get real, most of the Austin Lesbians aren’t looking for a high-​class lounge.
There’s a big dance floor, which is nice, and the outside patio is awesome during the warmer months. They’re very active in the LGBT community and support local artists and other businesses which I appreciate.
The staff is friendly and the drink prices are reasonable. It’s kind of hidden, so I think a lot of people have yet to discover the place, but it gets hopping on weekends for sure!

So a very drunken birthday friend was curious about this place and we all acquiesced to checking out Lipstick after promises of shots and people watching. And I wasn’t sure what to expect, having never really been to a lady gay bar. I was pleasantly surprised, actually.
Really nice bartender, super cool funky hair styles everywhere, a pretty big space, pool table, mrs. pacman, nice outdoor patio. Drinks weren’t overly expensive and the folks we talked to were all quite friendly. It’s nice and new inside with some art on the walls and a white ikea style leather seating area.
I’m torn between 3 and four stars actually — 3 because, well the name IS terrible and we had some raspberry lemonade concoction that was like sugary death. But 4 because it’s easy going, easy parking and laid back. And I dig that in a bar.

So, I reluctantly visited this place again because my roommate was playing at their Open Mic night on Thursday evenings. After the New Year’s Eve disaster of a night I was skeptical. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. The place seemed more intimate, although there weren’t many people there so that might have been part of it. The bartender with short blonde hair and tattoos was very nice and friendly. Not sure if I would return here for a typical Friday or Saturday night out but Thursdays for Open Mic night are cool in my book.

Lipstick has recently changed management. I see a lot of negative reviews but they are dated. I’ve had a lot of fun here in the past few weeks and recommend them. Easy free parking under I-​35 most nights, decent drinks, some great DJ’s, live events. Not your typical «smells like booze and black walls» kind of place. Good outdoor area, decent dance floor. Don’t expect much of a crowd if you go early, but it gets hopping later.

I have such mixed feelings about this place.
The décor is pretty bad.
The sign out front is awful, and it has the worst name for a bar I’ve ever heard, lesbian or otherwise.
The first time I went there I expected to hate it and went there out of morbid curiosity.
So it surprised the hell out of me to end up staying there until last call and to find myself dancing & having a genuinely good time!
The things I like about it are that it’s extremely unpretentious and never over-​crowded. It’s an easy place to visit and doesn’t require a lot of energy like Rain or Kiss ‘n Fly.
The music isn’t really that impressive but the weekend DJ seems like a nice lady.
It’s bad and tacky in a way that feels kinda comfortable, which must be why I’ve been there enough times that one of the bartenders remembers me now (and my friends have started making fun of me for that, and rightly so).
I did not like the $ 20 cover when they hosted Sin Party, but my beef is really with Sin in general, not necessarily Lipstick.

Come on, this is a Joke.
This is the TACKIEST place i’ve ever been to.
It’s like Rainbow, (Now Closed, thank god) but tackier. They couldn’t even get an original name, Lipstick?, you mean like the one in Mexico City? (waaaaay better, BTW)…No thanks.
Enough said.

So I know this is a little late, but I still have to share. I took a group of my friends here for new years b/​c they were all coming in from out of town and wanted to try out the new gay bar in town. Totally fine. We got to the door to find out it was a $ 25 COVER to get in. So right there I was already annoyed. On their website, they didn’t say anything about a $ 25 cover, only that they were going to have a champagne toast, and some girl from The Real L Word would be there. Sure fine. They night was pretty lame, with a half full bar and music from four/​five years ago. We didn’t want to leave b/​c we kept thinking more people would show up, and we just spent $ 25 to walk in! We ended up leaving a little after 1 to go to a few other bars. Oh and guess was. NO CHAMPAGNE TOAST! That’s called false advertisement! It’s unfortunate that this place isn’t run very well. We’ll be sticking to Rain and KissnFly.

So last night had all the makings to be epic. I went to a show at Antone’s and then my friend wanted to take me (and the two guys I was with) to Lipstick 24. Cool! I am an Ally, and I love dance bars and supporting local LGBTQ businesses, so I was all about it.
There was a photo booth to the left, a pole to dance on, a stage, and a back porch area. The bar is a bit tiny, and there was only 1 bartender behind it.
Well I had enough to drink, so I just went out back to chat with my friends – the inside was really loud (which is totally fine, as a dance bar, it should be). I had a perfectly pleasant time until it was time for us to leave.
My friend Patrick waited at the bar for almost 20 minutes. The bartender served EVERYONE but him over and over. I walked up and gestured to the bartender, and she immediately walked up. I was really outraged and angered by it. Why ignore the guy who wants to close his tab, who has bought drinks, and who has enjoyed your bar and wants to come back?
It definitely left a bad taste in my mouth.

At the suggestion of a group of girlfriends who had been to Lipstick several times, another friend and I headed there with the intention of us all meeting up as a big group. The two of got there a little before our other 5 friends, so the two of us headed to the back bar first. We stood there and waited for about 20 minutes to be helped, and while the bar was a little busy, it wasn’t busy enough that it should have taken as long as it did. Other parts of the same bar were served multiple times when we were not helped at all.
Frustrated, my friend and I headed to the bigger bar in the front, where we again waited for about 15 minutes to be helped. As soon as the bartender finished the round that would have her serving us next, she jumped to the beginning of her rotation of her section at the bar, and started helping people over there instead. I called my friends, told them how terrible the service was, and the 7 of us went to Kiss & Fly instead.
Talking with my female friends, their guess is that the owner is a manhater. I don’t know if that’s the case, and I’m personally not going to assume it is in hopes that it was just sheer incidence that my experience was terrible. If that is the case though, it seems rather narrow-​sighted to skip over someone who considers himself an ally and wholeheartedly supports your lifestyle. I can’t imagine that you would be okay with the roles being reversed, ignored in a «straight» bar just because you are gay. Equality goes both ways — you can’t expect to be treated equally if you are unwilling to treat others in a way that you expect to be treated yourself. Like I said, I hope this is not the case, but it’s hard to assume otherwise when I was basically the only guy there and was the only one not being served.

I was so excited to hear that Austin was getting another lesbian bar. Went to Lipstick24 for their pre-​Grand Opening Halloween party last night, and I am very happy to say that I think this is the one I’ve been waiting for! Super-​friendly and talented staff, beautiful re-​done space with a great patio, and fab music– I really enjoyed Goddess and She, but the DJ was also really good! There were lots of beautiful people there, in costume and out, and I was really impressed with the turnout. Everyone was clearly having fun, and the vibe was laid-​back and friendly but fashionable. There are tons of bathrooms, and though there was a minor mishap with the toilets in one of them, the staff made sure you knew where the other bathrooms were, making it easy to work around. I give them extra points for handling it gracefully and efficiently– it’s obvious they care about their customers! I will be back frequently, and can recommend it without reservation for a very fun night!

Wow — what an incredible addition to East 7^th Street scene! It’s the old Creekside and remodeled to perfection. It’s split up into 3 rooms, the sleek lounge, game room with pool tables and darts, and a dance club with killer lights, djs and live music.
We went last night for their opening Halloween party. The bartenders were so nice and quick, and the clientele was super sweet and welcoming. We danced our little booties off, and are feeling it today.
Going back for sure to hang out on the patio — didn’t get too much time back there from having so much fun inside.