Main Street Keeps the Fire Going
After the fall of Woody’s and the Boom Boom Room, there isn’t much left of an LGBT scene in Laguna Beach, the pioneering city of gay life in Orange County. However, in the shadows of the heterosexual families supplanting the gay social life in Laguna Beach, there remains the humble “hole in the wall” called Main Street Cabaret on Pacific Coast Highway, across from the old Boom.
The narrow building with a pseudo-Swiss sloping roof stands out next to the Coffee Klatch. The facility used to cater toward the straight crowds during the Boom Boom era, but now the clientele mostly comprises LGBT. The upstairs area, which was called Club Bounce, was shut down by the city a year ago. Now, only the lower level remains.
While the rest of Orange County is experiencing a “gay scene” momentum — cities such as Irvine, Santa Ana and Anaheim have venues like Lucky Events (Lucky Sundays, Spin, House of Blues), Seduction Sundays, and the old Stiff (now Spirit) — Main Street Cabaret is not getting the patronage it deserves. Whereas Lucky Events cater to the 18-plus crowd, Main Street caters to 21-and-over club goers.
Main Street is great for its dynamic music and warm, cheerful, talkative bartenders. Mondays and Tuesdays feature karaoke, and Wednesdays and Thursdays are for the best dance music spanning six decades. Fridays and Saturdays offer a music free-for-all, with open requests from the audience.
The bartenders are extremely nice, sweet and always happy. When you come in for the first time, the bartenders welcome you like they would an old friend. You can discuss life or politics, and the bartenders are not afraid to take you by the hand and introduce you to other groups. If you’re an introvert, you won’t be for long. Come more than once and you get hugs and your favorite drink. (Yes, they remember you and what you like!)
Best of all, people of all types come through, and everyone checks his or her attitude at the door. You can be yourself. Put down your guard, at Main Street it’s de rigueur to strike up a deep conversation when you least expect it.