A Gay Guide to Halloween Parties

When you’re a kid, Halloween means candy, goofy costumes and scampering through the neighborhood while your parent(s), babysitter or unusually responsible older sibling insists you stop running ahead and put on your coat, already! 

While you can never get too old for candy, Halloween takes on a slightly different meaning later in life: and by that we mean parties. And Salt Lake City’s gay scene has a lot of them going on this Oct. 31.
“Tons of my friends are seriously stoked because Halloween is one of the big bar holidays,” said Nova Starr, drag queen extraordinaire and owner of Gossip, a gay club in the city that boasts a huge Halloween bash every year.

You’re never too old to dress up or to party. Here’s a list of what the capitol’s gayest and most gay-friendly clubs are doing Halloween night.

Area 51: 348 W 500 S

Salt Lake City goth/punk/industrial hot spot Area 51 will celebrate All Hallows Eve with what its Web site calls its “legendary” Halloween Party. In honor of the day Area 51 will offer drink specials, $1000 in prizes for its costume contest and a $10 cover charge that includes a free pass to Nov. 1’s Heaven and Hell Party. The two floor club will offer two dance floors for the evening. Upstairs DJ Darren Weight, DJ Jeremiah and DJ Radar will spin alternative, electronica, dance, 80s tunes and requests. Downstairs DJ Evil K and DJ Viking join forces to spin industrial, goth and darkwave music into the wee hours. Doors open at 8:00 p.m.

Like many clubs around the valley, Area 51 will also extend its Halloween celebrations into the next month with its Heaven & Hell Party on the following day in which the club’s upstairs is transformed into a blacklight heaven and its downstairs becomes a steamy hell. Club-goers can complete the theme by coming dressed as angels or demons. The evening comes complete with more divine prizes and fiendish drink specials. Doors open at 9:00 p.m. and the cover charge is a mere $3 before 10:00 p.m., a mere $5 after.

Club Bliss/Babylon: 404 S West Temple

Dance club and bar Bliss will honor the spooky season with not one, but two parties. The first is the Halloween Block Party held Oct. 31 in which Club Elevate, Lumpy’s and The Hotel will also participate. A pass for the evening grants access to all clubs where DJ Jello, DJ Juggy, DJ Scarecrow and J2 will spin tunes well into the wee hours. Like many places around the valley, all four clubs will hold costume contests with cash prizes for the best outfits. Tickets to the block party are $25 for presale and $30 at the door. They can be purchased at 24tix.com or at all Smithtix locations.

On Nov. 1 the club will hold a “day after” Day of the Dead party featuring a costume contest and $500 in cash prize giveaways, as well as a number of other surprises. The party starts at 9:00 p.m.

Paper Moon: 3737 S State St

One of Salt Lake City’s two lesbian clubs, Paper Moon will strap on its Ruby Slippers and dance over the rainbow with its Halloween theme party “A Night in Oz.”

Designed by Vanessa Vaughn (the mind behind last year’s Willy Wonka-themed Halloween bash), the evening will see Paper Moon whimsically transformed into the Yellow Brick Road and the Emerald City, complete with appropriate drinks like Witch Juice, Ruby Slippers, Emerald City Shooters and Lollipop Shooters (so named, of course, for the Munchkin Lollipop Guild). Although revelers don’t need to dress up as Dorothy or Toto or even Glinda the Good Witch, Paper Moon’s costume contest will be giving away prizes for Best Oz costume as well as Best Sexy Costume and Most Original Costume.

Vaughn also said that the club had “really cool stuff coming in” for its prize giveaway, such as silk sheets, bar stools, sexy gift baskets and, best of all, neon bar signs, such as those seen in the windows of watering holes everywhere advertising everything from Budweiser to Corona to Bacardi.

“I’m really excited for that one,” she said.

Cover charge will be $5 for members and $6 for nonmembers.

Speaking of dressing up for those who can’t wait until Halloween, Vaughn will also host Devil’s Night: Fetish Ball 2008 at Paper Moon on Oct. 24. Party-goers are invited to come dressed in their favorite fetish wear from vinyl to rubber, lace to leather, corsets to spiked heels. The evening will include fire breathers, a senses table and a number of sexy prizes.

Club Sound/Gossip: 579 W 200 S

Since 2003, Gossip has boasted what owner and diva extraordinaire Nova Starr calls “the biggest gay Halloween party in town.” According to her, the club drew 1,600 partiers on Halloween night last year. They expect 2,000 to come this year.

The party will include a costume contest with $500 in cash prizes and gift certificates to adult boutique Mischievous Pleasures for the first second and third place and prize giveaways will also happen throughout the evening. Special guests will also drop in, including female impersonator Miss Wendy Williams, Portland, Oregon’s Sable Cities and Aden and Jordan Jaric, international porn icons from Falcon Studios who are also one of the few gay couples to star in porn videos together.

At midnight, Nova and her girls will take the stage for their Halloween show, which will also celebrate Gossip’s fifth anniversary at Club Sound.

Club doors open at 9:30, and Nova advised partiers to come early and to bring their coats.

“We will have lines wrapped around the building at 11 o’clock,” she predicted.

Cover charge is $5 for the club’s 21 and over side and $7 for its 18 and over side.

The Trapp: 102 S 600 W

Located just a stone’s throw from The Gateway Center, this comfy gay bar is something of a community landmark with its trademark front patio and its reputation for a relaxed, inviting atmosphere. The Trapp’s Halloween celebration this year perfectly matches the club’s character: a party and a costume contest with cash prizes for the most fabulous entries.
There is no cover charge for members.

The Trapp Door: 615 W 100 S

Located behind The Trapp, The Trapp Door will hold what is arguably the city’s longest Halloween Party. Beginning Oct. 30 with its All Hallow’s Eve Dead Man’s Party with DJ DC. On Halloween proper the club will hold its Gothic Night with what Trapp Door promotions and advertising specialist Justus Salazar calls “every DJ imaginable from the Gothic crowd.”
If partiers aren’t exhausted by Nov. 1 the club will hold its Latin Night Halloween Celebration. Called “the biggest Latin Night in Salt Lake City hands down” by Salazar, this party will feature DJ Frank and a live talk show with Manuel Arano, who will have what Salazar called “the first gay radio show on any Latin station anywhere.”

Club Try-Angles: 251 W 900 S

Known for its 80s nights, underwear parties and famous beer-battered weenies, this gay-owned dance club and bar will hold a costume contest with cash prizes for the top three places on Halloween Night in an event appropriately called “Halloween Party.”

“We’re real creative around here,” laughed owner Gene Geiber.

Although details are still in the planning, Geiber said the bar and club will likely screen camp classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show at 8:00 p.m. and open its doors for revelers after the credits roll.
The costume contest may also break in one of the club’s newest toys if Geiber and company can work out all the bugs before the big night: a text messaging system at the bar.

“We don’t have it in stone, but we have a text to video program in the bar and we’re thinking of taking the top ten [costume contest] entrants and having people text in their vote,” said Geiber. “But I haven’t perfected that yet.”

There is no cover charge for members.

W Lounge: 358 S West Temple

Fans of Indie music should scoot over to the W Lounge on Halloween night for a concert with South Carolina’s Culture Prophet. This eclectic electro/ghettotech/New Wave/grindcore/Death Metal group will play well into the chilly, early hours.