Gay life is centered around Les Halles and Le Marais, with the greatest concentration of gay and lesbian clubs, restaurants, bars, and shops between the Hôtel de Ville and Rambuteau Métro stops. Gay dance clubs come and go so fast that even the magazines devoted to them -- E-mail and Illico, distributed free in the gay bars and bookstores -- have a hard time keeping up. For lesbians, there is Lesbian Magazine. Also look for Gai Pied's Guide Gai and Pariscope's regularly featured English-language section, "A Week of Gay Outings." Also important for both men and women is Têtu Magazine, sold at most newsstands.
For more on Paris's gay and lesbian scene, try Frommer's Gay & Lesbian Europe.
Café Cox, 15 rue des Archives, 4e (tel. 01-42-72-08-00), gets so busy in the early evening that the crowd stands on the sidewalk. This is where you'll find the most mixed gay crowd in Paris -- from hunky American tourists to sexy Parisian men. A hot new place in Les Halles is Le Tropic Café, 66 rue des Lombards, 1e (tel. 01-40-13-92-62; Métro: Châtelet-Les Halles), where the trendy, good-looking crowd parties until dawn. Le Gibus, 18 rue du Faubourg du Temple, 11e (tel. 01-47-00-78-88; Métro: République), opens every night as a late-night disco, entertaining diverse collections of counterculture Parisians. But Friday and Saturday nights are deliberately and exclusively gay, attracting some of the most drop-dead gorgeous men in the city. Drag shows, at least on weekends, form part of the entertainment. It's open nightly from midnight to 7am. Weeknight entrance costs from 2€ to 14€, depending on the venue, but on gay nights the charge is 17€, including the first drink.
A restaurant with a bar popular with women is Okawa, 40 rue Vieille-du-Temple, 4e (tel. 01-48-04-30-69; Métro: Hôtel de Ville), where trendy lesbians (and some gay men) enjoy happy hour. Les Scandaleuses, 6 rue des Ecouffes, 3e (tel. 01-48-87-39-26; Métro: St-Paul), is a bar for gay women where an unattached female can usually find a drinking buddy to tell her troubles to.
