Rawhide gay bar, 8th Avenue

One of the very few businesses along Chelsea's 8th Avenue that has been around since long before the neighborhood gentrified, rough-and-tumble Rawhide (212 8th Ave., 212-242-9332) still feels a bit like a time-warp - it's a dark, low-frills place that has long catered to the leather-and-Levi's crowd but that more recently has begun to pull in more of a mix of gay guys of all ages and styles. Still, lest anyone think Rawhide has gone soft, the bartenders here remain aloof and beefy, and the drinks potent and rather cheap. Rawhide will, happily, always be a somewhat seedy cruise bar. It's near a cluster of Chelsea gay bars that include Barracuda and The View, and it's also close to the Unicorn and Rainbow Station gay porn and sex shops.