The Bottom Line
A venerable cruise and video bar with two floors and three distinct areas for socializing, Woody's is de rigueur for visitors to the City of Brotherly Love. The interior isn't especially distinctive, but you'll find every kinda guy at this place, which pulls in big crowds every night of the week.
Pros
- Always draws a good-size, eclecitc crowd
- Central location in heart of Philly's "Gayborhood"
- Eclectic themes and events, from Latin to country-western to 18-and-over nights
- Free Internet surfing at three terminals
- How can you not love a place with a drag hostess named Salotta Tee?
Cons
- Dance floor is compact
- Decor is a little dated and it can feel cramped and stuffy in here
Description
- In the very center of Philadelphia and its "Gayborhood", at 202 S. 13th St., 215-545-1893
- A dependable and fun video and cruise bar with a dance bar and coffeehouse as well - something for everyone
- The crowd is about 80/20 male/female, but spanning all ages (generally younger in the dance bar, and older downstairs)
- Many of the city's other gay bars as well as the majority of Philadephia's major downtown hotels are within walking distance
Guide Review - Woody's Bar & Nightclub - Gay Philadelphia -
A longtime fixture in Philadelphia's historic City Center, which is also home to that lively rectangle of GLBT life known here as the "Gayborhood," Woody's merely seems older than Independence Hall. In fact, it opened in 1980. Granted, it's impressive for a gay bar not only to last nearly three decades but to continue to rank among the city's top gay social hangouts for so long.
Woody's consists of a tavernesque main bar at streetlevel, which tends to draw a mellower, conversationally inclined bunch. This leads to a second bar and then beyond that a relaxing coffeehouse, where during warmer whether windows open onto the street - this makes for enjoyable people-watching here in the Gayborhood.
Younger visitors generally ascend to the upstairs, which comprises a cozy cocktail lounge (the most attractive space at Woody's) as well as a relatively small but festive dance bar, where you can catch anything from country-western line-dancing and two-stepping (early on Friday and Sunday evenings) to Latin tunes to the usual dance music. With so many rooms and the different theme nights, you can almost always find your niche at Woody's, which draws a mostly male crowd of all ages (there's even an 18-and-over night on Wednesdays). Women are quite welcome but constitute a distinct minority.
Woody's is well-worn but still relatively well-maintained, toned down from its stand-and-model heyday. Regulars don't seem to be clamoring for it to change, although new owners (who also operate the trendy clubs Pure and Bump) bought Woody's in November 2006, so it's possible - even likely - that the bar will undergo some sort of makeover in the near future.
