Gay bar reno
LGBTQ+ Travel Guide
Bookmark our events calendar and plan your next trip to Reno around one of your favorite events.
Northern Nevada Pride takes place annually in Wingfield Park. Each year there is a parade through downtown Reno, concluding at Wingfield Park where the dwell entertainment and festival will take place. Northern Nevada Celebration is produced by and supports the efforts of Our Center - the local LGBTQ+ people center.
For the entire month of July, Reno is Artown. There are concerts at the beautiful Rancho San Rafael park just north of downtown, along with a variety of other live music, sway, culture and theatre events.
Burning Man returns to the Ebony Rock Desert, August 27-September 4. You can also spot the spirit and art of Burning Man all year long in Reno Tahoe. Art pieces from Burning Guy are sprinkled around Reno including Reno's Neon Line, just west of downtown, and City Plaza, located in the heart of Reno along the pretty Truckee River.
Each September, The Superb Reno Balloon Race sends more than 80 beautiful hot-air balloons into the skies over Reno. It has been one of Reno's most colorful and spectacular events for over three decades and is
Queer history is Reno history—from internationally known events like the Reno Gay Rodeo to the establishment of local institutions like Our Center, the Silver Dollar Court, and any number of gay bars and clubs.
However, centuries of pervasive homophobia and legal discrimination have kept much of Northern Nevada’s queer history out of the public eye. But in September, which is when our area celebrates Northern Nevada Pride, we’re spotlighting a limited historical milestones with the aid of some locals—a scholar, an activist, a publisher and a volunteer.
This timeline draws on insights from Jeffery Auer, designer of the Nevada LGBT Archive; Paco Lachoy, founder of the Reno Gay Pagenewspaper; Meredith Tanzer, who works in Northern Nevada HOPES’ philanthropy department and is a co-director of Northern Nevada Pride; and Janet Mackie, a volunteer for Our Center whose work on chronicling the Gay history of Nevada spurred the RN&R to create this timeline.
This list is by no means comprehensive, but in the service of sharing the right history of Northern Nevada, it’s a start.
Precolonial era
Actual historical records are sparse,
For six years, The Emerson, in Midtown, has filled a hole in Reno’s nightlife landscape.
It is more fun and less stuffy than expected from a midcentury-modern-inspired cocktail lounge; the soft design touches and vast collection of spirits create a welcoming environment. But what might seem like a kismet blend of ideas is a strategy devised by owner Tyler Colton, who has made it his mission to create spaces safe for everyone, where all who want to have fun and be kind are welcome. Now, in a time when definitively inclusive bars are needed more than ever, Colton is opening a new LGBTQ+ bar, The Selden—late this summer, if all goes according to plan.
The Emerson has had quite a untamed ride in its six years of business. It opened in July 2019, not long before the COVID-19 shutdowns. On foremost of the pandemic chaos came challenges like rising costs, changes in capital codes, and a fickle drinking population. Evolution is a requirement for bars to succeed now, and Colton has had to evolve the bar to be what the group needs.
“I think maybe having a child is the only thing that you can relate (opening a bar) to,” he said. “You’re nurturing it; yo
Roy Quilici had already managed several bars in Reno when he had the brick building at 424 East 4th Street constructed in 1940 to residence his namesake Quilici Bar. The building had a prime location. Fourth Highway was the main east-west thoroughfare through town, having been designated the Lincoln Highway and then U.S. 40. The Savage Building next door (now established as the Morris Hotel) had opened in 1931 with a hotel upstairs and retail below. And the hallway was rapidly becoming a thriving commercial district.
Roy (born Romolo Mansueto Quilici) was an Italian immigrant who lived in a residence right next door to the lock with his wife Mary Matilda and their four daughters. In 1945, Quilici sold the lock to George Mross, who renamed it the Reno Lock and claimed “We serve the largest glass of beer or whiskey in town at trendy prices.”
In 1953, the Quilicis had a small building constructed between their house and the Reno Bar, and opened it as a little coffee shop called the Green Cup Café, with Mary Quilici as the proprietor. Longtime Louis’ Basque Corner owner Louis Erreguible later remembered that the coffee shop was a popular morning gathering place for area workers.
In the 1960s