The Mineshaft

About this place The Mineshaft

The Mineshaft at 1720 E Broadway is one of the defining institutions of Long Beach's gay scene — a leather and cruise bar that has operated on the Broadway Corridor long enough to have accumulated the kind of community history that cannot be manufactured. The bar occupies its position at the eastern end of the Broadway gay strip as the leather-oriented anchor of the neighbourhood, drawing a community of regulars from Long Beach and across greater Los Angeles who prefer the specific culture of the leather bar to the dance-club format. The Mineshaft aesthetic is the classic American leather bar: darker lighting, pool table, jukebox, a crowd in denim and leather, and a social atmosphere built on the direct communication style that leather culture tends to promote. The bar is not exclusive — curious newcomers are welcomed — but it has a coherent identity that defines its regulars. For visitors interested in the leather and bear culture that runs through the Long Beach gay scene, the Mineshaft is the essential starting point. The Broadway location makes it walkable from The Falcon and the other corridor venues.