Rawhide 2010

About this place Rawhide 2010

Rawhide on Burgundy Street is the French Quarter's leather bar — a long-running venue in the tradition of the classic American leather bar that has maintained its identity and culture through the full range of changes in the gay nightlife landscape. The bar operates on Burgundy Street, one block from Bourbon, in a French Quarter building that has the compressed, low-ceilinged intimacy characteristic of the neighbourhood's commercial architecture. The format is the established one of the leather bar: a welcoming environment for the leather, Levi's, and bear communities, with a culture of dress codes that apply particularly on themed nights, a darkroom for those who want it, and an atmosphere calibrated for cruise rather than performance. Rawhide has been in continuous operation long enough to have accumulated the community memory and regular clientele that make a leather bar more than its physical fixtures. For leather and bear visitors to New Orleans, Rawhide is the correct address — the French Quarter location makes it easy to incorporate into an evening that also includes the Bourbon Street clubs, and the Burgundy Street setting is slightly quieter than the main tourist artery while remaining entirely within the French Quarter's walkable geography.