Boatslip Beach Club

About this place Boatslip Beach Club

The Boatslip Beach Club is the home of one of the most distinctive social institutions in the American gay calendar: the Provincetown tea dance. Every afternoon from approximately 4pm to 7pm throughout the summer season, the Boatslip's outdoor deck above Cape Cod Bay fills with several hundred people for a ritual that defies simple categorisation. It is a dance event — there is a DJ, and people do dance — but it is also a neighbourhood social hour, a daily meeting of the Provincetown community, and an outdoor party that takes full advantage of one of the most beautiful settings of any gay bar in the United States. The late afternoon light on the water, the harbour in the background, the mixture of longtime regulars and first-time visitors: the tea dance has a specific quality that no number of circuit parties or nightclub nights replicates. The tradition dates to the early 1970s when Provincetown was establishing the social forms of the gay resort town. The Boatslip also operates as a resort hotel and has a pool, poolside bar, and beach access. For visitors to Provincetown, attendance at the tea dance is as mandatory as a visit to the A-House — it is the experience that most precisely encapsulates what makes Provincetown unique.