Part of the Gay Portland Guide — bars, events & things to do.
Portland, Oregon
Old Town's high-energy gay dance and video bar.
Badlands is a gay dance and video bar in Old Town Chinatown, opened in 2024 by LGBTQ+ owners in the long-running former Embers Avenue space (1969–2017), reviving a piece of downtown Portland's nightlife history at the same address. The room is built for going out: more than 40 screens running music videos (Top 40, Latin pop, and throwbacks from the '70s through the 2000s) over a new light and sound system, with unisex restrooms throughout. The calendar stays busy with DJ dance nights, drag shows and drag bingo, karaoke, trivia, pool tournaments, and TV viewing parties, so the energy ranges from low-key weeknight to packed weekend floor. It's one of the anchors that has helped pull queer nightlife back toward downtown, and for a visitor it's an easy first stop: central, high-energy, and welcoming to a mixed crowd rather than aimed at one niche.
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