Part of the Gay Oakland Guide — bars, events & things to do.
Oakland, California
QPOC-owned Art Deco cocktail bar in Oakland's historic I. Magnin building
Town Bar & Lounge is a QPOC-owned Art Deco cocktail bar in Oakland's Uptown district, opened in 2023 by Joshua Huynh inside the historic I. Magnin building at 20th and Broadway. A former Castro bartender, Huynh spent years getting the space open and has been open about the goal: build "a Castro of Oakland," a real, walkable gay scene in the East Bay where people move bar to bar all night. The room leans into its 1920s bones — velvet seating, gold accents — with a calendar that runs from Drag Race viewing parties and disco nights to food pop-ups and a recurring ladies' night for femmes and gender-nonconforming folks. It's the more polished, cocktail-first option among Uptown's queer bars, and Huynh has folded community fundraising for the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center into the operation since day one.
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