Bar #14: Pony - Capitol Hill

When I started the whole EBiS thing, I was a little worried about how I was gonna handle visits to Capitol Hill's gay bars. I'm no homophobe, but I'd be lying if I said I was comfortable walking solo into a leather daddy bar or hardcore lesbian hangout. Most of my guy friends aren't eager to hit spots like these either (unless they're shithoused), so I jumped at the chance when I ran into Cavy, Pickles and Spilly at Elysian one afternoon and they suggested hitting Pony.

We went to the bar at their usual opening time of 5 pm, but we forgot that it was the day after Pride Weekend, and they had a sign saying they wouldn't be open until 7. After killing a few hours with drinks and corndogs at Unicorn, we headed back and had the bar to ourselves.

I didn't bother looking at the taps or liquor with a critical eye. Spilly told me earlier that they serve $2 tallboys of Colt 45 in paper bags and that was good enough for me. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a Colt 45.

We didn't stay for long, but we did play air hockey and enjoyed some drinks on their outdoor deck. I also acted like Beavis and/or Butthead, pointing and laughing while checking out all the porntastically gay pictures on the walls and the ‘80s gay porn mags on the tables. I know, I need to grow up. Since then, I heard about the wonders that awaited in the bathroom, but my bladder didn't need emptying.

Needless to say, going to Pony the day after Pride Weekend, you’re not going to have the true Pony experience. There were no other people there, so I got no real sense of what the bar's like. Is it one of those gay bars where there's a mix of straight and gay drinkers, or is it more of a same-sex pickup scene?

Luckily, a week or so later, I drunkenly came back with a larger group when the place was more lively. There seemed to be a mix of straight and gay drinkers. We nearly got 86ed when the bouncer caught a couple of us smoking on the deck. We tried to huddle around the fire pit to keep warm, but it really was just too cold to stay out there, so we had one drink and took off.

It may not be the kinda place I'll drink at often, but I'm glad I was able to check Pony out. I'll have to recruit more friends to visit other similar spots around Capitol Hill.