Cybersocket Award Winner Spotlight: Rocco’s WeHo, Best Gay Bar of the Year

January 14, 2023
AJ SLOAN

It takes more than cheap happy hour drinks and a rainbow flag to create a safe space where all members of our queer family feel welcome. So many bars in our gayborhoods far and wide come and go, but it takes an establishment rooted in openness and inclusivity to thrive in our community. It is an art form to manifest an environment where folks of all walks feel comfortable enough to unbutton their top button and shake off the stress of everyday nonsense upon entry. Rocco's Bar, happily located in Los Angeles' gay Mecca also referred to as West Hollywood, checks all of these sequined boxes and then some. No wonder it was voted by fans as Best Gay Bar of the Year at this year's Cybersocket Awards.

Gayly situated at the corner of Santa Monica and N San Vicente, Rocco's Bar has EVERYTHING: drag queens, sub daddies, dom twinks, every tribe of homosexual named after a zoo animal, the occasional actual zoo animal, house red, house white, a Cobb salad that will make you slap your mother AND your father, suspiciously cozy gender neutral bathrooms, Taco Tuesday, bartenders who can entertain supernaturally high levels of unsolicited flirtation, BILLY - FRANCESCA, indoor and outdoor seating designed for optimal tea spillage, Long Island ice teas crafted with minimal criticism for those choosing to order a Long Island ice tea, and love.

At Rocco's, there is always something going on, with each night of the week having something to offer. It wasn't too long ago that Cybersocket and cohost The YNOT Community hosted a night where folks of all genres of the adult industry were mixing and mingling at their Adult Industry Meet & Greet Night. The evening was such a hit with all parties involved that we figured, why not more? Just this past Thursday night, FleshbotGay & Cybersocket hosted yet another smash hit of a night happily creating a space where adult film professionals could meet, network, and have a fan-fucking-tastic time. With a venue like Rocco's, everyone was in good gay hands.

Rocco's Bar does what many other places attempt to do yet fall short of; they have created and maintained a rainbow-tinted bubble where queer folks can be themselves with zero fucks given. Rocco's effortlessly puts the "safe" in "safe space," and doesn't look over its shoulder while doing it. It is for these reasons and more that Rocco's takes home the Cybersocket Award for 2022's Best Gay Bar. It is no shocker, and we are all rooting for you. Three queer cheers to Rocco's Bar May they continue to dish out their magic for many more years to come.