Originally Posted by
bostontraveler
James I appreciate your post and pls don't take it the wrong way but it is very much the view of a tourist in Paris. The scene in the Marais is not above board... Open Cafe is closing any day now (thank you gentrification..) and far from what it was before. FreeDJ is a bubblegum flashing pink bar, sketchy, catering 90% to tourists. Depends on what you like I guess.
I might see things differently since I have lived here for years but these places are not Parisian gay life. No offense but there are other plenty of other places you can go with handsome men wiithout losing your belongings, getting scammed or drugged.
I never knew Raidd was a place where people got robbed/pick pocketed. I haven't been to Paris since July 15 though and I know a lot of things change in short time period.
Too bad about open bar. Whenever I'm in London I try to do the day train trip to Paris on Eurorail and always enjoyed having lunch and a drink there late afternoon.
There used to be a bakery called LeGay I liked that had some interesting shaped bake goods
I heard they closed too.
For the OP I'd recommended watching Charlie David's show on Europe. There is a part dedicated to Paris that will give you some ideas on where to eat and go out at (just make sure the places are still in business)