Welcome To Velvet—A Gay Bar For Raiders Fetishists

After all the losers voted in California’s Prop. 8, it must be pretty discouraging for anyone gay in the state whose flag has a bear on it. (Hello?) But what if you’re in double trouble—if you were a gay Raiders fan? My God, how depressing a world view you must have? One one hand, a majority of your fellow citizens don’t want to give you the right to marry your partner. On the other, JaMarcus Russell doesn’t look like he could hit the side of a Marc Jacobs store with Zac Efron’s dick. Where do you go when life’s this depressing? Luckily The Contra Costa Times has the answer for you—the new Oakland bar Velvet, where life is a rainbow every time you walk in, even if you only see things in Silver and Black.

Everything about the bar is warm and eclectic in a way that creates a comfortable but cool neighborhood watering hole. Velvet’s motto is, “Are you friendly?” Rule No. 1: “If they can’t deal with a gay bar, they’re not welcome,” [co-owner Bob Huff] said, unloading cases of Corona longneck bottles into a cooler. “The big rainbow flag in the entrance takes care of that.”

Rule No. 2 at Velvet: Don’t trash the Oakland Raiders. “We are a Raider-friendly bar,” Huff announced, breaking into a hip-hop move as he joked with patrons. The two don’t often go hand-in-hand. Nevertheless, a Raiders banner hangs beneath a TV above the bar, on which an episode of “The Simpsons” was playing with the sound muted.

The Simpsons? Raiders? Beer? We know a certain Machochip editor who’d consider this Nirvana [Ed Note: It's Alex], regardless of the clientele. But considering the team we’re talking about, whenever the more eclectic fans show up, it usually ends up looking like a scene out a leather bar anyway… so when’s the road trip?
A hip gay bar with a Raiders flair [Contra Costa Times]
Image [Contra Costa Times]