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MJ's Cafe


119 East Third Street
Dayton, OH 45402

937-223-3259



April 2010

Things change and so do my opinions, and over the last couple of years MJ's cafe has become the best gay club in town. Sure, Masque has the budget for the awesome decor, but for friendly and hot, and almost all gay, you go to MJ's.

The room is still the same, but the bottleneck I once complained about has almost become a welcome feature of this bar/club. Why? Simple, the narrow passage at the entrance along the bar into he more expansive table area and dance floor allows the club to have both an open and intimate feel, and it allows one to easily traverse the two.

Further, the selection of liquors here is awesome and so far as I can tell, the bartenders are either hireds with or are trained to have food knowledge of how to use them. Add to this that Bruce and Joe are perhaps the nicest bartenders I have ever met leave me with no choice but to call MJ's the best gay bar in Dayton.



A Saturday in January:

So, some friends and I decided to meet up at Stage Door for a few drinks, but things being what they are, they wanted to go somewhere a little more exciting, so we made our way over to MJ's. It was one of those nights that went oh so well for us, not the least reason for which was the fact that MJ's is just lots of fun on a Saturday night. The music, the hot bartenders, the manager selling Recession Punch (which is fuckin' awesome, by the way) and the hot strippers. We laughed and drank and all was well in fag land.

I can't really say enough good things about MJ's. It's fun without all the twinky drama of Masque, and it just feels good to be there.



MJ's started life as DJ's Saloon, which was once located just a block or two away on the corner of Main and Monument in Downtown Dayton. It was, for a time, a farily successful gay bar, with something of a country/western theme, though in the gay world, such themes tend to be nebulous at best, since we fags tend to be a fairly inclusive bunch. I almost always had a good time at DJ's because, like Argos, it was more than business friendly but genuinely friendly. DJ's was also home, for a time, to the most memorable male stripper I have ever met. A man by the stripper name of Wede, but I won't go into that, as I could wax poetic about how fucking hot that man was.

Eventually, the old DJ's would be torn down and a lovely new parking garage put in place for the parking needs of a new building going in right across the street. This was a good thing, as the new owners of DJ's would choose to move to the Gay Square in Dayton, which is a parking lot bounded on two sides by streets and on two by buildings. Here bars like Stage Door, Masque, and the often struggling Aquarius, which is a great looking bar, by the way, all have easy access to the parking and come night, the spots are filled by the patrons of all of these.

MJ's chose a place in the building that faces Third Street, and its entrance, like Masque's, is conveniently facing the parking lot. The general attitude here is not as friendly as it was at DJ's, how can it be when the place was so much larger than DJ's, and much busier, but the look of the bar is gay bar basic. Lots of black and chrome and video screens everywhere, but unlike most of the bars in town, there are also works of local artists on the walls, which change from time to time, and they add interest. The design of the bar, however, was not so well thought out as it should have been as it seems to have been built so as to have its entry in the front of the building rather than the back, and the narrow passage between the entrance and the main room proves to be something of a bottle neck.

That said, the bar itself is spacious enough, and maybe if people didn't crowd in to the narrow passage, and who knows why people do that, it might not be an issue, but they do, so be prepared to squeeze through sometimes, and hey, sometimes that's not a bad thing, having some stud squeezed up so close to you you can feel his cock on your thigh is sometimes kinda fun.

The drinks are well done, but unlike Argos, not generously poured. I have not taken to looking for it, but I bet the spouts have measured pours, and they can be a bit pricey if you choose to go for a Grey Goose rather than a house vodka, for example, but that is to be expected. Goose doesn't come cheap.

All in all, MJ's is a cool place to go for some loud music with some friends, but I would never suggest it if you are alone and a bit shy, as the crowd does tend to be a bit cliquey. You want to make new friends? Go to Stage Door or become an Argos member, but if you want to have fun with a bunch of your friends, go to MJ's, if it isn't your thing, you can walk across the parking lot to three other choices.

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