Old story. Part one.
Pre-Internet traveling abroad, not knowing where to go, arriving Madrid and wanting to dance in a gay club the first night, a quick yet unreliable way was to get into a taxi, and if the driver didn’t look like he’d be bothered by it, ask where to party.
I stopped a few cabs looking for a younger driver who might know what was trendy. All of them were old, so I got in with an old one and asked. He confidently popped it into drive.
He drove me to the red-light district full of sex clubs and workers walking the street. I asked the driver, “but where are the dance clubs?”
He said, “I thought you wanted sex?”
Me, “well sure, maybe later, but I need some hours of drinking and dancing first.”
I paid, got out, and asked some people in the street if they knew. They pointed me to some nice clubs.
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Part two. Many years later.
Once the Internet got going, and early way of finding the party places was to go to a net cafe and get on certain channels on IRC (Internet Relay Chat). Mérida, Mexico, was well set up in that way. Clear, quick, information, and offers of company to the clubs.
I figured anybody that eager might not be a good date, and I was with my spouse anyway, so we’d just log off and go ourselves. At least in the clubs, we could look somebody over first.
Funny how things go.
Fuenteovejuna did it 
Those were the days of the good, old Damron Guide. I still have one from the 90s somewhere in my collection of useless books. I’d imagine they’ve gone under by now.
Cheers,
Kim G
Roma Sur, CDMX
Where I’ve lost my tile obsession only to have it be replaced with a textured glass obsession.
Thanks. I remember the name of that guide but never bought one. In the 80’s, I often bought a Berkeley Student Travel Guide, which would dabble in “the gay,” and try to make do with those.
Once I was out of the closet more and knew what to ask for, it seems there were two guides sold in 1980’s Guadalajara: Crisálida, which might have been local, and the Guia Gay de Mexico.
After I got plugged into the social network there and was more comfortable, I discovered that Guadalajara was just gay as fuck, lol. It really really helped me on learning how to live as a decent and whole human being. I still have gratitude and love in my heart for many people there. My friends back home in North Carolina often asked what happened to me in Guadalajara. I came back so changed.
Wow! Your experience in Guadalajara sounds like it would make for a great blog post. As for Damron, it was very handy for me in the 80s and early 90s. Cheers!
OMG, they’re still around!
https://damron.com/products/featured-products
Cheers!
Kim
Thanks. I’ll have fun looking that link over.