“There’s no lack of gay people that live down here, but lack of places to socialize? Absolutely.”Īt the height of gay nightlife, Orange County was booming with venues. “I understood that there was a huge void in the queer market down here,” Nero said. Strut Bar & Club, the brainchild of nightlife connoisseur Luke Nero, will welcome the first guests into its disco-lit, pop art-decorated space next week. On an unassuming corner in Costa Mesa, beside a market and a couple of Mexican restaurants, a new hub for Orange County’s queer community is set to open its neon-emblazoned doors.
