Is the gay bar scene Downtown slowly on the rise again? Perhaps so, with the brand new arrival of Redline, an LGBT-friendly corner spot that’s taken up residence on 6th Street, just down from Elabrew and across from Ohana Poké Co. (neé Hero Shop).

The Los Angeles Beat first grabbed news of the Redline arrival last summer, but it seems that things have been much-delayed since those days — no small surprise, given the full build-out necessary for the corner location.

The place is now up and running according to social media, working soft-opening hours until 2 a.m. and a long daily happy hour, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. By all appearances, the space is rather spare, with hanging pendant lights, lots of barstools and a bank of TVs. Still, it’s a rather charming sort of sparse, thanks to tall ceilings and lots of open windows.

The arrival of Redline bodes well for Downtown’s reemerging gay scene, which has been further boosted by the recent debut of Precinct not far away. Still, it’s a far cry from the heyday of downtown’s gay bar scene, which had been struggling for years. The most recent blow came when Score, Downtown’s oldest gay bar, was displaced in 2005 to make room for Bar 107.

Redline

131 E. 6th Street

Los Angeles, CA