Fodor's Gay Guide to the USA, 2nd Edition : The Most Comprehensive Guide for Gay and Lesbian Travelers (Fodor's Gay Guide to the USA, 2nd ed)

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Summary: A great general guide to places you might miss...
Review: I bought this book back in 2001 for a trip to New York. Not knowing anything about "the city", I needed some help. Along with this one, I purchased a few other guides focusing on gay oriented places in the U.S. and New York, but this one was far better. With it's insightful mini reviews of places shown in the guide, I got ALOT from this book. From places to stay, to places to see, it'll give you a great base to start with when trying to find nightlife, or otherwise, in ANY new city. I'm taking it back with me again to New York and to Seattle this time. But, be weary, as with any guide, places change, and what you read might not be as bad as it says it is, or it could be worse! Thanks for reading.

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Summary: The listings are right but misnamed .
Review: I think Andrew Collins did a good job of summarizing the scene in each city listed. It's obviously the most thorough first-hand accounts of the nation's gay cities on the market.

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Summary: Good research
Review: I'm glad I have this book to refer to. No matter where we consider traveling, I have this handy book to know what's "out" there for us.

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Summary: The listings are right but misnamed .
Review: Just looking over my hometowns review I found them correct in substance but wrong in form. Cleveland has a neighborhood called "WEST PARK" that the book names WEST EDGE>. While not devastating to the overall value of the text it would leave a visitor here asking for a place that residents wouldn't recognize. I'm not sure if the other cities reviewed suffer from similar mistakes. Going to Orlando 8/24 and San Francisco 9/3 so I'll note any discrepancies.

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Summary: Indispensable
Review: The Spartacus and Damron guides have their place on any travel bookshelf but this book has something that they do not...namely, very detailed, firsthand descriptions of the venues listed. The authors descriptions of the West Coast cities (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver) are pretty much spot on. For example, when in Vancouver I noticed how young all the clubgoers were and when reading the entry on that city I saw that this was not just my own perception but reality. He describes the scene in Portland, perhaps the most underrated city on the West Coast as "scruffy" but not in a perjorative sense, but rather endearingly. Each city chapter is logically broken down into nightlife, eats, sights, etc. Aside from being a cutie (based on his back cover photo) the author is always funny and perceptive in his comments. This is one of those books that I pull off my bookshelf fairly regularly and it's tragic that it is currently out of print with no new edition in sight. Early editions aren't too hard to come by but good luck tracking down the last (3rd edition) which I recommend without reservations!