Often I hear friends and acquaintances complaining about the lack of original guys hanging out in our local bar/club scene – meaning they tire of seeing the same old faces (but that certainly doesn’t stop them from heading out to the “same old places” every night of the week). Personally, I think it’s absolutely great to be able to hang out in our “established” bars and be able to recognize people. It’s part of that “San Diego is a big city with a small-town feel” thing, or the “you wanna go where everybody knows your name” thing from the TV series “Cheers.”

But back to my friends… Once a year, their complaints are satisfied when Pride rolls around. Pride always brings a slew of sexy visitors to town, who all end up mixing in with us locals and bring a special feel to our favorite hangouts.

This year was certainly no exception. With four jam-packed nights of Pride, many new friends – locals and non-locals alike – were added to my “buddy list.” With the Pride parade, festival, clubs and bars, and the special weekend parties, even the savviest of barflies couldn’t fit it all in. Certainly, I tried to hit the hotspots, and enlisted some of my Barfly buddies (a.k.a. BarSpies) to fill me in on the other happenings that I just couldn’t fit into my social calendar.

For me, Pride weekend started on Thursday night. It had been a long day at work, so I didn’t want to travel too far from home. Just a few blocks from my house is one of my favorites, Bacchus House. This beautiful North Park bar and club (with the friendliest staff in town) hosts a weekly wet underwear contest called It’s Raining Men. It’s always a hot show, and, as a Pride special, this particular week featured a guest appearance by porn star Derrick Vinyard (a Falcon exclusive). Hot times!

But then Friday rolled around and the real weekend began. My friends and I thought The Flame would be a great way to get the weekend rolling. We had an awesome time, and, as usual for Pride weekend, the out-of-towners were everywhere! I ran into a few regulars here and there, but it was certainly a cornucopia of cities: Tempe, Ariz., L.A., Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York City, Ensenada and even a Canadian! All of these fine gentlemen were visiting our beautiful city to celebrate Pride with us. The Flame was hopping as DJ Niknotiq kept us pumped with a lot of hip-hop beats. The crowd was as fun as it was diverse, and the long line to get in moved quickly.

Saturday is always the big day for Pride weekend. Everyone is pumped up, dressed up and horned up, too. After a tiring but fun day at the parade, and dancing at the awesome Pride festival, my bed invited me to hop in around 8:00 p.m., but I declined the invitation. After all, sleep is not part of the Pride agenda! So I dragged myself into the shower, got dressed and popped over to Baja Betty’s to start off the night. The place was packed, but the fabulous staff moved quickly, satisfied our appetites and kept the drinks flowing. The best part was that everyone there that evening got to take home one of those cute inflatable Chihuahuas!

We hit Numbers around 10:30 p.m., and the line wrapped around the block! But, again, the wonderful staff kept the line moving and everyone happy. Numbers had the usual mix of hip-hop in one room and dance music in the other, which is one of the best things about this fun bar. I added friends from Fresno and Phoenix to my Pride buddy list at Numbers.

Saturday night was capped off perfectly with a trip to the “new” Club Montage. This club, once a staple of San Diego nightlife, is back in business, and definitely lives up to the reputation and standards that the old Club Montage set. One of my favorite DJs, Jon Bishop, rocked the freshly renovated venue and mesmerized the pumped-up crowd with his impressive set. Montage is once again the place to be on Saturday nights! Add Long Beach and Mexicali to the buddy list.

As if I hadn’t already done enough, Sunday came and the party just wasn’t quite over yet. We hit the Pride festival again and had a great time dancing at the Club Papi T-Dance held on the Rocket HiNRG dance floor. After a quick trip home for a shower and costume change, we decided to hit a San Diego Sunday night tradition – Detour at Hamburger Mary’s. My friends Adrian and James hopped in my car and, upon arriving, we knew the night would be good: Someone pulled out just as we pulled up, and we got prime parking – the spot right in front of the entrance to Mary’s. And the night was fabulous! We found a friend at the front of the line (and joined him), cover was reasonable, and the Mary’s signature Kick Ass Margaritas were flowing and kept the energetic crowd hydrated. It was a great way to close out an amazing weekend. Add Salt Lake City, Utah, to the list!

And I didn’t even get to hit the Pride parties. But as I write this column, my BarSpies continue to report that everything from the Harbor Cruise to The Zoo Party to the new Pride (Un)covered event were amazing and lived up to expectations.

The moral of the story is that while we certainly do get an exciting mix of new faces during Pride weekend, there are also many interesting people out there every week of the year. With the exception of the five or six of us who are actual San Diego natives, all of those “regular faces” out there come from a variety of interesting places. All you have to do is talk to them, say hi and you’ll have a new friend!

After a busy Pride weekend, this Barfly is going to take a nap, and then get right back out there and share more tales of San Diego’s nightlife with you! Send comments or information about your event or venue to me at editor@uptownpub.com.