After 47 years on the San Diego gay scene, The Brass Rail has gone under the knife and polished the brass in hopes of raising the bar – or, in this case, the rail – on San Diego’s queer nightlife.

The bar originally spent its early years “in the closet,” when it opened downtown in 1938. It then catered to straight clientele. It finally “came out” as a queer venue in 1960 when it moved uptown to Fifth and Robinson avenues in Hillcrest. At that time, The Brass Rail was located across the street from its current location, where Washington Mutual currently is. In 1974, it moved to the southwest corner of Fifth and Robinson avenues and has been there ever since.

“It was early on that former management noticed there was a portion of the community that was left out and underserved when it came to local nightlife,” explained Wes Edwards, general manager of The Brass Rail. “There were no bars or clubs in the area at the time that targeted the community that The Brass Rail has been known to host.”

The city’s oldest gay bar has now been transformed into Hillcrest’s swankiest cocktail lounge. Owner Gail Santillian spent an undisclosed amount of money to provide the venue with an impressive facelift in hopes of reinventing its image.

The Brass Rail recently held a grand reopening event to help introduce its new look, which includes plush seating in lounge areas, an elevated private VIP room with bottle service, cell phone booths and beautifully redesigned restrooms.

“Everyone who walks in has done a double-take and is very impressed with the new look and everything that we are now offering,” Edwards said.

The legendary Brass Rail has not only morphed its “divey” image into a first-class nightclub, it’s also introducing a brand new lineup. The week will start out serving up a delicious mix of rising DJ talent with open turntables on Monday nights called “Rock the Spot.” San Diego’s very own empress diva, Ophelia, will help turn things up a notch every Tuesday with “Bitchy Feud,” a game show variation made for a queen. Wednesday nights will reintroduce “’80s Groove,” and there will be live music at “plugged” on Thursdays. Friday nights will heat up when East Coast house music hits the scene with “Element.” The only night that will remain the same, according to Edwards, is the popular “Noche Latino Americano” every Saturday.

“With the remodel, we hope to offer a totally different experience for the Hillcrest area, and it is our goal to bring the downtown nightclub experience right here to the heart of Hillcrest,” Edwards said. “We will soon be known as one of the classiest bars on the scene.”

For more information about the reinvented Brass Rail or to reserve one of the VIP areas, call (619) 298-2233 or log on to www.thebrassrailsd.com.