Brave Bull

Cool place to go, horrible sound system. Occasionally have a good Dj. Nice crowd.

This place is super sketchy. Bad, bad location. There is always a couple of prostitutes standing out in front of the bar, they let minors in, drinks are weak and served in tiny glasses. Whole interior is run down. Bartenders are not very friendly. Place is just all around bad. If you want to dance, I suggest going to Climax. I understand this place has history, but that doesn’t make it OK to be a sh**hole. I don’t advise anyone to come here unless you want to pick up hookers or get a handy from a minor.

This place has charm. I love that it actually seems to reap with some history.
Not as cozy as the TIki, but a place to be just who you are. Great for a date night to play pool and arcade games. The drag show was very sweet and everyone seems friendly enough. I wish I’d see a bigger crowd, the music is great and I love that the DJ is high above the Dance Floor.

When I first came to this bar I thought it was sort of run down and music was really loud. But after actually being there on a busy night
I really have grown to love this place. It defiantly have the best environment from a gay bar. Once in a whole their will be a fight in the smoking area which is usual for a bar.
The bar is always packed with people and the bartenders are extremely friendly and make drinks perfect and very quick alway. You rarely ever have to flag them down.
They do charge tip and couple dollars for using your card so beware. I would recommend asking for bartender kaci she is great.
I haven’t been to the drag show in a while but it was entertaining but for a little drive climax can offer a better show for no cover charge. Definitely check this place out on a Saturday to he the vibe.

Good place to hang out and really get you’re dance on! Every time my friends come from out of town they want to go to the bull.

It’s not the classiest, it’s not the shabbiest. It’s a place to let it all hang out and get buck wild. I have fun when I go here.

I was a little put off by the area surrounding the bar and the outside look of the bar but it was another one of those don’t judge a book by it’s cover kind of things. They have a parking lot in the back and you’re also able to park on the semi-​paved road on the right side of the building.
It looks like a roadhouse but as you approach and hear the bass booming you soon realize it’s full of fabulosity if you know what I mean. The set up inside is atypical of many gay bars, seating along the walls, bar kinda in the middle, pool tables and lastly a fairly large dance floor. Oh and I can’t forget the raised area along the wall in the dance floor area to accommodate the show-​offs complete with mirrors so they can admire what they think is their hotness but I digress.
As far as the people, there was a healthy mix (even a drag queen). Many of them were kinda not nice but oh well. I do take issue with their sound system only because it was so loud and the acoustics in there seemed bad. When you step outside and your ears ache, there’s a problem.
Would I go back? Maybe.

Not as good as tiki lounge but bigger and they have a pole! Pool tables, juke box and good dj.

My friends and I love going to The Brave Bull when we just want to dance and have a fun time. They have the BEST music and drinks here! People are either rude or super nice!

The Bull has always been and I hope it will always be. I remember getting kicked out of there when I was like 18, it’s amazing how the place never changes, ten years later it looks exactly the same.
I love that everyone dances and I’ve meet all sorts of different people here.
Every gay should visit a least once.
I think the drinks are a little over priced for a dive but a least there’s never a cover.

I have been going to this club for the last 8 years and most always manage to have a nice time. Yes, it is on seedy South 9^th Street, but once inside you can feel pretty safe and comfortable. The best thing about this place is all the room to move around. The sound system is great although I wish there was a better mix of music. That’s just my hang up though, as I am a throwback to the 70s/​80s dance/​pop. I’m sure everybody else enjoys the loud latin/​house mix they tend to play more of. The mix of people is fun although lately I have noticed tons of str8 folks making there way in there, which depending on who you ask could be either a cool thing or a reason to split. Drinks are just okay. It would be nice to get your Martinis in a clean, chilled glass but hey, I guess there are worse things in life. Just make sure, if you can to have the bartenders make your drinks as opposed to the bar back. The Bull is definitely a legend in Modesto, very worth a trip at least once.
*UPDATE* NOV 2010
Our beloved «THE BULL» has lost a star during the past year and here is why:
*Straight couples are more and more prevalent nowadays. Does Modesto not have any good dance clubs for straight people? I don’t mean to sound like a total hater, but I thought this was supposed to be a GAY BAR!!!
* Drinks are skimpy served in tacky, old, teeny glasses. Prices seem to have gone up and you just are not getting the bang for your buck that you once used to. Added to this the bartenders are not nearly as nice as they once where. Listen up ladies, if you are sick of working for the family then maybe it’s time to move on. There are tons of fun, charismatic, welcoming people out there who know how to tend bar and would do a far better job at wowing your loyal customers.
* Lastly the Sunday drag show is getting a bit lackluster. This once fun, lively show is really starting to SUCK. This show needs some new blood and more importantly a leader to take it to a new level where good old fashion DRAG becomes the entertainment staple and not the tired, old «female illusionist» standard.

I love this place for the fact that its a landmark for allowing us gays to be open, dance, drink and make complete asses of ourselves. However… we all knew this was coming, it is now a stink hole.
The music is the best, the owner is great and the short little mexican is my friend. Its a little gay cheers. I havent been there for a while, so I went to catch up with my fellow dykes, low and behold it is now pooh. To many people, to hot and not enough ventilation.
I would only go again if there was nothing more to do. If you have never been there, I suggest you go. One must always experience the Bull.

Another gay bar? Another gay bar! Duh. I went during happy hour, first night of the Olympics, and it was DEAD. Like 2 dykes in the whole place. But as the evening wore on, it filled up with a variety of people – gay, straight, and somewhere in between – including some really cute queenie boys. The music was alright, and the atmosphere was pretty good. I spent more money than I wanted to, but it was a-​okay.
I wouldn’t necessarily encourage people to go here (if you’re really in a gaybar way, it doesn’t hold a candle to San Francisco), but if you’re stuck inside of Modesto w/​the homo blues again, it’s worth checking out.

This is the only true place to dance in Modesto.
Sure it’s a gay bar but the music’s way better than anything you’ll find downtown and the drinks while not the tastiest are strong and cheap.
It’s helluv fun inside, they even have stripper poles and lots of mirrors.
It’s too loud to have a conversation inside usually but you’re not there to talk, you’re there to dance!
It’s kind of cool that the place is so far from the quiet suburbia it hides from. Rogelio’s dead on. It’s out in the fringes, next to train tracks in the middle of nowhere.
But usually in life that’s where the best stuff is found.
Outside the comfort zone.
I actually come here to avoid the classy culture of downtown Modesto’s meat market and all the machismo BS that’s a total buzzkill.
Gay men always make the world a better place.
Update:
I had no idea I was reviewing such a legendary establishment, but it’s true… The Brave Bull is just as legendary as the McHenry Mansion, the Gallo’s or George Lucas for that matter.
Most of my friends call it the Bull and the fact so many people have heard of it but not stepped through it’s doors is a testament to it’s notoriety.
5 stars for you should check it out.

This is the only gay dance club in Modesto… after coming to this bar for the last 9+ years, as an only choice, I have to say that it’s changed dramatically since my early clubbing days.
Where do I begin??? Let me just throw some stuff out there as they pop into my head.
The owner is extremely rude and has no issue telling you to go elsewhere or egging on fist fights, (or if your a gay man bitch slap fight) out in the parking lot.
There is no real security and people have been assaulted out in the parking lot which is just basically a small area behind the bar.
Lots of transients hanging around.
Drinks are decent, and the bartenders are generally friendly and attentive.
They finally accept credit/​debit cards.
Music is decent with a huge hip hop influence.
The crowd is difficult to describe, as it seems that they are all hovering in the 20 – 21 age range, I would say their general style is «ghetto», if you’re looking for good conversation with a more enlightened circle, I suggest you go to the Tiki.
This club is on the fringe, and I wouldn’t go there alone, or sober for that matter.

It might sound like something that comes in a 40 ounce container that you would buy at 7 – 11 but it’s actually Modesto’s legendary (and still only???) gay bar. I know it’s *wrong* to review a place that you have never actually never been a customer of but this place was such a central valley landmark that you don’t actually have to go in the place to feel like you know it. In fact the whole 9^th street area provided for unending conversation and immature jokes while growing up in the area.
I’m a little sad that Modesto is too far away for SF Unilocalers to have a DYGay here!

Ok I am not gay… however partying with a bunch of gay men is so much fun!
The decorations are better and so is the music.
haha
I watched some dragqueens pole dance, and got tottaly wasted on their drinks… which are pretty damn good.
I also participated in my first wet t-​shirt contest here… ha
All the gay guys screaming and cheering for boobs… it was so awesome lol!
I lost to the whore who ripped her shirt in half off of her body and bounced them around.
No way was I doing that no matter how drunk I was so I accepted defeat and uh well I got a free t-​shirt yay!

The Brave Bull is a Modesto legend. Check it out if you ever happen to be in the area.