Barstow Gay friendly? (Victorville, Apple Valley, Palm Springs: apartments, lease, motel)

[LucyI'mHome]

We are a couple (lesbian) moving from Palm Springs to Barstow. We are respectful and discreet and can "pass", but we have been out of the closet for a VERY long time. My question is more of a general safety issue. Are we going to need to introduce each other as "roommate" or "friend"? Will we need to stay inside after dark? Any bars that would be safe for us?

[Seeking Sunshine]

Hi there I'm sorry that I do not have any info on Barstow....but if you do not mind....I am looking to move to Palm Springs sometime soon and (lesbian) and wanted to know first hand your experience there and why are you interested in moving away?..... I live in the North Bay and love many things here, but I'm really sick of the rain and want to be closer to my family ( who live close by PS ) and thought this would be a little more complete for me.
I hope to meet some nice new friends and learn more about things to do in PS. Any info would be much appreciated.
Good Luck for you two in Barstow!!

[CJCsMom]

I don't think you will be in physical danger, but you will meet some church people that are just plain rude. One church in particular was very active in plastering the town with prop 8 signs a couple of years ago. The funny thing about it was that a lot of people that were on the fence about the proposition were pretty offended by the church doing that, so they actually didn't help their cause one bit. Overall I think that most people have a live and let live attitude about people's sexuality.

As far as gay friendly bars, I don't have any info. There aren't a lot of night spots in the town (gay or straight), so I think you might be heading to Victorville/AppleValley for entertainment anyway.

[Grimmerie]

Hi.

I'm not sure exactly how gay friendly Barstow is as to clubs & bars & whatnot, but I do know there is one fairly largish gay bar in Victorville called Ricky's. There used to be a small (very small) bar right off the 15 freeway called the Westside 15, and one in Apple Valley called Victor Victoria's.

[LucyI'mHome]

Thought I'd post an update. We've been here almost 3 months. Being gay isn't really an issue. It's not safe for anyone. We rented an apartment in a 4plex in what we thought was a reasonable area. A woman walking on the sidewalk of our street was attacted by 2 pitbulls, sent to the hospital. Around the corner recently, the police cordoned off the street ala c.s.i.because of a large amount of blood on the street. Shootings. Drug deals and using in the open. 3 more months of this lease and we'll move to a safer neighborhood, though I'm not sure where that'll be. My partner works at Ft Irwin, long night time hours, so Victorville, SilverLakes too far.
One redeeming thing here is the Skyline Drive-In Theater. $6 per person, and sometimes a double feature, two screens, great view.
We did check out Ricky's in VV. Very friendly, both the owners and the patrons. Owners said they were getting ready to remodel. It needs it.
I read somewhere that Barstow is one of the 10 poorest towns of it's size in CA. Indeed. I don't see any likelihood of that changing either. This is a temporary situation for us so we keep to ourselves, stay home. I still have my biz back in Palm Springs so I get to escape back there a couple weekends out of the month!

[mrkool]

I hope things work out for you there. It is nice to see an O.P. (original poster) actually come back with a follow-up report, after moving to a place they asked about here. People *very* rarely do that, even though it may be helpful to others.

[CJCsMom]

Thanks for the update! My husband worked at Ft. Irwin and we lived in Barstow for a year before we moved to Silver Lakes. He would drive into the L street park and ride (20 minute drive) and catch the bus to Ft. Irwin. We got to live in a much safer place and he got a 40 minute snooze on the way to work.

The base also runs a bus from the mall parking lot in Victorville and somewhere in Apple Valley. That might be an alternative to making the long drive if you really want to move somewhere safer.

As far as safer neighborhoods in Barstow, the houses up in Silverado Heights (Off Rimrock) are safe. The apartments up Muriel, by the sportsplex seemed pretty safe too.

[jenn92311]

The area where you are in not safe at all.... we live out on the old 58 by browines and its quiet, the area over by walmart is good, there are apartments behind ampm across from walmart that are great...as far as people being friendly about your reationship, people pretty much mind their own business...Barstow is a pretty good town, i have lived here for 5 years after growing up in tn

[wanderlust1212]

My brother lives with me in a motel room and that is how I introduce him. People can think what they want about "why" a brother and sister live together in one room and like it that way, I really don't care.

There is at least one transwoman here. There are no gay bars. There is a Gay bar in Victorville.

[steel7]

Barstow is just too hot for me. I like the cool summer nights like we have here in yucaipa (2500 feet). I do miss the drive in theater (skyline) but 100+ degree days & 80s-90s nights is not my cup of tea. Also barstows avg annual rainfall is quite low.