With online social networking sites keeping would-be club goers holed up at home, and a flailing economy forcing others to tighten their (Coach) purse strings, San Diego’s gay nightclubs are becoming more creative, competitive, and offering more weekday events to draw crowds.

Whether you’re a boi, bear or baller, or out for cheap drinks and wild beats, San Diego’s gay nightlife is evolving and beginning to offer something for everyone.

In the past year, clubs have started creating more special event or theme nights, marketing more toward clients wanting VIP service, and creating more events for the bear and leather community.

The trends in gay nightlife are paying dividends – bars are cashing in on crowds who have desperately sought a break from the monotony. Whether it’s Bacchus House’s Pan Dulce! on Fridays, The Brass Rail’s Manic Mondays, Bourbon Street’s Wet Thursdays, or Rich’s Circophilia parties the third Tuesday every month, the weeks are filled with new, entertaining club events for partygoers.

“People in San Diego like an event,” said Chuck Ferrante, general manager of Bourbon Street. “They want to do something, they want something special, they don’t want something stale.”

Once upon a time, a gay club may only have needed a stellar DJ and a $2-you-call-it to pack the house. Now, with a number of options for club goers in Hillcrest, North Park and University Heights, everyone needs a gimmick – or, at least a killer reason to get people offline and in a bar.

“For us, the main thing is that people have a great experience when they come to Rich’s,” said Nick Moede, owner of Rich’s and co-owner of Numbers. “Having a great time involves music, entertainment, performers, and devising really great theme nights so people feel they get their money’s worth. Creating the most fun nights, the best entertainment and the best music, ultimately is what is going to draw people in.”

Some say Universal Hillcrest upped the ante – and in some ways, particularly with its VIP service, it has. Others have since started to offer bottle service and VIP treatment.

“Universal prides itself on keeping the level of service consistently high and knowing how to execute when it comes to offering a product, so every time you come back, you have a good experience,” said Billy Nordmeier, general manager of Universal Hillcrest. “We’re going to be providing that extra level of service that others may or may not be providing, and if they are, we’re two steps ahead of them, upping the ante, with something else up our sleeve to roll out.”

If nothing else, the multimillion dollar hotspot on the corner of University Avenue and Vermont Street has also prompted other bar and club owners to get creative.

Long before Universal opened, Rich’s hosted Donkey Punch event parties, foam parties and L.L. Bear to mix up the crowds from month to month; Bacchus House had a firm grasp on the Latino market; The Flame and Numbers traded men’s and women’s nights on Fridays and Saturday nights; and Bourbon Street was a popular local watering hole just about every day of the week.

Now, the lineup is anything but predictable.

“We’ve been fortunate,” said Allan Spyere-Spackman, general manager of Bacchus House. “We’ve seen a huge increase in business; we’re up 40 percent from last year, and we’ve started so many new nights.”

This year, The Brass Rail launched its wildly popular Manic Mondays, with 80-cent well drinks and 80s music; Rich’s began hosting the once a month Circophilia party, with acrobats and circus performers entertaining the crowds; Bacchus House launched a monthly bear night, and a weekly 90s night on Thursdays; and Bourbon Street teamed with Jonathan Hale for Wet Thursdays, a wet underwear contest night that, on the first Thursday of the month, gives away a cruise courtesy of Interactive Male, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for Sister Suicide Scareoke, a one-Wednesday a month karaoke fund-raiser.

There’s a slew of other events the clubs have promoted: Bourbon’s foam parties, Rich’s slumber parties, The Brass Rail’s game days and house parties, Bacchus House’s Pan Dulce!, and guest DJs making San Diego appearances.

Despite a sinking economy, the demand for VIP service is still high – and Universal isn’t the only club meeting the demand.

When EnDev Enterprises CEO James Brennan introduced bottle service to San Diego with Sidebar, he was on to something – and long before Universal opened its doors, clubgoers who waited in anticipation knew the VIP experience at Brennan’s newest hotspot would be on par with his Downtown digs.

After its renovation more than a year ago, The Brass Rail also began to offer bottle service. Now, Rich’s offers bottle service, too.

“Compared to Downtown, the Gaslamp, Los Angeles, Hillcrest was a bit behind the times – but people are starting to catch on, starting to realize the benefits of VIP service and bottle service in particular,” Nordmeier. “From two standpoints; from a customers standpoint, it’s the best way to go, no hassles; and from a business standpoint, businesses are realizing the potential for generating revenue and building a base of repeat, loyal customers.”

VIP service is similar at local clubs, though some make it a point to go above and beyond. At Universal, for example, a group of six to eight people ordering bottle service are ushered past the line, greeted at the door, waived cover, taken to a cocktail table and introduced to a cocktail waitress and the general manager or bar manager. The group is able to select a bottle of liquor from the bottle service menu (on average a cost of $200 or more), and are given all the necessary mixers (cranberry juice, soda, tonic, Red Bull). As Nordmeier says, the goal of the VIP service is to provide a seamless experience for the clientele from the moment they walk past the velvet ropes.

In general, the “real estate” is a sales point for bottle service, too; groups purchasing bottle service are seated in a booth or a roped off area where they can drink, dance, chat with friends – and where they’re seen. Status (or the illusion of status) is usually another sales point.

In addition to its latest renovations (a street-side, open-air patio and windows into the club), Rich’s is also working on an event space for 30 to 40 people that can be rented for private parties.

“There is a market of people who want the VIP treatment and who are willing to pay a bit more for the extra level of service, for their own reserved space,” said Moede, whose club Rich’s began offering bottle service on Wednesdays, Saturdays and during special event son Fridays this year.

While keeping the monthly events fresh, bars and clubs are also targeting new crowds – the bear and leather crowd, in particular.

Until 2007, Rich’s monthly L.L. Bear dance party was the only event geared toward the bear/leather community. Outside Rich’s, the bears and leather crowd were relegated to bars (Pecs, The Eagle, The Hole).

“L.L. Bear was at Rich’s before I owned Rich’s,” said Moede. “The concept was to have a night that catered to a crowd that, in the past, hadn’t been catered to. There may be bars that cater to a slightly older, more mature crowd, but not a nightclub or a dance club; those usually cater to a 21-30 [year old] crowd, who go out a few times a week. What you see with the bear crowd is a crowd that goes out a few times a month, and they want a night that is their own. And we host theme parties and bring in guest DJs to go along with the night and cater to the crowd, giving them a night that is their own.”

Event nights went from famine to feast for the bear and leather crowd. In the last year, other night clubs, including Bacchus House, Bourbon Street and The Flame, have launched nights marketed toward the bear community.

“The crowd – the bear crowd – is typically a little older, more financially stable, with stable careers, and they spend quite a bit of money,” said Spyere-Spackman for Bacchus House, which launched its bear night in December 2007. “Bars are catching on – this is the crowd to target. The don’t create any problems, no fighting, they’re very easygoing, patient and polite, and they spend money – it’s one of the best crowds to have in a club.”

When Bourbon Street launched its Backroom Reloaded parties in its Stable Bar this year, the bear and leather crowd suddenly had one more reason to go out on the weekends.

The bar has since decided to host the bear/leather party once every two to three months with bigger sponsors (including BigMuscle, Tom of Finland, various porn companies, etc.)

“The goal is to create an event for men – jeans and T-shirts wearing men,” Ferrante said. “With bigger sponsors, I think we’re going to see bigger crowds.”