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Although urban gay neighborhoods serve as important places for gay men's socializing and recreation, few studies to date have examined the potential contributions of gay neighborhoods to gay men's health—both directly and indirectly via resident's social networks. Drawing from theoretical perspectives in community sociology and the public health literature on gay men's health behaviors, we test hypotheses concerning whether gay neighborhoods and social network composition are associated with patterns of recent drug use. Our analyses focus on marijuana, cocaine/crack, ecstasy, crystal meth(amphetamine), poppers, and polydrug use among a novel sample of 698 urban gay men residing in the New York City area linked to zip code-level census data. Living in a gay neighborhood was directly associated with higher odds of an individual male's crystal meth and ecstasy use. Increased socialization with gay men and having a social network of predominantly of other gay men (versus more diverse networks) were associated with higher odds of using drugs. Having a network of predominantly gay men partially mediated associations between gay neighborhood environments and drug use. These findings suggest the need for better contextualizing the health risks faced by gay men. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]