"Our customer[s] are 99 percent are gay, and we like them to come over here and eat. If they don't come, we have no business," said Emmik Gonzalez from Greenwich Village Café.
"It's been slow like that for the last couple of months. It's because of all these things going on in the country. But right now, I don't even see the people in the street," said Kate Poukarova.
A handful of UCLA students gathered for a brief rally on campus. They were all members of By Any Means Necessary, a humanitarian group calling for equal rights for all minorities.
"We don't see how there could ever be any civil rights for any group if there isn't civil rights for every group," said Shanta Driver, who was part of the humanitarian group.
Organizers had encouraged gays and lesbians to skip work on Wednesday by "calling in gay", urging them to boycot spending and to volunteer instead. Although that may not have been what large numbers of people did on Wednesday, it didn't seem to bother organizers. They say the message was the most important thing.
"750,000 people have visited the site. 250,000 people have said that they will volunteer and participate today. And, 20,000 people have posted comments on the site, which is part of the democratic process that we relish," said David Craig, 'A Day Without a Gay' organizer.
Another group supporting 'A Day Without a Gay' held a rally on Wednesday night in West Hollywood to cap the boycott.
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