EXPLORE San Diego | San Diego's Gay Bar History | SCETV

Contents:

• SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS
• SAN DIEGO'S GAY BAR HISTORY
• KPBS EXPLOR SAN DIEGO'S GAY BAR HISTORY
• SAN DIEGO'S GAY BAR HISTORY | STORY TRAILER
• DOCUMENTARY EXPLOR HIDN HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO’S GAY BARS

SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS

There’s a shirtls, mtached blond on roller skat ont of a 1965 red Plymouth Barracuda; the posn of the Giant Dipper roller aster and street signage the background tablish the photo was taken the vicy of the Apartment, a women’s gay bar that opened Missn Beach 1974. A third snapshot: a ftive lp of Halloween-stumed nttants—a drag versn of Tippi Hedren (a stuffed crow entangled her stylish platum updo), a garish clown, and a butch female wboy—all vyg for priz award long ago an unintified San Diego gay bar. The imag I’m marvelg at offer ndid glimps of San Diego gay bar culture om different epochs morn gay history.

From 2017 to mid-2018, I sorted through a multu of photographs, gay perdils, and ephemera the procs of producg San Diego’s Gay Bar History, a documentary that was ially broadst June 2018 on KPBS, San Diego’s public televisn statn, and had s premiere at FilmOut 2018, San Diego’s LGBTQ Film Ftival. San Diego’s LGBTQ history, viewed through the lens of s postwar gay bars and nightclubs (and through the voic of wns who lived through this history) many ways parallels the velopment of the morn LGBTQ muny other large ci throughout North Ameri, and giv the documentary, while regnal s foc, a wir relevance. A ma this of the documentary poss that gay bars have been a foundatnal part of the LGBTQ experience, not only as safe plac for socializg and formg terpersonal relatnships, but also as cultural stutns that have played important rol the formatn of muny over generatns.

SAN DIEGO'S GAY BAR HISTORY

The film am San Diego gay bar history wh three major epochs bound by a mon theme. From the opprsive secrecy of the postwar era to Stonewall; the birth of the morn gay rights movement through the eewheelg 1970s; and om the horrific AIDS crisis the 1980s, which cimated an entire generatn, gay bars have been more than jt social drkg spots. I found rerds for at least 135 gay bars that have operated San Diego sce the late 1940s.

San Diego, already a major ary port cy even before the war, beme a new home for thoands of gay men and women who were then able to disver others of their own kd. The olst ntuoly operatg gay bar San Diego, the Brass Rail, first opened 1934 as a bar and rtrant si the Orphm Theater on the rner of 6th Avenue and B Street. At that time, however, was not an exclively gay tablishment.

Durg the 1940s and ‘50s, the clientele at several downtown bars, cludg the Brass Rail, transned the evengs om a straight crowd to a gay one.

KPBS EXPLOR SAN DIEGO'S GAY BAR HISTORY

It was not until 1957 when the Brass Rail me unr the ownership of Lou Arko, a straight man, that nverted to a predomantly gay ctomer base. The bar retaed s gay patronage after Arko reloted 1964 to the rner of 5th and Robson Hillcrt.

I chose this lotn as a backdrop bee the bar self acts as a metaphoric character San Diego’s gay bar history, havg served as both a bean and a safe harbor for several generatns of LGBTQ muny members. While the Hillcrt neighborhood is prently home to most of the gay bars and nightspots San Diego, that was not always the se. From the Send World War to the 1960s, nearly all the gay bars were downtown.

However, no trac rema of the majory of historic downtown gay bars om lotns that were molished and rebuilt durg revelopment projects of the 1960s and beyond. Although the downtown bars provid a modicum of refuge for gays the 1940s and ‘50s, they were still risky plac to ngregate, pecially for ary personnel, who uld be dishonorably discharged jt by beg seen wh them.

SAN DIEGO'S GAY BAR HISTORY | STORY TRAILER

The earlit rerd gay bar Hillcrt was the Gizmo (3968 5th Ave. In those days, women had to be pecially discreet, bee if they were publicly exposed as gay and were mothers, was almost assured child welfare thori would take their children away, as homosexuals were emed morally unf to be parents. Even after 1974, when homosexualy was no longer listed as a mental disorr by the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, some lbians Los Angel still lost ctody of their children on those grounds.

DOCUMENTARY EXPLOR HIDN HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO’S GAY BARS

1974 issue of the San Diego Son, two publitns (“bar rags”) that circulated muny rmatn through the bar work to gays and lbians San Diego.

One of the ma challeng visually documentg this early era of gay bar history was the arth of imag om si the bars. I was able to obta 8mm footage om the GLBT Historil Society of San Francis of events filmed there durg the late 1960s si an unintified gay bar. The Stonewall Inn uprisg and the rts that began June 28, 1969 New York’s Greenwich Village beme a watershed moment for the muny natnwi, signifyg s refal to be treated as send-class cizens and s termatn to fight back agast btaly and homophobic opprsn.

Wh this empowered outlook, the 1970s wnsed a burgeong of celebratory gay bar culture, and San Diego saw the appearance of dance clubs such as the Ball Exprs, the Barbary Coast, the Lombard, Diablo’s, and the Wt Coast Productn Company. Hillcrt grew importance as a gay neighborhood wh an creasg number of bars and gay-owned bs ntributg to the enomic growth of the area. Early gay publitns provid rmatn about gay topics, social events and bar gossip, and the were distributed throughout the bar work.