‘The Real Friends of WeHo’ Review: Todrick Hall Show Is a Big Gay Nightmare

Contents:

• 'REAL HOEWIV,' BUT MAKE GAY(ER): MTV TRODUC 'REAL FRIENDS OF WEHO'
• JT HOW GAY IS WT HOLLYWOOD?
• WEHO BEME A GAY MEC. HERE’S THE HISTORY BEHD THAT (AND OTHER HEADL)
• WEHO PRI FTIVI KICK OFF TODAY, ONE OF SEVERAL GAY PRI ACTIVI PLANNED L.A. AREA THIS MONTH
• WT HOLLYWOOD’S HISTORIC GAY NIGHTCLUB THE ABBEY IS UP FOR SALE
• WEHO'S INIC GAY BAR AND NIGHTCLUB, THE ABBEY, IS FOR SALE
• GOLD COAST, THE LEGENDARY WEHO GAY BAR, RIS OM THE DEAD
• GAY BAR IN LOS ANGEL
• WT HOLLYWOOD ADDS NEW GAY BAR WH OR BAR WEHO OPENG THIS WEEK
• WEHO’S GAY BARS ARE GETTG READY TO RE-OPEN
• ‘THE REAL FRIENDS OF WEHO’ IS A COLOSSAL GAY NIGHTMARE
• THE BT GAY CISG SPOTS LOS ANGEL
• THE ABBEY IS FOR SALE; WT HOLLYWOOD GAY CLUB SEEKS NEW OWNER
• THE ABBEY, THE LEGENDARY WT HOLLYWOOD GAY BAR, IS FOR SALE

'REAL HOEWIV,' BUT MAKE GAY(ER): MTV TRODUC 'REAL FRIENDS OF WEHO'

Much like the Castro to San Francis or Boystown to Chigo, this statn, clared an official cy 1984 wh a populatn of jt over 36, 000 as of 2020, is historilly known as one of the untry's most proment and still thrivg "gayborhoods, " wh many inic and endurg LGBTQ nightlife spots along wh recent addns.

JT HOW GAY IS WT HOLLYWOOD?

Instantly regnizable thanks to artist Chris Burn's Instagram-ready outdoor "Urban Light" streetlamp stallatn, The Los Angel County Mm of Art (LACMA) is the wt ast's largt art mm and bis s ep permanent llectn featur cuttg edge, novative, and multimedia tourg exhibns: openly gay Black artist Keh Wiley's inic portra of Barack Obama and Amy Sherald's Michelle Obama will be on display om November 5, 2021 until January 2, 2022.

WEHO BEME A GAY MEC. HERE’S THE HISTORY BEHD THAT (AND OTHER HEADL)

A WeHo landmark, Circ of Books closed 2019—a Netflix documentary chronicl s storied and very LGBTQ past—but drag queen and gay porn film director Chi Chi LaRue revived the space as Chi Chi LaRue's Circ 2020 as a lorful, upmarket store that clus adult goods, accsori, and well-curated selectns of ffee-table tom and lol art. Hollywood skre gu to the stars sce the 1970s (clients have clud Barbra Streisand, Ellen DeGener, Cher, Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Elton John, David Bowie, and Kylie Mogue), the Denmark-born, openly gay Ole Henriksen opened a namake WeHo Spa off Sunset Boulevard 1998, and remas a favore, discreet, zy oasis for sk and body pamperg treatments wh his excellent le of products today. For dancg, visors n look forward to a brand new Santa Moni Boulevard gay megaclub, reportedly, the USA's largt, to open the space formerly occupied by 37-year-old dance club Rage, which closed permanently September 2020.

Owner Lance Bass, the former N'Sync member, is also behd the gay sports bar and rtrant Roc's WeHo, which opened 2019 and boasts an illtrated and artifact-filled wall pictg the timele of LGBTQ history on the Wt Coast (a llaboratn wh USC Librari' ONE Archiv Foundatn).

Open for over 25 years, unpretent gay sports bar Tnks also boasts an outdoor pat. A few highlights clu openly gay executive chef St Jon' Mederranean-fluenced vegan rtrant Crossroads Kchen, the stunng rooftop seafood venue Catch L.

WEHO PRI FTIVI KICK OFF TODAY, ONE OF SEVERAL GAY PRI ACTIVI PLANNED L.A. AREA THIS MONTH

The upg realy seri follows six gay iends Wt Hollywood, cludg celebry stylist Brad Gorki and sger Todrick st of "The Real Friends of WeHo, " om left: Curtis Haton, Dorión Rend, Brad Gorki, Todrick Hall, Jaym Vghan and Joey Keily / Courty of MTVJan.

WT HOLLYWOOD’S HISTORIC GAY NIGHTCLUB THE ABBEY IS UP FOR SALE

5, 2023, 9:36 PM UTCGay men, who have arguably been the lifeblood of “The Real Hoewiv” fan base, will fally get a drama-filled realy TV show they n ll their own. 20 “The Real Friends of WeHo, ” which will follow six gay iends livg Los Angel' premiere gayborhood, Wt Hollywood. The report suggts that between 30% and 40% of the cy’s adults are gay men.

Between 2012 and 2016, Wt Hollywood had an average of roughly 1, 200 unmarried gay male upl. Wt Hollywood had more unmarried gay male upl by far than Santa Moni (which had over 150 of them), Beverly Hills (ls than 50), and Culver Cy (ls than 50).

Palm Sprgs, on the other hand, had more unmarried gay upl than Wt Hollywood, both total and per hoehold. The available Cens data on married gay male upl b Wt Hollywood wh Beverly Hills and Hollywood Hills Wt. Based on the rough timat, only Palm Sprgs, San Francis’s the Castro, and part of San Diego had more married gay upl than Wt Hollywood and the adjacent areas.

WEHO'S INIC GAY BAR AND NIGHTCLUB, THE ABBEY, IS FOR SALE

To fd out more, see the full report, How many Wt Hollywood rints are gay men?

The year is 1981, and if you were a homosexual man (mostly whe) lookg for some fun the unrporated part of Los Angel County unofficially known as Wt Hollywood, then you had plenty to choose om a long list of nightlife gay bars, diss, rtrants, bathho and gay-owned bs terg to the gay-gay-gay! The image you see above, shared by WeHo history buff Mark Donnell, shows a double spread ad taken om a Data Boy Magaze 1981, which was one of the gay rags that uld be found lol WeHo bs stacked next to an issue of Frontiers Magaze.

GOLD COAST, THE LEGENDARY WEHO GAY BAR, RIS OM THE DEAD

Mother Lo was upgrad and looks very different than s origal 80s versn, but for the most part has managed to stay Mother were the gay-owned clothg stor, rtrants and retail spac:The Sports Locker was suated at 8853 Santa Moni Boulevard. That retail space is the current home to Block Party WeHo, known for phg overly priced slut gear and tacky rabow gay apparel unr the guise that is the biggt gay store the world. Clothg store was geared towards gay men (mostly whe which was a sign of the tim).

It was a gay entertament magaze lnched 1968 by Data-Boy Instant Prs, an early puterized prtg service owned by Sl “Fat Shirley” Suon.

It was a moment for me: a then-not out gay the LGBTQ+ muny, the spac are sacred bee there aren’t that many plac to ll our own.

GAY BAR IN LOS ANGEL

The gays go wtThe history of how Wt Hollywood beme a queer (and non-queer at this pot) statn dat back to the Prohibn era. Eventually openly gay bars popped up Hollywood, like Jimmy’s Backyard and B. A lot more queer spots — hotels, bars and other bs — started to open up WeHo, so much so that entreprenr and gay bar owner Bob Damran created gay guis the mid 1960s.

Micky’s WeHo has long been a staple on Wt Hollywood’s strip of gay nightclubs and bars on Santa Moni Boulevard, known for s open-walled two-story buildg where passersby n see the party ragg om the street. The venue is the only Latx gay bar LA that explicly ters to a gay and Mexin dience every night, not jt as a theme once a week. But ’s the perfect space to grab a workday bnch wh a lleague or for -workg ssns -hosted on Tudays wh Gay Asstrology.

The origal Downtown gay bar, Jalis is a dive bar that ters to the Latx and Mexin LGBTQ muny. Though Sweetwater isn’t officially known as a lbian bar, the humble tablishment has long been the go-to spot for queer women the lol gayborhood, which featur nearly half a dozen gay bars that le Broadway Long Beach. One of Long Beach’s few, if not only, three-level gay bars, Executive Sue boasts a karaoke bar, vio gam, pool tabl for rent, and regular drag shows.

WT HOLLYWOOD ADDS NEW GAY BAR WH OR BAR WEHO OPENG THIS WEEK

Dubbed by KCET as Montebello’s bt Lato gay bar, Chi is the sister to Club Cobra, servg as a groundg se for the queer Latx muny the suburbs of East LA. ”Wh more than 40% of rints intifyg as members of the LGBTQ muny, Wt Hollywood scrib self as beg home to one of the largt Pri celebratns Southern Gay Pri activi are also planned the L. Some fans will receive a memorative LGBTQ+ Dodger game team will also celebrate the life of former Dodger outfielr Glenn Burke, Major League Baseball’s first openly gay player.

The Abbey, arguably the untry’s biggt and most famo gay bar Wt Hollywood, is officially on the market. Andrew Ahn’s father once told him that there were “no gay people Korea. In a culturally nservative muny, where gog to church and buildg a fay were heavily emphasized, Ahn felt his gay inty kept him “om beg able to participate Korean culture.

” Then, he started equentg GAMeBoi, a weekly Asian Amerin gay party at Wt Hollywood’s Rage Nightclub. He learned to embrace beg both Korean and gay, so much so that he directed “Fire Island, ” a groundbreakg queer Asian Amerin rom- released last year.

WEHO’S GAY BARS ARE GETTG READY TO RE-OPEN

Beg Asian Amerin and LGBTQ+ n feel lonely, wh stutns such as ethnic church often disavowg non-heterosexual relatnships while tradnal LGBTQ+ spac such as gay bars n be unwelg to people of lor. “Fdg plac like GAMeBoi, where beg queer and Asian do -exist … It’s not like a 1, 000-year-old Korean cultural rual, but I uld create a new rual, ” said Ahn, a recent Friday, hundreds packed QT Nightlife’s monthly K-Pop Night at Micky’s, a Wt Hollywood gay club a block or so east om the old GAMeBoi posed for selfi a pk Barbie box wh dis balls hangg overhead. ” (Michael Owen Baker / For The Tim) Even historilly gay neighborhoods like Wt Hollywood or San Francis’s Castro district, Asian Amerins have long been ignored or fetishized, seen as feme and weak.

In 2019, then-Wt Hollywood Mayor John Duran argued that he did not appropriately touch a member of the Gay Men’s Chos of Los Angel bee “he’s a skny Korean kid wh pimpl on his cheek. ” Asian Amerin advocy groups cricized Duran’s remark, wh API Equaly-LA potg to the long history of discrimatn agast Asian men gay muni such as Wt Hollywood, whose clubs “ed to require three forms of photo intifitn om anyone they perceived as Asian. On this night, he had brought some female high school iends who wanted to experience the gay clubbg scene.

‘THE REAL FRIENDS OF WEHO’ IS A COLOSSAL GAY NIGHTMARE

The WeHo Pri LGBTQ Arts Ftival ns for 40 days, om Harvey Milk Day through the end of Pri month and is anized by the Cy of Wt Hollywood’s Arts Divisn wh put om the Cy’s Lbian & Gay Advisory Board, Transgenr Advisory Board, Arts and Cultural Affairs Commissn, and muny partners. More than 40 percent of rints Wt Hollywood intify as LGBTQ and three of the five members of the Wt Hollywood Cy Council are openly gay. The Cy of Wt Hollywood is one of the first municipali to form a Lbian & Gay Advisory Board and a Transgenr Advisory Board, which each addrs matters of advocy.

Gay people on ter are divid on whether they're lovg the ia of The Real Friends of WeHo or if they're not really that to watchg . RELATED | Meet the Cast of MTV's New Gay Realy Show The Real Friends of WeHo.

THE BT GAY CISG SPOTS LOS ANGEL

Another realy show om Logo TV featurg a st of gay men livg their bt liv was Fire Island, which aired 2017. Gay Boi mec of southern liforniaLets go clubb Wehoby Meow Febary 16, 2004FlagGet the WeHo your Disrd server on Urban Dictnary jt 3 clicksWeHo boySomeone of high stat Wt Hollywood, California.

”by tutight May 23, 2018FlagGet the WeHo boy regularA celebry (most often a man) that is not out to the public but often seen Wt Hollywood, ually gay has really bee que the weho regular, hasn't he?

When Wt Hollywood’s Gold Coast bar shut down after 40 years last September, many speculated that the once-thrivg gay scene on Santa Moni Boulevard was down for the unt.

THE ABBEY IS FOR SALE; WT HOLLYWOOD GAY CLUB SEEKS NEW OWNER

The legendary dive bar was the third gay landmark on the thoroughfare to shut down durg the panmic, followg the closure of Rage and Flamg Saddl a month before. Overstreet and his bs partner also owned Oil Can Harry’s, the landmark Country Wtern gay bar Stud Cy that shuttered last December after 52 years.

(Found 1968, was the olst gay bar Los Angel—and a lnchg pad for performers om k. Rage is returng this fall unr the ownership of former NSYNC star Lance Bass, who vows that his revamped Robertson Boulevard dis will reopen as the biggt gay nightclub the world. (Bass is also a partner Roc’s, the wildly succsful gay bar and rtrant across the street.

THE ABBEY, THE LEGENDARY WT HOLLYWOOD GAY BAR, IS FOR SALE

’s gay and nightlife scene: Wt Hollywood entreprenr Rob Novger, who recently rema the dty Circ of Books to a glossy porn emporium, began eyeg the dilapidated Gold Coast property soon after the For Sale sign went up.