In the 1950s, the Fire Island hamlet was a refuge for gay men and lbians. Dozens of enlarged photos om the era are now on view outsi the New-York Historil Society.
Contents:
- CHERRY GROVE, WHERE GAY NEW YORKERS BEME ‘THEIR REAL SELV’
- A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.
CHERRY GROVE, WHERE GAY NEW YORKERS BEME ‘THEIR REAL SELV’
Fans wept when Roosterfish, the Wtsi’s olst gay bar, closed 2016. 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. 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.
A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.
It’s the perfect place for gay men to meet on the Eastsi. Photo cred: Hot Hoe, 1958Cherry Grove Archiv Collectn, Gift of Harold SeeleyIn the summer of 2021, the New-York Historil Society prented "Safe/Haven: Gay Life 1950s Cherry Grove," an timate look at one of the first gay beach towns the Uned Stat.
The outdoor exhibn explored mid-20th-century gay life Fire Island's remote hamlet of Cherry Grove, loted on the barrier island south of Long Island, through some 70 enlarged photographs and addnal ephemera om the holdgs of the Cherry Grove Archiv Collectn--which works to llect and archive the muny's rich and lorful history. "Cherry Grove on Fire Island beme a weekend and summer statn for gay men and women the pre-Stonewall era of the 1950s and 1960s," said Dr. "At a time when they faced homophobia and persecutn, the rints of Cherry Grove found a sanctuary where they uld socialize and exprs themselv eely.
"As you walk around this exhibn, we hope you will bee aware of the joyo eedom of exprsn that LGBTQ people monstrate so many of the photographs, rememberg that pre-Stonewall 1950s was a time when persecutn and prosecutn led the liv of homosexuals maland Ameri. Yet the 1950s was a richly creative historil perd Cherry Grove when gay and straight people worked and played together, whether theatril productns, stumed cktail parti, annual balls, or a range of muny-sponsored events.".