Gay Old Time: The rise and fall of Laguna Beach’s gay clubs – Orange County Register

Contents:

• GAY NIGHTLIFE LAGUNA BEACH
• GAY BARS LAGUNA BEACH
•  CALIFORNIA LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS

GAY NIGHTLIFE LAGUNA BEACH

Text 'GAYTRAVEL' to 1-800-GAY-TRAVEL (1-800-429-8728). — Travel Guis wh a Gay Perspective.

Thankfully the world has evolved and although gay bars will always be need, wanted and loved, ’s now not unnscnable for everyone, no matter of who they love, to party, drk and enjoy the night together, unr the same roof. There was a time when Laguna Beach had s staple gay bars, which were a much need prence durg their reign of the beach cy, and s very possible that the future, more will make their way back to Laguna Beach, but until then, the cy is filled wh optns galore. In 1926, a liquor store and a hardware store opened on the rner of Pearl Street and Pacific Coast Highway, and 1946 beme s current namake The Seahorse, which was actually Laguna Beach’s first gay bar.

GAY BARS LAGUNA BEACH

For many years, operated as a secret waterg hole for the lol gay muny until was eventually turned back to retail as Laguna Auto Parts…and now ’s back to s origal roots. An entire block of South Coast Highway hosted gay bars, the most famo perhaps beg the r Boom Boom Room, which served s last drk 15 years ago as folks danced on the bar and the crowd went wild. The Anchor Le is the last of Laguna’s vtage gay bars, a fixture sce 1958.

“My brother Jimmy bought this bar 18 years ago to save what was left of gay Laguna, ” said sister Wendy Nelson, stg at the bar the dim afternoon light. Bs was tough even before COVID, as Laguna’s land valu skyrocketed and much of s gay muny moved east to the Palm Sprgs area.

But ’s happeng all over the natn, not jt Laguna: Half of Amerin gay bars disappeared between 2002 and 2021, acrdg to listg data piled by Greggor Mattson, profsor and chair of soclogy at Oberl College. “I sometim like to thk about gay bars as archiv, ” Mattson said. “We n look no further than the recently proposed natnwi ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, ” Grasso said by email.

 CALIFORNIA LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS

Laws like the create credibly unsafe environments, not only for LGBTQ+ children (who are eher forced to stay the closet and velop psychologil stras om ternalized homophobia or experience potential abe and harm for g out) but also for LGBTQ+ adults who are spegoated by right-leang policians at every turn stat like Florida and Texas but also lolly Orange County.

Grasso has found that gay bars creasgly e ambiguo marketg to attract more ctomers an attempt to generate greater profs, which n be pecially problematic for queer women “doubly margalized” by an emphasis on male-centered programmg, as well as an flux of straight women seekg safety om the male harassment they fd regular bars. In the past year, Grasso has spoken wh several people stgglg to open new gay bars for queer women and genr-expansive people Southern California. “Even wh vtors, bs plans and proof of succs om prev events, is virtually impossible to afford a lease on a buildg, pecially as gayborhoods bee gentrified and bought out by more proment vtors and pani, ” Grasso said.

The early civil rights battl for LGBTQ+ people were spearhead by bar owners sistg on the right to serve homosexuals. New York had the Stonewall Uprisg of 1969, when New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay club Greenwich Village, nfistg s liquor stash and roughly hlg away patrons. Six days of protts and vlent clash wh law enforcement followed, and Stonewall beme a talyst for the gay rights movement the Uned Stat and around the world.

” ‘Where is a gay-iendly doctor?

’ ‘My relatnship is trouble, where n we fd a gay-iendly marriage unselor — even though we’re not allowed to get married? Anchor Le Bar, a gay bar Laguna Beach.

Every person Grasso terviewed “l up as they discsed the first time they entered a gay bar … often one of the first tim they feel entirely at home or at least unrstood and unqutned about the love they experience for others. Gay bars won’t disappear entirely, but they’ll have to adapt, Mattson said. It was bgo night at Ma Street Bar & Cabaret, Laguna Beach’s last gay club.