Durg Prohibn, gay nightlife and culture reached new heights—at least temporarily.
Contents:
- THE PANSY CRAZE: WHEN GAY NIGHTLIFE LOS ANGEL REALLY KICKED OFF
- HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
- EARLY GAY CLUBS LA
- LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE
THE PANSY CRAZE: WHEN GAY NIGHTLIFE LOS ANGEL REALLY KICKED OFF
It was New Years Eve, 1929. Three hundred men tuxedos were celebratg the openg of Hollywood’s first gay nightclub. It was lled Jimmy’s Backyard and sat a… * early gay club *
Three hundred men tuxedos were celebratg the openg of Hollywood’s first gay nightclub. “I’m cur about the gay club history of the 1930’s Los Angel, specifilly the pansy clubs that were often outsi the cy lims and were illegal.
This perd, durg the late 1920s and the early 1930s, was a goln era Los Angel for gay performers, entertaers drag and the crowds of Angelenos – gay, straight, rich and poor – that loved them. Lillian Farman, -thor of “Gay LA: a History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Polics and Lipstick Lbians, ” said of the era, “I thk that sexualy was very fluid Hollywood, particularly the movie dtry the 1920s and the 1930s. Courty of ONE Natnal Gay and Lbian Archive.
HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
* early gay club *
Go to the ONE Natnal Gay and Lbian archiv at the USC Librari, and you n see sheet mic om that era, wh vers featurg photos of men and women drsed drag, and tl like “Japansy” and “If you knew Sie, like I knew Sie. Photo urty of ONE Natnal Gay and Lbian archive at USC Librari (The origal image is no longer available, please ntact KCRW if you need accs to the origal image. However, this was still a time when homosexualy was a crime punishable by prison.
” The LAPD’s Vice Squad me down hard on the gay muny and drag performers. The Sunset Strip emerged as a center for gay and lbian clubs durg the 1930s bee was an unrporated part of LA County lled Sherman, and the LAPD had no jurisdictn over the area. And the headlg act for five years was an openly gay, high society piano and song man by the name of Bz Fletcher.
EARLY GAY CLUBS LA
Back the mid-1980s, I ed to go wh iends to a happeng gay dis spot LA, a place lled Catch One. I would go wh my then-girliend and… * early gay club *
Fletcher’s lyrics were lan wh gay subtext. He lived an openly gay life wh his long time partner Casey Roberts, an Osr nomated set signer. “It was the number one song that you would hear gay, pecially lbian bars of the 1940s and ‘50s, ” said Alpern.
Joseph Hawks, Director of USC’s ONE Natnal Gay and Lbian archiv, thumbg through “Bachelor” Magaze, a magaze for gay men that started publitn 1937. The Pansy Craze and this goln era of gay performers and male and female impersonators me to a close once Prohibn end and the Great Deprsn h.
LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE
As for the legacy of that era, ONE Archiv director Joseph Hawks said performers durg the Pansy Craze were “creatg culture on the fly, and I thk one of the thgs that gay people, queer people, have been dog throughout their liv- is creatg culture on the fly. This baret and avant gar performance club, scribed as ‘a place given up to gaiety’, was for all tents and purpos the first ‘gay bar’, as we would unrstand today. It didn’t take long before this gentlemen-only tablishment beme a renowned spot for homosexual liaisons, although had a mixed crowd, terg to civil servants and queer men alike.