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…
Contents:
- HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
- BERL BEFORE THE NAZIS: GERMAN PAL WAS A LIBERAL HUB WH A THRIVG GAY SCENE 1920S
- THE PANSY CRAZE: WHEN GAY NIGHTLIFE LOS ANGEL REALLY KICKED OFF
HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
Durg Prohibn, gay nightlife and culture reached new heights—at least temporarily. * gay clubs in the 1920's *
By the mid-1920s, at the height of the Prohibn era, they were attractg as many as 7, 000 people of var rac and social class—gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr and straight alike.
BERL BEFORE THE NAZIS: GERMAN PAL WAS A LIBERAL HUB WH A THRIVG GAY SCENE 1920S
* gay clubs in the 1920's *
Stonewall (1969) is often nsired the begng of forward progrs the gay rights movement. The Begngs of a New Gay World“In the late 19th century, there was an creasgly visible prence of genr-non-nformg men who were engaged sexual relatnships wh other men major Amerin ci, ” says Chad Heap, a profsor of Amerin Studi at Gee Washgton Universy and the thor of Slummg: Sexual and Racial Enunters Amerin Nightlife, 1885-1940.
By the 1920s, gay men had tablished a prence Harlem and the bohemian mec of Greenwich Village (as well as the seedier environs of Tim Square), and the cy’s first lbian enclav had appeared Harlem and the Village. Each gay enclave, wrote Gee Chncey his book Gay New York: Genr, Urban Culture, and the Makg of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940, had a different class and ethnic character, cultural style and public reputatn. Gay Life the Jazz AgeAs the Uned Stat entered an era of unprecented enomic growth and prospery the years after World War I, cultural mor loosened and a new spir of sexual eedom reigned.
Though New York Cy may have been the epicenter of the so-lled "Pansy Craze, " gay, lbian and transgenr performers graced the stag of nightspots ci all over the untry.
THE PANSY CRAZE: WHEN GAY NIGHTLIFE LOS ANGEL REALLY KICKED OFF
”At the same time, lbian and gay characters were beg featured a slew of popular “pulp” novels, songs and on Broadway stag (cludg the ntroversial 1926 play The Captive) and Hollywood—at least prr to 1934, when the motn picture dtry began enforcg censorship guil, known as the Hays Co.
” The sale of liquor was legal aga, but newly enforced laws and regulatns prohibed rtrants and bars om hirg gay employe or even servg gay patrons.