A look back at Hollywood’s unrground gay club culture of the 1970s - Curbed LA

Contents:

• A LOOK BACK AT HOLLYWOOD’S UNRGROUND GAY CLUB CULTURE OF THE 1970S
• SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS
• WHY BEG “GAY THE ’70S NEW YORK AND L.A. WAS MAGIC” — AND HOW HOLLYWOOD HAS CHANGED (GUT COLUMN)
• ZACHARY BLAIRANTHROPOLOGIST, REARCHER, WRER, AND GUN VLENCE VICTIMS ADVOTEHOMEABOUTCONTACTBLOGMOREUSE TAB TO NAVIGATE THROUGH THE MENU EMS.ALL POSTSCENTRAL FLORIDACHIGOPULSEWTER PARKBOYSTOWNSEARCHZACHARY BLAIRDEC 1, 20171 M READGAY LIFE'S FEATURED BARS OM THE MID-1970S
• THIS IS WHAT GAY LIBERATN LOOKED LIKE IN THE '70S
• GAY COMMUNITY 1970S
• HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE

A LOOK BACK AT HOLLYWOOD’S UNRGROUND GAY CLUB CULTURE OF THE 1970S

In the past few months, the Uned Stat has celebrated a few important ton the history of civil rights for gay Amerins: the signatn of the Stonewall Inn New York Cy as a Natnal Monument to Gay Rights and the first anniversary of the historic Supreme Court cisn to legalize same-sex marriage all 50 stat.

The police raids and nstant harassment ntued through the latter half of the 1970s, when an anized and unified gay muny beme polilly active and took their plats to the urts.

SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS

In the early days, they were the only plac where gay men and women uld socialize openly wh one another a “safe” environment where they were ee to be themselv. It’s hard to overstate the importance of the safe meetg plac at a time when men and women were beg arrted and were losg their jobs simply bee they were gay.

It was one of the longt ntuoly-operated gay bars Dallas, and is equently ced by olr members of the muny as beg one of the very few plac the ’50s and ’60s where they were able to socialize openly wh other gay men and women. Opened 1974 an imprsive 60-year-old hoe, Mache Gun Kelly’s was a popular (but short-lived) dis-bar-rtrant that attracted “all typ — straights and gays (girls too), hippi, and bsmen. This unlikely-lookg se for a gay untry-wtern bar lled The Swger, which drew “an tertg crowd of ‘semi-butch’ wboys, ” looks like a shack out the untry.

Article not that there wasn’t too much gay activy the Downtown area and warns that there “have been some beatgs of some gays” at some of s tablishments. Opened 1958 as a sophistited downtown bar that offered a state-of-the-art stereophonic sound system, Gene’s at some pot transned to a gay bar at night while remag a “straight” bar durg the day.

WHY BEG “GAY THE ’70S NEW YORK AND L.A. WAS MAGIC” — AND HOW HOLLYWOOD HAS CHANGED (GUT COLUMN)

Wt Hollywood has long been the rabow-draped pal of the gay muny Los Angel, but an article for KCET, cy planner Jam Rojas scrib the diverse and somewhat unr-the-radar gay dis circu of 1970s Hollywood.

ZACHARY BLAIRANTHROPOLOGIST, REARCHER, WRER, AND GUN VLENCE VICTIMS ADVOTEHOMEABOUTCONTACTBLOGMOREUSE TAB TO NAVIGATE THROUGH THE MENU EMS.ALL POSTSCENTRAL FLORIDACHIGOPULSEWTER PARKBOYSTOWNSEARCHZACHARY BLAIRDEC 1, 20171 M READGAY LIFE'S FEATURED BARS OM THE MID-1970S

" In Lillian Farman and Stuart Timmons’s Gay LA, the thors scribe how rtrant staff ed to splash the bathroom floors wh ammonia—the smell enuragg patrons not to lger longer than necsary. [KCET] Developers Will Save Parts of Historic Circ Dis But Raze Everythg Else [Curbed LA] Mappg Los Angel's Groundbreakg Role LGBT History [Curbed LA] The Past and Future of Three of LA's Historic But Threatened Gay Nightclubs [Curbed LA]. There’s a shirtls, mtached blond on roller skat ont of a 1965 red Plymouth Barracuda; the posn of the Giant Dipper roller aster and street signage the background tablish the photo was taken the vicy of the Apartment, a women’s gay bar that opened Missn Beach 1974.

A third snapshot: a ftive lp of Halloween-stumed nttants—a drag versn of Tippi Hedren (a stuffed crow entangled her stylish platum updo), a garish clown, and a butch female wboy—all vyg for priz award long ago an unintified San Diego gay bar. From 2017 to mid-2018, I sorted through a multu of photographs, gay perdils, and ephemera the procs of producg San Diego’s Gay Bar History, a documentary that was ially broadst June 2018 on KPBS, San Diego’s public televisn statn, and had s premiere at FilmOut 2018, San Diego’s LGBTQ Film Ftival. San Diego’s LGBTQ history, viewed through the lens of s postwar gay bars and nightclubs (and through the voic of wns who lived through this history) many ways parallels the velopment of the morn LGBTQ muny other large ci throughout North Ameri, and giv the documentary, while regnal s foc, a wir relevance.

THIS IS WHAT GAY LIBERATN LOOKED LIKE IN THE '70S

A ma this of the documentary poss that gay bars have been a foundatnal part of the LGBTQ experience, not only as safe plac for socializg and formg terpersonal relatnships, but also as cultural stutns that have played important rol the formatn of muny over generatns. From the opprsive secrecy of the postwar era to Stonewall; the birth of the morn gay rights movement through the eewheelg 1970s; and om the horrific AIDS crisis the 1980s, which cimated an entire generatn, gay bars have been more than jt social drkg spots.

GAY COMMUNITY 1970S

San Diego, already a major ary port cy even before the war, beme a new home for thoands of gay men and women who were then able to disver others of their own kd. The olst ntuoly operatg gay bar San Diego, the Brass Rail, first opened 1934 as a bar and rtrant si the Orphm Theater on the rner of 6th Avenue and B Street.

I chose this lotn as a backdrop bee the bar self acts as a metaphoric character San Diego’s gay bar history, havg served as both a bean and a safe harbor for several generatns of LGBTQ muny members. However, no trac rema of the majory of historic downtown gay bars om lotns that were molished and rebuilt durg revelopment projects of the 1960s and beyond. Although the downtown bars provid a modicum of refuge for gays the 1940s and ‘50s, they were still risky plac to ngregate, pecially for ary personnel, who uld be dishonorably discharged jt by beg seen wh them.

In those days, women had to be pecially discreet, bee if they were publicly exposed as gay and were mothers, was almost assured child welfare thori would take their children away, as homosexuals were emed morally unf to be parents. Even after 1974, when homosexualy was no longer listed as a mental disorr by the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, some lbians Los Angel still lost ctody of their children on those grounds. The Stonewall Inn uprisg and the rts that began June 28, 1969 New York’s Greenwich Village beme a watershed moment for the muny natnwi, signifyg s refal to be treated as send-class cizens and s termatn to fight back agast btaly and homophobic opprsn.

HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE

Wh this empowered outlook, the 1970s wnsed a burgeong of celebratory gay bar culture, and San Diego saw the appearance of dance clubs such as the Ball Exprs, the Barbary Coast, the Lombard, Diablo’s, and the Wt Coast Productn Company. Th the bars beme cleargho where people uld engage and build muny before there was an tablished gay center or systems of support servic The Imperial Court system beme a key aspect of bar culture. By the mid-1970s, nearly 30 gay bars were spread across San Diego La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Missn Beach, North and South Park, Hillcrt, Downtown, and some extendg eastward to La Ma.

Wh over sixty hours of footage to ed, we attempted to strike a balance between velopg each segment as fully as possible and reprentg the variety of the gay bars of this high-water mark perd. Due to the climate of fear and stigma agast those wh HIV/AIDS, gay bars and their patrons experienced creased homophobic harassment by cy and state thori. Clearly, gay bars have held different meangs to people that me of age wh each major epoch, and their lsened importance to young people may be a ntributg factor fluencg the long-term viabily of gay bars.