Contents:
- AS RTRICTNS THAW, LONG BEACH’S GAY BARS ARE G BACK AFTER A DARK YEAR
- GAY L.A. – LONG BEACH’S CENTRAL PLACE QUEER L.A. HISTORY
- THE 20 BT GAY BARS LONG BEACH
AS RTRICTNS THAW, LONG BEACH’S GAY BARS ARE G BACK AFTER A DARK YEAR
A brisk Monday eveng at the Mhaft, a 43-year-old gay bar suated on the Broadway Corridor, the slow bs hours of the tablishment belie the boistero jubilatn si—if only celebrated by five men lgh and nverse as they sip beer and vodka cranberry cktails.
Though the COVID-19 panmic put immense stra on muni across the board, for the Long Beach gay muny, 2020 was pecially isolatg.
GAY L.A. – LONG BEACH’S CENTRAL PLACE QUEER L.A. HISTORY
“I feel like we’ve lost a lot of nnectn, and this year has ma worse, ” said 46-year-old Ryan Schroer, who liv near the rtrictns on public gathergs pecially strgent on enclosed spac like bars, many of the cy’s gay bars were closed through the bulk of 2020 and to this year. Many owners feared for the survival of their bs, not jt for their own livelihoods, but for the sake of the gay muny, which has historilly found sanctuary and muny si their tablishments. Though was already a blow for the gay muny to fo last year’s celebratn, this year is jt as moralizg.
“It’s fely put a stra on me jt beg a gay person and not beg able to partake, ” Romero said. Though Flor said he equents other bars the cy, gay bars like the Mhaft feel like home.
THE 20 BT GAY BARS LONG BEACH
“There are certa tim when I jt want to be around gay people, ” he said. “Whenever I walk to a gay bar, yeah, I want to have a good time and be silly, but when I walk to the doors, I’m walkg on the shoulrs of people who have paved the way for all of to feel ee to e to a [gay] bar.
”Long Beach has a long history wh gay bars datg back to the 1970s, said Carlos Torr, the new executive director of the LGBTQ Center Long Beach on Retro Row. Rippl, one of the first and longt-nng gay bars the cy opened 1972 and after 47 years closed s doors 2019. “Police would equently raid known gay tablishments bee for the longt time homosexualy was nsired a mental illns, Europe and the U.
”Though historilly Long Beach has been progrsive and open-md of s queer rints, durg the `70s and `80s the Long Beach Police Department was notor for entrappg members of the LGBTQ muny, particularly gay men bars and at “cise spots” where they equently met for sexual the gural Long Beach Pri Para 1984 was a hard-fought w for the gay muny and lasted only 30 mut spe drawg followg year, Judi Doyle, the Long Beach Lbian and Gay Pri Para print, said she was threatened wh vlence the weeks leadg up to the 1985 march, as reported by Los Angel LGBTQ newspaper, The Beach has certaly ma stris sce and is ld for s clivy and celebratn of the queer muni. But this don’t tract om the relevance and necsy for spac like the Mhaft, The Faln, The Br, the Silver Fox and other gay bars the cy.