San Diego’s Gay Bar History: Reflectns on Communy History and the Documentary Film Procs - San Diego History Center | San Diego, CA | Our Cy, Our Story

Contents:

• LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER
• SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS
• SF GAY HISTORY
• GAY
• MAN HELD FOR 1980 KILLGS OUTSI A GAY BAR SEEKS RELEASE FROM HOSPAL
• 1920S AND 30S: GAY BARS SURFACE
• GOLD COAST, WEHO’S INIC ‘DIVE BAR,’ IS THE FOURTH GAY BAR TO CLOSE ON SANTA MONI BLVD.
• THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW
• MOSW GAY BARS

LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER

In fact, the people who were most at risk – this se, gay men who met for hook-ups at New York Cy bars that served the muny – were given no staed or amplified warngs by eher the thori or the media, creatg a safe space for the murrer to ntue to wreak havoc. In fact, the se got so ltle attentn relative to s horror that today few remember , even wh the gay, three s after the murrs, journalist Elon Green has wrten a book tled Last Call: A Te Story of Love, Lt, and Murr Queer New York that go beyond the facts of the story to reveal the larger issu that surround them.

Worse, that perd reprented the height of ignorance and fear about Aids, as well as the peak ath toll the gay muny the wt, greatly impactg how the muny was viewed. “Aids took what was, at bt, a level of difference towards gay people and turned to revulsn, ” said Green. Between 1987 and 1994 the cy saw a greater number of killgs than any other stretch more than half a that benighted era, gay bars were often ‘the one refuge om the perils of everyday life’, says Green.

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

’ Photograph: Wonwoo Lee/Getty Imag/Image SourceI n speak to the equency of vlence the gay muny back then. In that same time ame, a close iend was gay-bashed to unnscns by a gang of young men, g a days-long stay the hospal, and I was punched so hard the stomach outsi a gay dance club I thought the guy mt have ed a hammer. Several years later, on a sunny day on Christopher Street (then the center of New York’s gay life), a man g an anti-gay ephet smashed my bt iend the head wh a rock.

”Meanwhile, the officer did story at the re of Last Call ptur a time the cy, and the liv of gay men, that seem far removed om the current one.

Back that benighted era, gay bars were often “the one refuge om the perils of everyday life”, said Green.

SF GAY HISTORY

At the same time, was a particular type of gay man equentg a specific kd of bar, who tend to be the victim this se. As to why he elud jtice the s, Green said, “most likely the jury believed that this was a gay man attackg another gay man and they didn’t re about the circumstanc.

Given a chance to acqu, they took ” the same time, Green said that he “ultimately realized that the killer (who was himself gay) was laborg unr the same societal nstrats his victims were.

While Green believed homophobia played a major part that, he also said “cisns that law enforcement ma ntributed to the long lay. 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.

GAY

The imag I’m marvelg at offer ndid glimps of San Diego gay bar culture om different epochs morn gay history. 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.

MAN HELD FOR 1980 KILLGS OUTSI A GAY BAR SEEKS RELEASE FROM HOSPAL

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. The film am San Diego gay bar history wh three major epochs bound by a mon theme.

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. I found rerds for at least 135 gay bars that have operated San Diego sce the late 1940s.

1920S AND 30S: GAY BARS SURFACE

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.

At that time, however, was not an exclively gay tablishment. Durg the 1940s and ‘50s, the clientele at several downtown bars, cludg the Brass Rail, transned the evengs om a straight crowd to a gay one. It was not until 1957 when the Brass Rail me unr the ownership of Lou Arko, a straight man, that nverted to a predomantly gay ctomer base.

GOLD COAST, WEHO’S INIC ‘DIVE BAR,’ IS THE FOURTH GAY BAR TO CLOSE ON SANTA MONI BLVD.

The bar retaed s gay patronage after Arko reloted 1964 to the rner of 5th and Robson Hillcrt. 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. While the Hillcrt neighborhood is prently home to most of the gay bars and nightspots San Diego, that was not always the se.

THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW

From the Send World War to the 1960s, nearly all the gay bars were downtown. 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.

The earlit rerd gay bar Hillcrt was the Gizmo (3968 5th Ave. 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.

MOSW GAY BARS

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. 1974 issue of the San Diego Son, two publitns (“bar rags”) that circulated muny rmatn through the bar work to gays and lbians San Diego.

One of the ma challeng visually documentg this early era of gay bar history was the arth of imag om si the bars. I was able to obta 8mm footage om the GLBT Historil Society of San Francis of events filmed there durg the late 1960s si an unintified gay bar. 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.

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.