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… * gay bars los angeles 1950s *

-based queer artist who was a regular at a number of the spots worked briefly as a barback at Cuffs, a major gay hangout of the recent “was credibly dark and super cisey, ” Jony rells. “As Silver Lake — and the whole landspe of gay Hollywood and the east si — changed so much I always had this ia my head of turng the place back to Cuffs for one night, ” he says.

It also n be argued that the ongog expansn of jt what queerns n mean uld have ma a segment of gay bars, which thrived a sort of self-intified exclivy, obsolete. “I’m not one of them, ” Jony says, “but a lot of gay men my age and a generatn olr like to talk about the days of male-only spac and what that meant to them. ” Jony is pleased that anyone who intifi as male — trans men, for example — are now more wele at gay bars than they were the past.

GAY L.A.: IN 1952, GAY AND LATX ANGELENOS FOUGHT BACK

Back the pre-ter days of the early seventi, LA was flh wh gay bars and nightclubs (assiatn ntu to fell LGBT gatherg plac). Queerty took a look at about a dozen vtage... * gay bars los angeles 1950s *

Homosexuals had long been barred om employment feral jobs, a policy that was rerced 1953 by Dwight Eisenhower’s Executive Orr 10450. A survey nducted as late as 1967 for a CBS documentary (see the full program or a shorter versn) termed that two thirds of Amerins viewed homosexuals wh “disgt, disfort, or fear” while a majory favored laws agast all homosexual acts. Some of the well-known gay bars of this time were the Hoe of Ivy and the Wdup Hollywood, and the Crown Jewel, Harold’s, the Waldorf, and Maxwell’s downtown Los Angel.

The more nservative group of the gay muny took pas to distance themselv om the “obv” crowd, believg that they perpetuated negative stereotyp and drew unwanted attentn.

“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.

GAY BARS OF LA: THEN AND NOW

Culture Lt ntributor Randy Dotga disvers a memoir by an opnated straight woman bold enough to n a gay bar the 1950s. He also looks at the gay nightlife scene San Diego durg the 50s. * gay bars los angeles 1950s *

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.

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.

RUNNG A GAY BAR THE 1950S

San Fernando Valley has a secret history of gay and lbian bars. Ventura Boulevard was nsired the Santa Moni Boulevard of the Valley. * gay bars los angeles 1950s *

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. 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.

HYPERN STREET, LOS ANGEL: GAY MEN AND GAY BARS, 1950S, DICK ALLEN

* gay bars los angeles 1950s *

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. After the formatn of the Mattache Society 1950, founr Harry Hay and his fellow lears were tryg to protect their fellow members om targeted raids on gay bars and muny spac. After news of this cint spread, wh the police and the prs unable to supprs s clear homophobic unrton, Harry Hay reached out to Shia Meyers, the current Admistrative Secretary of the Civil Rights Congrs, to exprs his outrage at the the treatment of both groups.

“What have you ever offered the Homosexual that he should risk his livlihood [sic], his hog, even his piful facsie of social secury, to rm you? Has the homosexual EVER had anyone to turn to, (except the dub subjectivy of his own), for help, sucur, guidance, protectn, or sympathy? Unfortunately, well-meang people like yourselv are still so shot through wh Frdian ndng that you nnot perceive the Homosexual as a member of a social mory.

SAN FERNANDO VALLEY HAS A SECRET HISTORY OF GAY BARS

The bt gay bar and club optns L.A., om flirty Wt Hollywood stutns to hip Silver Lake alternativ, pl bars Venice and the Valley. * gay bars los angeles 1950s *

This cint, though relatively small size, is often nsired by historians to be the first morn uprisg agast police treatment of gay people. John Rechy, a noted chronicler of gay LA, wrote his book Cy of Night that this lotn of the Cooper doughnut cha on Ma Street was the se of a 1959 uprisg of transgenr women and street htlers. Rechy, who was prent the doughnut shop on the night May 1959 when the rt took place, not that at this time, was not unmon for police to arrt members of the gay populace simply for ngregatg or beg a bar that was beg raid.

WRG GAY HISTORY

Beg Asian Amerin and LGBTQ+ n feel lonely, wh stutns such as ethnic church often disavowg non-heterosexual relatnships while tradnal LGBTQ+ spac such as gay bars n be unwelg. * gay bars los angeles 1950s *

Rentment at beg targeted by the police me to a head the Cooper Do-Nuts, and when police me to the pecially popular gay hangout attemptg to arrt three people (Rechy among them), some of the trans women and gay patrons bombard the officers wh donuts, ffee, and paper plat until the police ran out seekg backup. Harry Hay, creded wh foundg the first gay right anizatn, the Mattache Society, lived and had meetgs here at the time the group began 1950. ) Kev Rorick wrote his sightful logy for Hay Los Angel magaze that many nsir the hoe to be the birthplace of the gay rights movement.

The ncrete stairs adjacent to his home were named the Mattache Steps 2012, to memorate his ntributns to the gay rights movement. A flyer for what claims to be the first Gay-In says was both fun and tnal, begng wh a primer on police harassment and endg wh a bar crawl. Especially toward the end of his reer, police created problems for him: At a show a Hollywood gay club, he was ma to do his act a tux stead of his gowns due to an anti-cross-drsg law.

THE BT GAY BARS AND CLUBS LOS ANGEL

Pershg Square was the center of "The Run, " a circu of gay-iendly tablishments and cisg spots that served the 1920s through the 1960s as what the book Gay L.

A sectn of this state beach is regnized as LA's unofficial gay beach, and has been referred to by the nickname Gger Rogers Beach sce the 1950s. Tom of Fland was name that Fnish artist Too Laaksonen ed when he first started submtg his homoerotic art to magaz popular among gay, male rears. This hoe Echo Park eventually beme his home, and his prence drew notable gay artists such as John Waters and Robert Maplethorpe to the home as well, which beme a gatherg place.

His work, showg strong, virile men, was nsired pecially important the 1980s, when the AIDS epimic meant that the prevailg image of gay men was the oppose of mcular and healthy. In a letter of support for the hoe receivg this signatn, the Wt Coast edor of Archectural Digt wrote that Laaksonen's artwork "one of the most important forc the evolutn of gay culture the 20th century. But then a Milwkee thor heard about and brought back to life the newly published "Gay Bar: The Fabulo, Te Story of a Darg Woman and Her Boys the 1950s.

WEHO'S INIC GAY BAR AND NIGHTCLUB, THE ABBEY, IS FOR SALE

Will Fellows: Helen Branson had many gay iends the 1940s and 1950s, and she was an extraordary straight ally at a time when beg a straight ally of homosexuals was unheard of. She was wrg this book when Senator McCarthy was still rantg and ravg about thgs, a climate of what we uld all ll homophobia -- great antagonism toward homosexualy and homosexuals, perversn and viants, and all that sort of stuff.

TAG ARCHIV: 1950S GAY BARS

She really saw as a kd of public livg had a lot of gay iends she'd veloped sce her divorce the 1930s, and she had managed other gay bars for other owners. She was able to do thgs her own way, a way that created a hospable, iendly and vg atmosphere but still mataed safeguards agast problems wh law enforcement and htlers and people who were not necsarily out to treat her gay iends well. A: At that time, there some gay men who their self-prentatn, bee of feelg so opprsed and beltled and beleaguered and trapped their liv, they kd of acted out almost wildly flamboyant ways, rryg on ways that were more than jt thentic exprsns of maybe an gree of effemacy on their parts.

There's another thg that's a fascatg dimensn of homosexual thought at that time: even early gay rights anizatns were very tent on enforcg pretty tradnal standards of drs for men and women. When she realized that the men she found most appealg as iends when she was workg as a palm rear Los Angel the 1940s were gay, she beme really trigued by that. "The Brass Rail, which opened s doors Hillcrt 1960 (after apparently movg om downtown), is still a gay bar -- 's now known for s ethnilly diverse clientele -- and ss at the rner of Robson and Fifth.

Durg the latter s of his life, gay bars went om rari San Diego to mon sights that serve a variety of typ of gay the past, kissg is most fely allowed.

Wrg Gay History | The Natnal Endowment for the Humani

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Contents:

THE GAY BARS AND VICE SQUADS OF 1950'S LOS ANGEL

A HISTORY OF L.A.’S GAY BAR SCENE, TOLD MATCHBOOKS

GAY HISTORY: THE GAY BARS AND VICE SQUADS OF 1950’S LOS ANGEL