A survey of 200 matchbooks om a bygone era of L.A.'s gay bar scene at the downtown Central Library.
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
- THE PANSY CRAZE: WHEN GAY NIGHTLIFE LOS ANGEL REALLY KICKED OFF
- GAY L.A.: IN 1952, GAY AND LATX ANGELENOS FOUGHT BACK
- GAY BARS OF LA: THEN AND NOW
- RUNNG A GAY BAR THE 1950S
- HYPERN STREET, LOS ANGEL: GAY MEN AND GAY BARS, 1950S, DICK ALLEN
- SAN FERNANDO VALLEY HAS A SECRET HISTORY OF GAY BARS
- WRG GAY HISTORY
- THE BT GAY BARS AND CLUBS LOS ANGEL
- WEHO'S INIC GAY BAR AND NIGHTCLUB, THE ABBEY, IS FOR SALE
- TAG ARCHIV: 1950S GAY BARS
THE GAY BARS AND VICE SQUADS OF 1950'S LOS ANGEL
In Los Angel throughout the 1950s, gay men lived unr nstant harassment by the police. They risked ostracism and loss of employment if outed. * gay bars los angeles 1950s *
At the same time thoands of gay men found themselv California after World War II, and they were prented wh the problem of livg a life the midst of social disapproval and police reprsn. It was wily njectured that homosexualy rulted om emotnal trmas childhood, as is the se wh other mental illns, and that geics played ltle to no role.
A HISTORY OF L.A.’S GAY BAR SCENE, TOLD MATCHBOOKS
* gay bars los angeles 1950s *
On this basis the practice of nversn therapy took hold, wh wispread attempts to change people om homosexual to heterosexual (here are jt a few exampl om stunts at Oberl College Oh). 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.
GAY HISTORY: THE GAY BARS AND VICE SQUADS OF 1950’S LOS ANGEL
A gatherg of gay men Los Angel 1951. This group found the Mattache Society In the wake of World War II a nformist impulse reasserted self Amerin society. At the same time thoands of gay men found themselv California after World War II, and they were prented wh the problem of… * gay bars los angeles 1950s *
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 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 *
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.
Divisns wh the muny would eventually e to a head the late 1960s, and the homophile label fell by the waysi as the gay muny asserted self more forcefully. Often young and athletic, the men were traed to impersonate the gay mannerisms and language of the time, and were sent around to different bars. Some of them play fair, asmuch as they wa for the gay one to make a pass at them, but many others wa only long enough to get the r before clarg the arrt.
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 *
-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 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 *
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.
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 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. 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.
HYPERN STREET, LOS ANGEL: GAY MEN AND GAY BARS, 1950S, DICK ALLEN
Though sometim fotten, the history of gay liberatn was wrten wh the history of Ain Amerins md. * gay bars los angeles 1950s *
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.
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 *
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.
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 *
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.
THE BT GAY BARS AND CLUBS LOS ANGEL
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. 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?
WEHO'S INIC GAY BAR AND NIGHTCLUB, THE ABBEY, IS FOR SALE
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.
TAG ARCHIV: 1950S GAY BARS
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.
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.