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...
Contents:
- A HISTORY OF L.A.’S GAY BAR SCENE, TOLD MATCHBOOKS
- GAY BARS OF LA: THEN AND NOW
- SAN FERNANDO VALLEY HAS A SECRET HISTORY OF GAY BARS
- THE BT GAY BARS AND CLUBS LOS ANGEL
- GAY LOS ANGEL
- A GUI TO GAY LOS ANGEL, 1965
A HISTORY OF L.A.’S GAY BAR SCENE, TOLD MATCHBOOKS
A survey of 200 matchbooks om a bygone era of L.A.'s gay bar scene at the downtown Central Library. * oldest gay bar in los angeles *
Micky’s WeHo has long been a staple on Wt Hollywood’s strip of gay nightclubs and bars on Santa Moni Boulevard, known for s open-walled two-story buildg where passersby n see the party ragg om the street.
The venue is the only Latx gay bar LA that explicly ters to a gay and Mexin dience every night, not jt as a theme once a week.
But ’s the perfect space to grab a workday bnch wh a lleague or for -workg ssns -hosted on Tudays wh Gay Asstrology. The origal Downtown gay bar, Jalis is a dive bar that ters to the Latx and Mexin LGBTQ muny. Though Sweetwater isn’t officially known as a lbian bar, the humble tablishment has long been the go-to spot for queer women the lol gayborhood, which featur nearly half a dozen gay bars that le Broadway Long Beach.
GAY BARS OF LA: THEN AND NOW
One of Los Angel' last historic gay bars, The Other Si was a “bt iend” to a generatn of LGBT bar goers who were left wonrg: Where will we go now? * oldest gay bar in los angeles *
One of Long Beach’s few, if not only, three-level gay bars, Executive Sue boasts a karaoke bar, vio gam, pool tabl for rent, and regular drag shows. Dubbed by KCET as Montebello’s bt Lato gay bar, Chi is the sister to Club Cobra, servg as a groundg se for the queer Latx muny the suburbs of East LA.
SAN FERNANDO VALLEY HAS A SECRET HISTORY OF GAY BARS
* oldest gay bar in los angeles *
-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. The early ’90s, there were more than a dozen [gay bars] on the east si.
”The closg of many east-si gay bars n be blamed, part, on gentrifitn’s effect on rents. 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.
THE BT GAY BARS AND CLUBS LOS ANGEL
San Fernando Valley has a secret history of gay and lbian bars. Ventura Boulevard was nsired the Santa Moni Boulevard of the Valley. * oldest gay bar in los angeles *
“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. There were a uple of sgle mothers raisg teenagers, olr gay upl, a Perry Farrell-like du named Adam who created and tend to the neighborhood’s famo chanlier tree.
When the bar opened 1968, was one of many gay bars the neighborhood, and one of que a few piano bars the cy. Much of the film is dited to memori of LA’s gay nightlife history, when so-lled gentleman’s bars were monplace. Both Cantillon and a number of men terviewed the film blame the ath of the piano bar—and the vast gap between piano bars and morn gay bars—on the missg generatn of men who were lost the AIDS epimic.
GAY LOS ANGEL
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. * oldest gay bar in los angeles *
Ltle ced Akbar, the Sunset Boulevard spot that is paratively young at 22 but is now nsired Silver Lake’s last historic gay bar. “After that gets younger, and there are lots of women—not gay women—and straight men, too. LOS ANGELES — Oil Can Harry’s, which closed last year, was signated a Historic-Cultural Monument by the Los Angel Cy Council Wednday for beg one of the olst gay bars the San Fernando Valley.
“The tablishment of Oil Can Harry’s occurred agast a backdrop of creased group ristance to homophobia wh the gay civil rights movement Los Angel, ” Cy Planng Assistant Mickie Torr-Gil told the Cultural Herage Commissn on Oct.
“Dpe ially beg met wh protts by s Stud Cy neighbors, Oil Can Harry’s quickly beme a safe haven for the gay muny. “ ‘Over the hill’ was a mon viewpot of Valley gays, ” Adks says an terview. Here, Adks shar his gay memori about eight spac that were loted on Venture Boulevard.
A GUI TO GAY LOS ANGEL, 1965
The bt gay bars, dance clubs, gay-rated hotels, gay snas and gay cise clubs Los Angel. * oldest gay bar in los angeles *
Apache Terrory, also know as The Apache, was a popular gay bar Stud Cy on Ventura Boulevard. “Keh’s Touch of Class was a gay rtrant wh a cktail lounge and rotatg mil performers like Wayne Moore and Brenda Silas Moore.
Wayne was a sger-songwrer who played all the gay piano bars, and Brenda was his ex-wife and baret performer, ” Adks says. Utterly breathtakg, this inic tablishment was crowned LOGO's "Bt Gay Bar the World, " makg a mt-see LA’s gay nightlife scene.