7 Thgs You Didn’t Know About the Historic Gay Club Oil Can Harry’s

Contents:

• THE PAST AND FUTURE OF ONE OF HOTON’S MOST HISTORIC GAY BARS
• THE PAST AND FUTURE OF THREE OF LA'S HISTORIC BUT THREATENED GAY NIGHTCLUBS
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE
• THE GAY WAY: HISTORY OF LBIAN BARS SOUTHEAST WASHGTON, D.C.
• THE FACTORY, HISTORIC GAY CLUB WT HOLLYWOOD, TO BE MOLISHED
• IN POWERFUL REBE OF HATE, JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN MAK HISTORY G OUT AS GAY
• 10 UNR-THE-RADAR GAY HISTORY S NYC

THE PAST AND FUTURE OF ONE OF HOTON’S MOST HISTORIC GAY BARS

UPDATE: Oil Can Harry’s, the famed Stud Cy gay bar which closed earlier this year, might soon be signated as a Historic-Cultural Monument. Oil Can Harry’s opened 1968 and was one of the olst gay bars the San Fernando Valley when closed nomatn mt still go before the full Cy Council for article origally appeared , and is shared here as part of a LGBTQ+ muny exchange between Q Voice News and Pri was April 19, Young, Oil Can Harry’s was more than a gay nightclub. Durg his first night at the club, Young was offered as job as a bar back, and eventually, worked his way up to the patrons who equented the 52-year-old historic gay waterg hole, which was renowned for ’s Friday night untry le dancg or Saturday night dis parti, was more than a bar or a dance club.

It also was the days of Donna Summer, Thelma Hoton, and Gloria Gaynor, whose dis hs ed many fanny bumpers on the Can Harry’s (urty Q Voice News) and s owner Bert Charot (urty Jerry Arko)In Los Angel and the Valley, people felt eer and safer to equent gay spac not loted an out-of-the-way dtrial area or down a dark alley and hidn behd a nonscript door. The Gulf Coast Archive and Mm of Gay, Lbian, Bisexual and Transgenr History timat that was the se of more than three hundred funeral servic and remas the fal rtg place of an unknown number of people’s 1970 to 2009, this space was part of the legendary Hoton gay bar Mary’s…Naturally!, which fostered such a close muny that some regulars chose to have their funerals there.

But quickly beme known as a place where anyone was wele: gays, lbians, punk micians, wrers, hippi, and bohemians all termgled. “The Gayborhood is marked as much, if not more, by absenc as by the visible markers of s past, ” says curator Junr Fernanz, who anized the event along wh S Rodriguez. “We are terted how the disappearance or ‘revelopment’ of the spac to bnch spots and ffee ho might mirror the overall trajectory of gay liberatn, om s earlier ialism to late-palist intarian pfalls like rabow-packaged Oreos.

THE PAST AND FUTURE OF THREE OF LA'S HISTORIC BUT THREATENED GAY NIGHTCLUBS

But one uld argue that Mary’s, too, was a gentrifier—one former patron remds me that gay men the seventi phed Montrose’s heavily Hispanic populatn out of the area to claim a space for themselv. In one vio piece, for example, Penagos manvers his body to rg a bell agast a brick, which symboliz the mythologized “first brick of the gay rights movement” thrown by gay activists at the 1969 Stonewall uprisg. ”The exhib celebrat the full breadth of Mary’s, which— the way that only a historic gay gatherg place n—served as a hookup spot, a muny anizg hub, and the se of many, many funerals.

Acrdg to one archive of Hoton LGBT history, the group that beme the Hoton GLBT Polil Cc, which bills self as the olst gay-rights anizatn the South, began at Mary’s.

Don Gill, a “fundraiser supreme” at Mary’s, rells s shift om grty gay hookup spot to the go-to venue where LGBT social anizatns uld munite wh the muny. In a 2002 Hoton Prs article, bartenr and part-owner Gaye Yancey said “wasn’t unmon for three Mary’s ctomers to die each month. And although wispread gay acceptance, cemented by the legalizatn of same-sex marriage 2015, has phed society forward, this exhib is a remr that the need for queer spac like Mary’s is as important as ever—specifilly for brown and black queers and trans dividuals.

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

Los Angel is home to many s that have played an important role the cy and untry's LBGT civil rights history—om Huntgton Park to Echo Park and Silver Lake, the LA area has bars, clubs, ho, and stairs that are remrs of the early days of the gay rights movement and a heightened visibily for LGBT Angelenos. ↑ Wt Hollywood's legendary Stud One dis opened 1974 as not jt a safe place for gay people to ngregate, but one that "specifilly tered" to them, says the LA Conservancy.

↑ Circ Dis at Santa Moni Boulevard and Las Palmas was born 1975, part bee 's founrs Gene La Pietra and Er Lemos "were tired of beg turned away om whe, gay tablishments, " La Pietra told LA Weekly. The club grew to have a "primarily Lato patronage"; 1983, famed labor anizer Car Chavez me to Circ Dis to share boytt techniqu and fundraisg ias wh about 100 members of the Project Jt Bs, a gay and lbian group, says the LA Conservancy, which has been volved wh attempts to have the dis saved and prerved, stead of razed as a part of a large mixed-e muny. Opened eher 1972 or 1973 (sourc differ), the club was the first big dis to wele the black gay muny, which often got hassled at other (mostly whe) gay venu of the era.

Over time, hosted film shoots and beme "a haven for entertaers, artists, progrsiv, gays and people who appreciated diversy cludg Sammy Davis Jr., Warren Beatty, Melba Moore, Phyllis Hyman, Freda Payne, Chaka Khan, Sylvter, Weather Girls, Rick Jam, and Esther Phillips, to name a few, " says the LA Sentel. · Mappg Los Angel's Groundbreakg Role LGBT History [Curbed LA]· Wt Hollywood's Famo Factory is One of the Most Endangered Plac the US [Curbed LA]· "Megavelopment" Seeks to Sglehandly Gentrify Hollywood's Donut Time District [Curbed LA]· New Look For Hollywood's Huge Lexgton Mixed-User [Curbed LA]· First Major Gay Black Dis the US For Sale After 4 Des [Curbed LA]· Los Globos' Mch Elson Buys Legendary Mid-Cy Club Jewel's Catch One [LA Weekly].

THE GAY WAY: HISTORY OF LBIAN BARS SOUTHEAST WASHGTON, D.C.

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.

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.

THE FACTORY, HISTORIC GAY CLUB WT HOLLYWOOD, TO BE MOLISHED

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.

IN POWERFUL REBE OF HATE, JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN MAK HISTORY G OUT AS GAY

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.

Wisns has long been a forenner LGBTQ+ advocy, ever sce was the first state to pass anti-discrimatn legislatn for the LGBTQ muny 1982, givg the tle of "the first gay rights state.

10 UNR-THE-RADAR GAY HISTORY S NYC

"Here are five stori that scratch the surface of the Fox Ci' LGBTQ muny and Lambda Lounge: Appleton's first gay barThroughout the late 20th century, gay people primarily found muny through the bar scene, often seen as a safe space for LGBTQ people to socialize. Appleton's first gay bar, the Lambda Lounge, opened downtown 1977 by partners Pl DeB and Gene DeB, Pl's sister, said the two bought the bar om Claire Kempky who ran Doris' Super Bar, a bs wh a reputatn as a hangout spot for gay people. " The bar opened 1977 and was Appleton's first gay the bar wasn't openly advertised as a gay bar for the safety of s patrons, people knew of through word of mouth and natnal gay bar guis, such as the Damron Gui.

Rearcher for the Universy of Wisns-Green Bay's "Our Voic: LGBTQ+ Stori of Northeastern Wisns" Dennis Jab said bar patrons often experienced backlash om Appleton rints who believed homosexualy was wrong and didn't like havg a gay bar patrons were safe to be themselv si the bar, Jabs said people knew to not enter or leave the bar alone as they faced vlence om straight people and many fights took place outsi the bar. However, the Lambda Lounge's prence Appleton paved the way for other LGBTQ bars, such as The ReMixx Neenah, Rasls Appleton and the now-closed Pivot A Neenah LGBTQ club is creatg a growg love for drag shows the Fox CiMore: Rasls has long been a gay refuge AppletonBook clubs allow gay people to fd munyBook clubs have often been a place for people wh shared inti to fd muny while discsg lerature pertag to their liv and provi a safe space for gays and lbians to socialize, Appleton Public Library llectns ordator Michael Nz and Lawrence Universy Profsor Dick Wslow found a book club named the Lavenr Salon 15 years, the group met each Sunday members' hom wh potluck meals and discsns on books and club was exclive to gay people, so members — whether they were openly gay or not — were able to be themselv and safely meet other people the LGBTQ muny. "For some, was their first time knowgly meetg other people who were gay and lbian so beg a safe space was really important, " Nz told The Post-Crcent.