Gay Old Time: The rise and fall of Laguna Beach’s gay clubs – Orange County Register

Contents:

• GAY BARS LAGUNA BEACH
• GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS LAGUNA BEACH
• REMEMBERG A LEGACY OF GAY BARS
• GAY NIGHTLIFE LAGUNA BEACH

GAY BARS LAGUNA BEACH

Thankfully the world has evolved and although gay bars will always be need, wanted and loved, ’s now not unnscnable for everyone, no matter of who they love, to party, drk and enjoy the night together, unr the same roof. There was a time when Laguna Beach had s staple gay bars, which were a much need prence durg their reign of the beach cy, and s very possible that the future, more will make their way back to Laguna Beach, but until then, the cy is filled wh optns galore. In 1926, a liquor store and a hardware store opened on the rner of Pearl Street and Pacific Coast Highway, and 1946 beme s current namake The Seahorse, which was actually Laguna Beach’s first gay bar.

For many years, operated as a secret waterg hole for the lol gay muny until was eventually turned back to retail as Laguna Auto Parts…and now ’s back to s origal roots. It was bgo night at Ma Street Bar & Cabaret, Laguna Beach’s last gay club. Gay bars around the natn have been disappearg, a trend attributed to greater social acceptance of gays, changg enomic forc and evolvg technology.

Laguna Beach, particular, has had many obuari wrten for s once-thrivg gay scene. Skyrocketg real tate pric have kept young gays out of the cy and led a number of tablished gay rints to sh out and move to other ci, such as Palm Sprgs. Now Cooley has to see whether the improvements will pay off – whether gays still want a place to ll their own.

GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS LAGUNA BEACH

Whether a ty gay bar Laguna Beach n still thrive.

Laguna Beach was once spoken of the same breath as Wt Hollywood, Fire Island and Provcetown, if a miature versn of those more famo gay enclav.

The Wt Street Beach was – and still is – renowned among gay vatners.

REMEMBERG A LEGACY OF GAY BARS

Wh walkg distance of the spot was a one-block district that boasted a handful of gay bars and rtrants – Ltle Shrimp (which later beme Woody’s); Coast Inn, which hoed the legendary Boom Boom Room; and Ma Street Bar & Cabaret, which also went by Bounce. Bob Gentry, who served on the Cy Council om 1982 to 1994, was one of the first openly gay mayors the untry.

Gay clubs, Laguna and elsewhere, were both pick-up jots and havens. “They were the first mon public spac for the gay muny, ” said Lus Hilrbrand, a UCI profsor of film and media studi who has wrten about the gay rights movement. “They were unrstood as social stutns, and much of the foundatnal gay rights activism was about claimg and fendg gay bars.

Gentry relled holdg meetgs on mpaigns and anti-gay iativ some of Laguna Beach’s bars. “They kd of beme the gay mpaign headquarters for our liv, ” Gentry said. Perhaps the heyday of Laguna Beach’s gay scene was already long gone by the time the storied Boom Boom Room closed 2007 after a Beverly Hills billnaire bought the Coast Inn wh plans – never rried out – to turn to an upsle boutique hotel.

GAY NIGHTLIFE LAGUNA BEACH

The hallmark of Laguna’s gay scene – s pactns, s timacy – end up a problem. John Wallace Benecke, a Laguna Beach terr signer, said growg social acceptance had already begun makg gay clubs ls necsary as a refuge – a trend that’s only grown as gay marriage has been legalized.

He rarely go to gay bars the days; his social circle is ma of gay and straight iends. Laguna’s Ltle Shrimp was the first gay bar a llege-age Benecke ever walked to. “I don’t know when beme gay, ” Cooley said one afternoon before the bar opened.

But his own life as a gay man hasn’t been easy – he believ he lost at least one job bee of his sexualy – and he often found a sense of belongg the gay clubs he equented.