San Diego's Gay Bar History | KPBS Public Media

Contents:

• GAY NIGHTLIFE SAN DIEGO: BARS, CLUBS, & MORE
• SAN DIEGO'S GAY BAR HISTORY
• THE 5 BEST SAN DIEGO GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SAN DIEGO
• AFTER 58 YEARS, ’S LAST LL FOR THE CALIPH, ONE OF SAN DIEGO’S LONGT-NNG GAY BARS
• SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS
• GAY SAN DIEGO TRAVEL GUI
• SAN DIEGO GAY DANCE CLUBS
• SAN DIEGO GAY MAP
• SAN DIEGO GAY SNAS

GAY NIGHTLIFE SAN DIEGO: BARS, CLUBS, & MORE

At the wtern end is Urban MO's Bar & Grill, a "hetero-iendly gay bar" and lol favore.

SAN DIEGO'S GAY BAR HISTORY

Consired the world's first and only gay-owned brewery, 's a great spot to grab a pizza or two and make iends at a munal table, while enjoyg the many beers on tap. It was once voted one of the bt gay bars Ameri by Yelp.

Wh ep red walls and chanliers, SRO Lounge is a legendary gay bar that livers a glam but laid-back vibe. The San Diego gay nightlife scene manag that rare balance between beg remarkably iendly and also rife wh betiful people—'s pretty much a reflectn of this sunny Southern California cy. Gay bars have also been pretty stable here over the years, wh the most popular hangouts gog strong for a uple of s.

Most gay bars are the trendy Hillcrt neighborhood, jt northeast of Balboa Park and a short drive or b ri om downtown. Flicks: Along a strip of gay-oriented bs, Flicks gay vio bar has long been a hub of schmoozg and socializg. Martis Above Fourth: San Diego's favore gay baret, Martis featur some tremendoly talented performers—not jt piano and sgg, but edy, magic, and more.

THE 5 BEST SAN DIEGO GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SAN DIEGO

Number One Fifth Avenue: A great all-around neighborhood gay bar, balanc an timate ambiance and iendly atmosphere whout the tired, divey feel that sometim domat smaller loung. Park & Rec: Set the space formerly occupied by the popular gay bar Bourbon Street, this is an expansive nightspot and rtrant that still draws plenty of LGBT folks and open-md revelers.

SRO Lounge: Known for s great jebox, long history the neighborhood, and a lotn that's much closer to downtown than the gay bars Hillcrt, the SRO has a strong followg among drag queens and their fans, but all kds tend to drop by here, albe not necsarily large numbers. As a largely gay-iendly cy, San Diego has a good offerg of general mixed night clubs.

AFTER 58 YEARS, ’S LAST LL FOR THE CALIPH, ONE OF SAN DIEGO’S LONGT-NNG GAY BARS

Borr at the southern end of metro San Diego, the sprawlg cy of Tijuana, you'll fd several gay bars one.

Rich's: As San Diego's five gay warehoe-style dis, this club offers a good-sized space wh an dtrial, circu-style vibe, and mic supplied by some of Southern California's most illtr DJs.

SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS

The Brass Rail: The longt-nng gay bar San Diego, the Brass Rail serv cred for always fdg new ways to revent self for the current tim. Overall, San Diego is a welg and open-md cy, but you'll fd the heart of the cy's gay nightlife scene Hillcrt specifilly.

On KPBS TV / Stream now wh the PBS AppSce WWII, no ls than 135 gay bars have operated San Diego, and provid sanctuary for GLBT people to disver themselv and form muny. “San Diego's Gay Bar History” exam the rol bars have played across three major time perds: after WWII until the birth of the morn gay rights movement 1969; durg the 1970s and until the onset of HIV 1981; durg the AIDS epimic (1981-1995), and beyond. San Diego's Gay Bar History.

Through archival photographs, historic footage, and terviews wh bar owners, bartenrs and proment muny members, this documentary provis a glimpse to the rich history of San Diego's gay history and culture. Exterr photo of the Chee Chee Club, operated ntuoly sce 1941, and turned gay the 1970s.

GAY SAN DIEGO TRAVEL GUI

However, lately ’s beg ls gay, acrdg to the long-time bartenr.

This gay bar was where the Casbah is today. It was a women’s bar, but women were not allowed to be bartenrs gay bars until about 1976.

Stream your favore PBS shows, create the perfect watchlist, nnect wh your lol statn, and more — anywhere you The Conversatn: "San Diego's Gay Bar History" is on Facebook.

SAN DIEGO GAY DANCE CLUBS

The new documentary San Diego's Gay Bar History surveys some of the 135 bars that have existed the cy and chronicl the var aspects of the LGBTQ muny that have grown wh them.

The earlit example of a gay bar San Diego me the 1957, when straight ally Lou Arko bought the popular lunch club of the 1930's, the Brass Rail, and extend to a meetg spot for gay people at post-World War II era herald the openg of many more bars, terg to the pennt men and women who had moved to the btlg port cy for ary jobs.

Durg this time, when homosexualy was crimalized and was even agast the law for two men to dance together, the bars provid a meetg place for LGBTQ people who were otherwise isolated.

SAN DIEGO GAY MAP

The Ball Exprs, a massive club hoed an airplane hangar, drew crowds of a thoand people gathered for acts such as Barbara Cook, Gloria Gaynor, and Eartha Kt. WCPC also hosted some of San Diego's first Pri events, but they quickly outgrew the AIDS began vastatg the gay muny the '80s, the bars beme the plac for folks to gather, grieve, and raise money for men dyg om the disease. Interviewe cred lbians for steppg up to re for gay men when nurs wouldn't touch or feed their patients and for donatg blood bee gay men weren't allowed to do so.

"I don't thk losg gay bars across Ameri is progrs. Gay bars provi a sanctuary for people to really be themselv, people who didn't intify as male or female, or were still qutng.

" In an app-saturated world wh a growg list of dyg gay bars, the film don't draw a simple ncln about the trend. Profsor Marie Cartier nclus that the gay bar is "the ground om which we grow together as a people.

SAN DIEGO GAY SNAS

" Whatever your orientatn or lotn, San Diego's Gay Bar History will make you want to n out to your neart gay bar and nnect wh our muny like never before.

San Diego's Gay Bar History om Pl Detwiler on Vimeo. 9 plac sorted by traveler favorGay Bars • Dance Clubs & DissGay Bars • Dance Clubs & DissWhat travelers are saygDoug MCalgary, Canada579 ntributnsWish we had found Mo’s earlier our trip.

After last ll, will shut s doors permanently — endg a historic, nearly 60-year n as one of San Diego’s most inic gay Caliph, wh s Moorish motif mixed wh dis lights, is known for s live piano entertament, karaoke, h poprn and, perhaps most importantly, s old-school neighborhood bar mise marks the end of an era. “When I bought the place, ” he said, “I always wanted to be all-clive — gay, straight, transgenr, young, old, men, women.

“Bars like The Caliph have been a place where people the gay muny uld be themselv — a place where you wouldn’t even be looked at twice. ”More than that, though, The Caliph, for nearly six s, bore wns to the evolutn of the gay rights movement — s highs and s opened s doors 1960, seven years after Print Dwight D. Eisenhower signed Executive Orr 10450, banng homosexuals om beg employed by the feral ernment.

“One of the sweett memori I remember is when that fally happened, we had a uple of marriage proposals, ” relled Carey, who said she sang every gay anthem the book that night, om “Love Story” by Taylor Swift to “Defyg Gravy” om the mil “Wicked. ”‘Like losg a fay member’The Caliph’s closure on the heels of other notable gay bars recently shuttg down. Bourbon Street, once a btlg nightspot jt a e up the street, shuttered 2015, and so did The Flame, a lbian loss of The Caliph “is really tragic, ” said lol filmmaker Pl Detwiler, who produced the KPBS documentary “San Diego’s Gay Bar History.