San Diego's Gay Bar History | KPBS Public Media

Contents:

• GAY NIGHTLIFE SAN DIEGO: BARS, CLUBS, & MORE
• GAY SAN DIEGO TRAVEL GUI
• THE 5 BEST SAN DIEGO GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SAN DIEGO
• SAN DIEGO GAY DISTRICT: HILLCRT
• SAN DIEGO'S GAY BAR HISTORY
• SAN DIEGO GAY GUI AND PHOTO GALLERY - HILLCRT GAY GUI
• SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS
• AFTER 58 YEARS, ’S LAST LL FOR THE CALIPH, ONE OF SAN DIEGO’S LONGT-NNG GAY BARS
• AFTER 58 YEARS, ’S LAST LL FOR THE CALIPH, ONE OF SAN DIEGO’S LONGT-NNG GAY BARS
• SAN DIEGO GAY MAP
• SAN DIEGO GAY DANCE CLUBS
• MOVG TO LGBT SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA? HOW TO FD YOUR PERFECT GAY NEIGHBORHOOD!

GAY NIGHTLIFE SAN DIEGO: BARS, CLUBS, & MORE

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. 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.

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.

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.

GAY SAN DIEGO TRAVEL GUI

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.

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. 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.

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

"The birthplace of California, " Gay San Diego is the first lotn European explorers land when visg the Wt Coast for the first time. 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. The ma gay area of San Diego n be found the charmg the eighth largt cy the USA, San Diego has a dynamic nightlife, and s gay scene is no exceptn to the le.

This place has bee a b of an stutn the area, and is popular on a Saturday afternoon when gays flock to the outsi terrace to people watch. While Hillcrt is the ma pulse, gay life n also be found South Park and Ocean Beach, which both offer var LGBTQ-owned and n bs.

SAN DIEGO GAY DISTRICT: HILLCRT

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. 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.

SAN DIEGO'S GAY BAR HISTORY

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. The cy's once-staid downtown now abounds wh hip hotels and lively rtrants, while such gay-iendly neighborhoods as Hillcrt, North Park, and Universy Heights are hot spots for gay clubbg and bar-hoppg, dg, and shoppg.

Although San Diego has bee creasgly eclectic terms of where gays and lbians live and socialize, the heart of the GLBT scene still centers on the btlg Hillcrt neighborhood, which is jt a few blocks northwt of Balboa Park, and a 10-mute drive north of downtown. Many of the cy's gay bars, as well as gay-popular rtrants and shops, are Hillcrt, generally along Universy Avenue as well as tersectg 4th and 5th avenu. Jt northeast and east of Hillcrt lie two more San Diego neighborhoods wh strong gay and lbian followgs, Universy Heights and North Park.

North Park has a handful of gay bars, and many of the shops, ffeeho, and rtrants this neighborhood have a sizable GLBT followg.

SAN DIEGO GAY GUI AND PHOTO GALLERY - HILLCRT GAY GUI

The Mgei, as well as the park's other key mms, are jt around the rner om San Diego's most gay-popular neighborhood, Hillcrt - fact, 's only about a 15- to 20-mute walk and a que pleasant one at that. As you drive to the parkg area for San Diego's gay-popular Blacks Beach (jt north of La Jolla), you'll pass the Torrey P Glirport (858-452-9858), om which hang glirs and paraglirs part throughout the day. One of the natn's inic nu beach, San Diego's majtilly suated Black's Beach is also a favore hangout of gay men and lbians - clothed, partially clothed, sntily clothed, unclothed, and all permutatns thereof.

Y, lots of warngs and preutns here (jt to be on the safe si), but this is a splendid spot for beach lovers, naturists, and gay folks jt wantg to be themselv out the sun.

One of San Diego's most gay-popular neighborhoods outsi of Hillcrt, Universy Heights is an attractive, mostly rintial area jt north of Hillcrt and wt of Normal Heights, on a bluff above and jt south of Missn Valley. Park Boulevard has an creasgly trendy mix of rtrants, f, and shops, pl the highly popular gay bar, Bourbon Street, and the GLBT-oriented pennt performance space, the Diversnary Theatre (the natn's third-olst queer stage).

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

You'll also disver home r shops, distctive boutiqu, the Uptown District shoppg plaza and the untry's only openly gay brewery, Hillcrt Brewg Company. LGBTQ+ visors and lols flock to clothg-optnal Black's Beach, one's the world's most betiful gay beach, for swimmg, surfg and strollg along the sand.

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

There are also many opportuni for exercise and sports like Ameri's Ft Cy Softball League, San Diego's Varsy Gay League and iendly, non-petive volleyball gam stunng Balboa Park.

Wh 70 of betiful astle, and diverse terra, San Diego offers outdoor recreatn galore, om swimmg at one of the world's most betiful gay beach to kayakg along La Jolla Cove to Ameri's Ft Cy Softball League. There’s a shirtls, mtached blond on roller skat ont of a 1965 red Plymouth Barracuda; the posn of the Giant Dipper roller aster and street signage the background tablish the photo was taken the vicy of the Apartment, a women’s gay bar that opened Missn Beach 1974. A third snapshot: a ftive lp of Halloween-stumed nttants—a drag versn of Tippi Hedren (a stuffed crow entangled her stylish platum updo), a garish clown, and a butch female wboy—all vyg for priz award long ago an unintified San Diego gay bar.

From 2017 to mid-2018, I sorted through a multu of photographs, gay perdils, and ephemera the procs of producg San Diego’s Gay Bar History, a documentary that was ially broadst June 2018 on KPBS, San Diego’s public televisn statn, and had s premiere at FilmOut 2018, San Diego’s LGBTQ Film Ftival. San Diego’s LGBTQ history, viewed through the lens of s postwar gay bars and nightclubs (and through the voic of wns who lived through this history) many ways parallels the velopment of the morn LGBTQ muny other large ci throughout North Ameri, and giv the documentary, while regnal s foc, a wir relevance. A ma this of the documentary poss that gay bars have been a foundatnal part of the LGBTQ experience, not only as safe plac for socializg and formg terpersonal relatnships, but also as cultural stutns that have played important rol the formatn of muny over generatns.

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

From the opprsive secrecy of the postwar era to Stonewall; the birth of the morn gay rights movement through the eewheelg 1970s; and om the horrific AIDS crisis the 1980s, which cimated an entire generatn, gay bars have been more than jt social drkg spots.

SAN DIEGO GAY MAP

San Diego, already a major ary port cy even before the war, beme a new home for thoands of gay men and women who were then able to disver others of their own kd. The olst ntuoly operatg gay bar San Diego, the Brass Rail, first opened 1934 as a bar and rtrant si the Orphm Theater on the rner of 6th Avenue and B Street. Durg the 1940s and ‘50s, the clientele at several downtown bars, cludg the Brass Rail, transned the evengs om a straight crowd to a gay one.

It was not until 1957 when the Brass Rail me unr the ownership of Lou Arko, a straight man, that nverted to a predomantly gay ctomer base. I chose this lotn as a backdrop bee the bar self acts as a metaphoric character San Diego’s gay bar history, havg served as both a bean and a safe harbor for several generatns of LGBTQ muny members. However, no trac rema of the majory of historic downtown gay bars om lotns that were molished and rebuilt durg revelopment projects of the 1960s and beyond.

Although the downtown bars provid a modicum of refuge for gays the 1940s and ‘50s, they were still risky plac to ngregate, pecially for ary personnel, who uld be dishonorably discharged jt by beg seen wh them. In those days, women had to be pecially discreet, bee if they were publicly exposed as gay and were mothers, was almost assured child welfare thori would take their children away, as homosexuals were emed morally unf to be parents. Even after 1974, when homosexualy was no longer listed as a mental disorr by the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, some lbians Los Angel still lost ctody of their children on those grounds.

SAN DIEGO GAY DANCE CLUBS

1974 issue of the San Diego Son, two publitns (“bar rags”) that circulated muny rmatn through the bar work to gays and lbians San Diego.

I was able to obta 8mm footage om the GLBT Historil Society of San Francis of events filmed there durg the late 1960s si an unintified gay bar. The Stonewall Inn uprisg and the rts that began June 28, 1969 New York’s Greenwich Village beme a watershed moment for the muny natnwi, signifyg s refal to be treated as send-class cizens and s termatn to fight back agast btaly and homophobic opprsn.

MOVG TO LGBT SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA? HOW TO FD YOUR PERFECT GAY NEIGHBORHOOD!

Wh this empowered outlook, the 1970s wnsed a burgeong of celebratory gay bar culture, and San Diego saw the appearance of dance clubs such as the Ball Exprs, the Barbary Coast, the Lombard, Diablo’s, and the Wt Coast Productn Company. Hillcrt grew importance as a gay neighborhood wh an creasg number of bars and gay-owned bs ntributg to the enomic growth of the area. Early gay publitns provid rmatn about gay topics, social events and bar gossip, and the were distributed throughout the bar work.

Th the bars beme cleargho where people uld engage and build muny before there was an tablished gay center or systems of support servic The Imperial Court system beme a key aspect of bar culture.

By the mid-1970s, nearly 30 gay bars were spread across San Diego La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Missn Beach, North and South Park, Hillcrt, Downtown, and some extendg eastward to La Ma. We uldn’t clu the gay piano bars, or the bars’ role sponsorg teams for the softball and pool leagu, or ver any of the North Park bars. Wh over sixty hours of footage to ed, we attempted to strike a balance between velopg each segment as fully as possible and reprentg the variety of the gay bars of this high-water mark perd.