Fueled by patronage om Laguna Beach artists, vatners om Hollywood and beyond, as well as mar, the Boom Boom Room was a center of gay nightlife Orange County.
Contents:
- THE RISE AND FALL OF LAGUNA BEACH, A GAY CALIFORNIA HOTSPOT
- LAGUNA BEACH GAY LIFE EBBS AWAY : AIDS: LONGTIME HAVEN FOR HOMOSEXUALS NOW HAS THE NATN’S HIGHT RATE OF THE DREAD DISEASE.
- HANSEN: GAY LAGUNA FAS AWAY
- LAST VTAGE GAY BAR LAGUNA BEACH IS CLOSG – ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
- BT GAY BARS NEAR LAGUNA BEACH, CA 92651
- FOOD + FUN AT SOCAL’S ORIGAL GAY BEACH
THE RISE AND FALL OF LAGUNA BEACH, A GAY CALIFORNIA HOTSPOT
The rise and fall of a California gay mec. * laguna beach gay underground *
I was 18, I was terrified, and I wanted to go to my first gay club, the Boom Boom Room Laguna Beach, California, a seasi town that, before s rise to promence via an MTV realy seri and Bravo’s gural Real Hoewiv seri, was known as a queer-iendly enclave Orange County. I knew that, only two years before, a football player at a nearby high school had nearly beaten a gay man to ath on this beach, one of several lol hate crim aimed at gay men.
From the late 1990s to the 2010s, through a batn of AIDS-related aths, ’80s-era nservatism, and skyrocketg home pric, the rabow-hued cy lost s gay she. Queer enclav New York Cy, like Park Slope (formerly a lbian hub) or the Wt Village (now more associated wh celebri, fance bros, and others who n afford s risg real tate pric), or Silver Lake Los Angel, aren’t as gay as they were the ’80s and ’90s. San Francis neighborhoods like SoMa or streets like Polk, oime gay lchps a cy synonymo wh sexualy, are more geared toward the flux of tech dollars.
LAGUNA BEACH GAY LIFE EBBS AWAY : AIDS: LONGTIME HAVEN FOR HOMOSEXUALS NOW HAS THE NATN’S HIGHT RATE OF THE DREAD DISEASE.
Here are suggtns for planng a gay-iendly erary durg your stay Laguna Beach. Everythg om hotels, food, historil s, and activi. * laguna beach gay underground *
After the cy resigned the area along Ma Beach to turn to a public promena, the gay tablishments—and crowd—moved south to a two-block stretch along PCH between Callpe and Crs streets. Gay-owned and gay-iendly jots like Flr Lys (now lled Ma Street Bar and Cabaret), the Boom Boom Room (a multiered nightclub wh saltwater fishtanks and go-go boys), and the Ltle Shrimp (a piano bar-slash-rtrant wh a lounge sger) opened. There’s also Wt Beach, a beach along the ast popular wh primarily gay male beachgoers soakg up UV rays and t-llg the ocsnal Adonis passerby.
Durg the height of s populary among the LGBTQ crowd, the cy elected one of the untry’s first openly gay elected officials, Bob Gentry, a former associate an of stunts at Universy of California at Irve, who served as mayor and uncilman om 1982 to 1996. He also bore wns to the height of the AIDS/HIV crisis, which h Laguna Beach at a per pa rate parable to San Francis or Manhattan and wiped out much of the gay male populatn—cludg Gentry’s longtime partner, Gary Burdick, 1989. In a move that upset both nservativ and some of the more fearful sectns of the gay muny, Gentry, never one to mce words or hi om the tth, went public wh his partner’s ath.
HANSEN: GAY LAGUNA FAS AWAY
Hansen: Gay Laguna fas away * laguna beach gay underground *
In addn to a nservative visors bure and cy uncil tryg to quash the cy’s gay reputatn, sert ci like Palm Sprgs and Cathedral Cy did somethg Laguna Beach wouldn’t do: They openly urted LGBTQ rints. “At one Southern California gay pri para the mid-’80s, my r was directly behd a r om Cathedral Cy, which was filled wh heterosexual male and female cy uncil people, ” Gentry rells.
While olr gay rints were headg east to snap up one of many midcentury abos, gay bs Laguna Beach, like the Ltle Shrimp, and tellectually cled bs, such as Fahrenhe 451 Books, closed. “I thk Laguna Beach changed bee got too expensive for the gay scene and the art scene, ” says Craig Sannum, who moved to Laguna Beach 1993.
But not everyone agre that, even though Laguna Beach’s median home price is now $2, 141, 100, acrdg to Zillow timat, enomy played a major factor the gay flight. Durg his last term on the cy uncil, Gentry says he was ntacted by the cy uncils of Wt Hollywood and Cathedral Cy to put together an ternatnal outreach for gay tourists. This refal to urt LGBTQ visors—and, turn, new rints—and a arth of affordable hog helped Laguna Beach morph to another versn of Newport Beach, s tony, antiseptic, and unabashedly homogeneo neighbor cy to the north.
LAST VTAGE GAY BAR LAGUNA BEACH IS CLOSG – ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Remarkably priste and loted on the southern end of town, Wt Street Beach is Laguna's ma gay beach. * laguna beach gay underground *
“The town uld’ve been such a shg star, enomilly and culturally, if had jt picked up on what had gog and not been fearful of stereotyp of the gay muny, ” Gentry says. The Orange County native, who left for New York Cy and Boston durg his 20s and 30s, was dismayed to return to a town that he once thought of as a gay-iendly space and fd much ls so. Tebbutt formed the Laguna Beach LGBTQ Herage and Culture Alliance for lears tn, police officers, and elected officials, who want to help Laguna get some of s gay dollars back while makg sure the town is also a place where everyone feels they belong.
And while this unofficial booster mpaign do help cement Laguna Beach’s reputatn as a queer statn spot, do ltle to help brg gay people back as permanent rints. 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.
BT GAY BARS NEAR LAGUNA BEACH, CA 92651
* laguna beach gay underground *
For those lookg for a more romantic way to start the eveng, head to Wt Street Beach, Laguna's "gay beach" where you n s on the sand and take the sunset. Gay bars around the natn have been disappearg, a trend attributed to greater social acceptance of gays, changg enomic forc and evolvg technology. 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.
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. 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.
FOOD + FUN AT SOCAL’S ORIGAL GAY BEACH
A historic art lony wh a long-tablished gay muny, Laguna Beach is Orange County’s leadg LGBT cy. Stay such gay-iendly spots as the Surf and Sand Rort, a spectacular oceanont luxury hotel that’s also home to the timate (and LGBT-iendly) Aquaterra Spa. Swim and surf seclud v and sunny beach (cludg such gay-popular stretch as Wt Beach and Mounta Road Beach), then browse for high-qualy art Laguna’s numero galleri. * laguna beach gay underground *
“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. 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. 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.
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. “Although younger people may feel more tegrated to mastream culture, my stunts still feel a sense of disvery gog to gay clubs that nnot be replited other ways, ” he said.
For some, this is precisely why gay bars – or really any of what the soclogist Ray Olnburg lled “third plac, ” those rmal gatherg spots outsi of work and home – mt endure. Ci, acrdg to the natnal Centers for Disease Control statistics e as no surprise to those who know that the town is a gay tourist mec, where an timated 25% of the 26, 000 rints are gay.