Gay Bars of LA: Then and Now - Curbed LA

Contents:

• A HISTORY OF L.A.’S GAY BAR SCENE, TOLD MATCHBOOKS
• A LOOK BACK AT HOLLYWOOD’S UNRGROUND GAY CLUB CULTURE OF THE 1970S
• GAY BARS OF LA: THEN AND NOW
• THE BT GAY BARS AND CLUBS LOS ANGEL
• THE ABBEY, THE LEGENDARY WT HOLLYWOOD GAY BAR, IS FOR SALE
• WEHO'S INIC GAY BAR AND NIGHTCLUB, THE ABBEY, IS FOR SALE
• WT HOLLYWOOD’S HISTORIC GAY NIGHTCLUB THE ABBEY IS UP FOR SALE

A HISTORY OF L.A.’S GAY BAR SCENE, TOLD MATCHBOOKS

Gay bars and sex clubs, most of them now closed. -based queer artist who was a regular at a number of the spots worked briefly as a barback at Cuffs, a major gay hangout of the recent “was credibly dark and super cisey, ” Jony rells. “As Silver Lake — and the whole landspe of gay Hollywood and the east si — changed so much I always had this ia my head of turng the place back to Cuffs for one night, ” he says.

The early ’90s, there were more than a dozen [gay bars] on the east si. ”The closg of many east-si gay bars n be blamed, part, on gentrifitn’s effect on rents. It also n be argued that the ongog expansn of jt what queerns n mean uld have ma a segment of gay bars, which thrived a sort of self-intified exclivy, obsolete.

“I’m not one of them, ” Jony says, “but a lot of gay men my age and a generatn olr like to talk about the days of male-only spac and what that meant to them. ” Jony is pleased that anyone who intifi as male — trans men, for example — are now more wele at gay bars than they were the past.

A LOOK BACK AT HOLLYWOOD’S UNRGROUND GAY CLUB CULTURE OF THE 1970S

A third factor the shrkg number of gay bars L. ’s gay bar scene was headier, wilr and perhaps more excgly illic.

The monstratn that’s memorated by the plaque stemmed om police raids that took place on New Year’s Eve 1967 at The Black Cat and other gay bars the area. ONE Natnal Gay & Lbian Archive | Photo: ONE Natnal Gay & Lbian Archive. ONE Natnal Gay & Lbian Archive.

Loted on the mp of the Universy of Southern California (USC), the ONE Natnal Gay & Lbian Archive is the world's largt rearch library dited to honor and archive LGBTQ+ history. The two-story mm serv as a time psule for historic years of queer culture, and also functns as LA's Downtown gay muny center—hostg exhibns, art shows and cematic screengs for both the USC stunt populatn and Los Angel at large. The Mattache Steps | Photo: ONE Natnal Gay & Lbian Archiv, Facebook.

GAY BARS OF LA: THEN AND NOW

In the summer of 1948, gay activist Harry Hay clanstely began a group lled "Bachelors Anonymo" a private Silver Lake rince at 2328 Cove Ave.

By 1950, the llective of men had bee Ameri's first official gay anizatn, the Mattache Society.

THE BT GAY BARS AND CLUBS LOS ANGEL

Mattache was spiratnal as a major force the gay liberatn movement - not only Los Angel, but throughout the untry.

It's the unofficial gay beach of Los Angel, but one vis to Will Rogers State Beach will prove the sandy lole is officially fun the sun.

THE ABBEY, THE LEGENDARY WT HOLLYWOOD GAY BAR, IS FOR SALE

Playfully known as "Gger Rogers Beach, " Will Rogers wel hard bodi to play volleyball and mature men to relax and get a tan - gays of all shap and siz have been wele here sce the 1950s.

LA’s first trib that habed the area, the Tongva, believed gay marriag, transgenr liftyl and that homosexualy was termed utero. The Tongva celebrated homosexuals as “two spired” people and thought of them more as gifted than as outsts. If you don’t know what that is, watch the acclaimed 2008 movie Milk, starrg Sean Penn an Osr-wng performance as gay rights activist and polician, Harvey Milk.

WEHO'S INIC GAY BAR AND NIGHTCLUB, THE ABBEY, IS FOR SALE

Opened 1923, the landmark Millennium Biltmore Hotel hosted a very gay-iendly bar through both World Wars and was the se of an early tone gay rights advancement. In 1971, the Biltmore hosted the Internatnal Psychologists & Psychiatrists nference, which was gog to clare electroshock therapy as the “cure” for homosexualy. The meetg was dispted by the Gay Liberatn Front, which effectively forced one of the first dialogu between mental health profsnals and the gay muny.

Wh two years of that cint, “homosexualy” was removed as a mental disorr after s of stigma and official misclassifitn.

WT HOLLYWOOD’S HISTORIC GAY NIGHTCLUB THE ABBEY IS UP FOR SALE

Jewel’s was the first exclively gay and lbian dis for Ain-Amerins the untry. The Village is more than a place where gays turn for legal, fancial and tnal assistance—'s a place where they go to be entertaed.

Found 1982, the Celebratn Theatre is the longt nsistently-producg gay and lbian theatre the Uned Stat. The work here is not only gay, 's five-star!

The Factory was transformed aga 1974 when beme the legendary gay distheque, Stud One.