Type

Years Active

Establishment Name

Street Address

Neighborhood

0000 → 1781

Yang Na

200 N Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

200 N Spring St

90012

Before colonial settlers took over in 1781, Los Angeles was called Yang Na and was home to the Tongva Tribe.

One of the largest villages of the Tongva people and a favorite trading spot for native peoples of the region before Spanish colonization is now the site of City Hall. The tribe allowed same-sex marriage and believed homosexuality was determined before birth. They honored same-gender love and had initiation ceremonies for lesbian and gay adolescents, who were known as “two-spirit” people. The Chumash Indians, who lived north of Malibu, and Jauneno Indians, who lived north of San Diego, held similar beliefs. Most of the tribe were eventually killed or sold as slaves.

A plaque to honor Tongva peoples is at El Pueblo Historic Monument (125 Paseo De La Plaza).

Attr — Stuart Timmons and Karen Ocamb, “L.A. Gay Time Machine: Historic Sites in Gay Los Angeles” 15 September 2006.

1982 → today

The New Jalisco Bar

245 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

245 S Main St

90012

The bar has gone by several names since it opened – Jalisco Inn, Jalisco Cafe, Jalisco Inn Number 2, and The New Jalisco Bar. Its current owner, Rosa Maria Hernandez, took over the bar in the 1990s with her husband Sergio Hernandez.

Current home to Maritza's long-running drag show. In 2019, the mural "Nostra Fiesta" by Rafa Esparza and Gabriela Ruiz was commissioned by the bar owners and curator Paulina Lara to be painted on the bar's storefront, to pay homage to the venue's Latinx, LGBTQ, and working-class clientele. The mural was featured in the multimedia exhibition at the ONE Gallery Liberate the Bar! Queer Nightlife, Activism, and Spacemaking, curated by Paulina Lara and Joseph Daniel Valencia.

The building was permitted for demolition in 2016, but the bar is still allowed to operate. In January of 2021, a GoFundMe campaign was created to help keep the venue open during the pandemic:

"Like countless small businesses, The New Jalisco Bar is struggling to stay alive during this ongoing pandemic. Our doors have been closed since March 2020 and we have not been able to obtain financial relief to support our business expenses or rent commitments. Unfortunately, we now owe our landlord 10 months of rent with interest. This debt puts us at risk of closing down permanently.

We are reaching out to our clients, supporters, and friends to please consider donating to our cause. Your contributions will help save a community space that has served as a safe haven for generations of Angelenos in our city."

1871 → 1877

Queen Mary (King's Alley)

418 N Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

418 N Main St

90012

After its days as a theatre, the Merced hosted entertainment for L.A.’s Victorian-era sex industry, including “prostitutes of both sexes who made the night hideous,” according to the L.A. Times. The alley led to New High Street, popular with “toughs,” prostitutes, and “she-boys” in the 1880s.

Attr — Stuart Timmons, Frontiers History Walk (2007)

1877 → 1898

Merced House

420 N Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

420 N Main St.

90012

The Merced was the first theater in Los Angeles, next to L.A.’s first hotel and in close proximity to a slew of saloons. It was originally built for family entertainment, but had to close in 1877 because of the smallpox virus. When it re-opened near the end of the 19th century, Victorian Sex Clubs were the only organizations that could afford the rent. It was reported in 1887 that the Merced hosted masked balls for male and female prostitutes who conducted "vile orgies." It was later converted into a covert gay lodging house by "outrageous queen" Frederick Purssord (who also ran the Turkish and Electric Light Baths).

The relative tolerance for such behavior ended in 1898 when the City of Los Angeles enacted an anti-masquerading ordinance in response to La Fiesta celebrations. La Fiesta was a weeklong celebration, along the same lines as Mardi Gras, which culminated in All Fool’s Night. Although the celebration was organized by the Los Angeles Merchants Association, it drew the wrath of conservative Protestant groups who were trying to change the lawless image of the city. Amidst the rowdiness, the behavior Protestants found most disturbing was cross-dressing. Thus began a period in which the LGBT community was isolated by low levels of public acceptance and sustained efforts by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to discourage nearly all public expressions of nonconforming sexual and gender behavior.

Attr — Gay L.A pp. 28; Stuart Timmons and Karen Ocamb, “L.A. Gay Time Machine: Historic Sites in Gay Los Angeles” 15 September 2006; Survey LA: LGBT Historic Context Statement pp.5

1897 → 1905

Pico House

430 N Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

430 N Main St

90012

At the turn of the twentieth century, the building offered a safe gathering place to LGBTQ individuals through its hosting of masked balls. At these costumed balls, LGBTQ individuals were able to socialize with one another under the safety of their concealed identities. They were also free to dress in clothing of the opposite gender without fear of persecution. Beginning in 1897, the building was used as a lodging house for queer men.

Attr — Stuart Timmons, Frontiers History Walk (2007)

1940 → 1949

Smitty's

242 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

242 S Main St

90012

A gay bar in Hollywood

Attr — https://www.laconservancy.org/sites/default/files/files/documents/LGBT%20Historic%20Context%209-14%20%28FINAL%29.pdf

1953 → 1962

ONE, Inc

232 S Hill St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

232 S Hill St

90012

October 1952: The idea of a magazine for homosexuals is first discussed in a Mattachine meeting.
November 1952: ONE Inc. is founded.
January 1953: The first issue of ONE Magazine is published.
August/September 1953: The Los Angeles postal authorities seize the August edition of ONE Magazine. The issue, which bore the title “Homosexual Marriage?” on the cover, is released three weeks later without explanation.
November 1953: ONE Inc. opens an office in downtown Los Angeles at 232 South Hill Street.
1954: The Los Angeles postal authorities seize the October issues of ONE Magazine on charges of obscenity.
1956: The ONE Institute for Homophile Studies opens.
January 13, 1958: After four years of litigation, the Supreme Court declares ONE Magazine is not in violation of obscenity laws.
1962: ONE Inc. moves to 2256 Venice Boulevard.

1940 → 1959

Maxwell's

214 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

214 W 3rd St

90013

also known as M Cocktail Lounge

Attr — Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969 pp.346

1908 → 1962

3-2-6

326 S Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

326 S Spring St

90013

The 3-2-6, commonly known as the Numbers, was World Heavyweight Champion Jim Jeffries' bar. This bar attracted drag queens, including Destiny, a real person and a character in John Rechy's City of Night. Building was demolished in the 1960's.

1977 → 1982

Main Spring

107 W 4th St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

107 W 4th St

90013

80-82: (some RT)

Attr — Bob Damron '80-82

1983 → 2005

Score

107 W 4th St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

107 W 4th St

90013

84: * (R) (Lunches)

Attr — Bob Damron '83-84

1960 → 1969

Brass Rail

336 S Hill St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

336 S Hill St

90013

Built in 1897 but first put to use in 1909, the bar was originally part of a three-building, three-story complex that existed as a hotel on upper floors and as storefronts on the ground floor. The buildings then went through various iterations and owners; there was a hat shop, then a curios shop. Then in the 1940’s, where La Cita stands today at 336 S. Hill Street it was the New Palace Cafe. It later became the Brass Rail Bar when it was bought by Al Daswick in the early 1960’s.

When Daswick bought it, the Brass Rail was a working class bar that catered to the patrons and workers of Grand Central Market, many of them Latinxs. Latinx immigrants had made the area a center of commerce and entertainment, often shopping at Grand Central Market next door and attending Spanish-language film screenings at the Million Dollar Theater.

Attr — KCET

2015 → today

Precinct

357 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90013

357 S Broadway

90013

8,500 square foot Rock and Roll Gay Bar owned by Thor Stephens and Brian McIntire. Stephens died at age 46 on February 22, 2018.

Attr — official site, Q Voice News

1984 → 2018

KLYT

132 E 4th St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

132 E 4th St

90013

The Palace Turkish Baths originally operated as a straight venue, offering massages and Turkish Baths facilities, but it gradually evolved into a clandestine gay bathhouse. It began to operate as KLYT Baths in 1984, a venue well-known for its Latino clientele. It closed in 2018.

1906 → 1984

Palace Turkish Baths

132 E 4th St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

132 E 4th St

90013

Gay Guide '71: (RT); Barfly West '73: B. C.

The "Palace Turkish Baths" originally operated as a straight venue, offering massages and Turkish Baths facilities, but it gradually evolved into a clandestine gay bathhouse. In 1984 it began operation as KLYT Baths, a venue well-known for its Latino clientele.

During the 1940s it was said to have been a favorite haunt of Rock Hudson and some lesser-known film stars of the day. According Joe Therrien, "the Palace Baths was popular with the gay crowd when I started going there in the 1940s. I had an affair with an actor there. He appeared in those fly-by-night cowboy movies that Hollywood put out in a week's time. When the actor's lover found out about our meetings, we ended our affair at the baths. In those days you always knew who was who because there were few places in Los Angeles where men could meet for . When you went to the baths you saw the same faces year after year."

Attr — Survey LA: LGBT Historic Context Statementl Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '68-'84

1900 → 1913

Purssord’s Turkish and Electric Light Baths

449 S Hill St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

449 S Hill St

90013

"We have among us many scientific exponents of the massage and bath systems, probably none more prominent than F. G. Purssord, whose establishment is at 449 South Hill street. Mr. Purssord has been in this business for the past five years, but has been in Los Angeles since 1886."

British immigrant Frederick Purssord was an "outrageous queen" who made the L.A. Times for his practice of nudism. He was responsible for converting the Merced House into a lodging house, apparently for homosexual men. He was later arrested as a “degenerate,” and died in police custody in 1913. L.A. had numerous bath houses, open for ladies for a few hours in the afternoon, open for men all night—with rooms for those who had no place else to sleep.

Attr — Los Angeles herald., September 03, 1905, Page 6.; Stuart Timmons and Karen Ocamb, “L.A. Gay Time Machine: Historic Sites in Gay Los Angeles” 15 September 2006; Gay L.A. pp. 28, 30.

1930 → 1983

Waldorf

521 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

521 S Main St

90013

Also known as Waldorf Cellar.

The official Waldorf liquor license was denied in 1936 on grounds that the business ran "contrary to public welfare and morals." Fictionalized as "Wally's" in John Rechy's 1963 novel "City of Night." Part of The Run.

Gay Guide '71: (B) (RT) *; Barfly West '73: L; Bob Damron: (B) (RT)

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-83

1943 → 1970

Dover Hotel

525 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

525 S Main St

90013

The Dover Hotel in Los Angeles operated practically as a gay bathhouse, and as such drew the attention of police, who conducted frequent raids. But one such action turned deadly on March 9, 1969, when nurse Howard Efland was, according to witnesses, beaten to death outside the hotel. The incident has been memorialized by the Back2Stonewall website, which says vice officers reported Efland groping them, something that apparently warranted the man being dragged downstairs in the nude before the assault. The officers would report that Efland was being taken to a police station when he kicked a vehicle open and was flung onto the Hollywood Freeway and died. The L.A. County Coroner would rule the death an “excusable homicide.”

Attr — The Advocate

1940 → 1950

Gayaway Cafe

514 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

514 S Main St

90013

Also known as Gay Way. A gay bar in Downtown in the 1940's.

Attr — SurveyLA Historic LGBT Context

1964 → 1982

Circle Bar

324 W 5th St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

324 W 5th St

90013

Directory '64; Barfly West '73: L; Damron '65-82: (RT)

"Another hustler bar - notorious countrywide was the Circle at 324 W. 5th nestled in rear of Dunn's Coffee Shop"

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-82; Noirish Los Angeles

1944 → 1986

Harold's

555 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

555 S Main St

90013

Barfly West '73: L. M.; Bob Damron '65-84: (B) (RT) ("Hustlers")

Part of the network of downtown hangouts known as "The Run"

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-84; SCGBA 1986, Action Magazine ["Los Angeles' Oldest, Our 29th Year - 'There Must Be A Reason'"] (April 1973)

1955 → 1971

Red Horse

512 S Hill St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

512 S Hill St

90013

(RT)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1929 → 1960

Paramount Theater

536 S Hill St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

536 S Hill St

90013

A famous gay bar occupied the basement of the building.

1893 → 1952

Burbank Theatre

548 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

548 S Main St

90013

1950 → 1969

Cooper's Do-Nuts

547 S. Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

547 S. Main St

90013

"Way back in 1958, at Cooper's Donuts on Main Street, a favorite after-hours hangout in Los Angeles' downtown, two cops ostensibly checking I.D., a routine harassment, arbitrarily picked up two hustlers, two queens, and a young man just cruising and led them out. As the cops packed the back of the squad car, one of the men objected, shouting that the car was illegally crowded. While the two cops switched around to force him in, the others scattered out of the car. From the donut shop, everyone poured out. The police faced a barrage of coffee cups, spoons, trash. They fled into their car, called backups, and soon the street was bustling with disobedience. Gay people danced about the cars." - John Rechy

The date of the riot has since been corrected to May 1959. The riot was said to have cause Main St. to be closed for a day.

Main St. and the surrounding area was home to several clubs and bars popular with gays - the Biltmore, Brass Rail, Cellar (521 S. Main), Crown Jewel (754 S. Olive), Harold's 555 Club (555 S. Main), Jolie's, Maxwell's, Numbers, 326 (326 S. Spring), Waldorf, and Burbank (548 S. Main). There were also numerous small eateries, one of which was Cooper's Do-Nuts, a 24 hour coffee and donut spot popular with a clientele comprised in part of multiracial trans people and hustlers. The network of gay hangouts came to be known as "The Run."

Attr — http://www.johnrechy.com/so_adel.htm

1971 → 1972

One-O-One Club

101 N Santa Fe Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012

101 N Santa Fe Ave

90012

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1923 → 1972

Biltmore Hotel

506 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90071

506 S Grand Ave

90071

The men’s bar…had been a cruising spot even before the war, uniformed soldiers would be “packed three-deep” (Gay LA).

During the 1940s and 50s, the Biltmore’s Grand Avenue Bar served a rendezvous point for Los Angeles’ gay community. Located near "The Run,” a strip of bars, burlesque theaters, tattoo parlors and dance halls centered around Pershing Square, the bar provided a fun and glamorous gathering spot for Los Angeles’ vibrant and active LGBTQ community (sailors, uniformed soldiers, and local residents alike).

On October 17, 1970, the Biltmore hosted the Second Annual Behavioral Modification Conference. The audience was watching a film by Dr. M. Phillip Feldman, which was making the case for electroshock therapy as the “cure” for homosexuality. The meeting was interrupted by men and women from the LA chapter of the Gay Liberation Front, who stormed the stage and stopped the screening. The Biltmore Invasion, as it became known, effectively forced one of the first dialogues between mental health professionals and the gay community. Within two years of that incident, “homosexuality” was removed as a mental disorder after decades of stigma and official misclassification.

Carolyn Weathers was among the 25 or so from the GLF who organized the invasion.

The hotel is still open and operating, but no longer of specific interest to the LGBTQ community.

Attr — Faderman, Lillian and Stuart Timmons, Gay L.A. pp. 73; Clendinan, Dudley, Out For Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America pp.202

1920 → 1969

Pershing Square

532 S Olive St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

532 S Olive St

90013

Constructed in 1866 as La Plaza Abaja, Pershing Square is the largest park in Downtown Los Angeles. It was a meeting ground for gay men for much of the 20th century.

Pershing Square was the center of "The Run," a circuit of gay-friendly establishments and cruising spots that served in the 1920s through the 1960s as what the book Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians calls "the premier homosexual spot." But it was also a centralized place where people could meet and socialize in the absence of a strong out gay community. The Run included the Central Library, the bar at the Biltmore Hotel, and the Subway Terminal Building's bathrooms.

Social disapproval of The Run, along with the general perception that downtown was “blighted,” might have been a factor in the decision to prescribe the open-heart surgery of urban renewal for Pershing Square and Bunker Hill.

In 1951, the park was ripped out to make way for a three-level, subterranean parking garage. Access ramps and stairwells replaced the greenery, but for a thin layer of turf atop the concrete. Some of the palms that were dug up were moved to brand-new Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise — a fittingly ironic fate, as, like Disneyland, the new square was part of the machine of suburbanization remaking Southern California, built around the private automobile.

Attr — L.A. Times, Gay L.A.

2014 → today

Redline

131 E 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90014

131 E 6th St

90014

1970

Silver Coin

114 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90014

114 W 6th St

90014

Attr — Gay Guide '71

2015 → 2018

Bar Mattachine

221 W 7th St, Los Angeles, CA 90014

221 W 7th St

90014

Upscale mixology gay bar named after the 1950s pioneering gay activist group the Mattachine Society. Part of the wave of newly opened gay bars in Downtown Los Angeles, along with Redline and Precinct.

1940 → 1949

Gay Inn

710 S Hill St, Los Angeles, CA 90014

710 S Hill St

90014

A gay bar in Downtown during the 1940s

Attr — https://www.laconservancy.org/sites/default/files/files/documents/LGBT%20Historic%20Context%209-14%20%28FINAL%29.pdf

1941 → 1979

Crown Jewel

754 S Olive St, Los Angeles, CA 90014

754 S Olive St

90014

There was the subterranean Crown Jewel at 8th and Olive, which, unlike most other gay bars in the neighborhood, had a fancy dress code and was considered “discreet and elegant." A driver’s license was needed to enter, “There was a code of conduct in such bars that normally prohibited any same-sex touching, making it difficult at times to tell a gay bar from a straight one.”

The Crown Jewel Cocktail Room was also known as the the Crown Jewel Grill, the Crown Grill and the Crown Grill Cocktail Lounge.

Owned by lawyer Harry Weiss, the proprietor of two other gay bars, who supposedly once sprung Tab Hunter from a gay arrest. Weiss, dubbed “the faggot lawyer” by judges, purportedly gave the police tips regarding the identities of his gay patrons. The vice squad then passed Weiss’s business card to any men they arrested, and Weiss paid the police half of any legal fees he earned from the resulting cases.

Part of "The Run" in Downtown Los Angeles.

Barfly West '73: L. M. *

Attr — Lavender Los Angeles pp. 53; Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969 pp. 147; Gay LA pp. 84; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Gayellow Pages 1979

1972 → 2022

Midtowne Spa

615 Kohler St, Los Angeles, CA 90021

615 Kohler St

90021

Midtowne Spa Los Angeles closed December 19, 2022, after servicing gay, bisexual, queer, and men who have sex with men (MSM) for 50 years.

Midtowne Spa Los Angeles offered private rooms as well as lockers. The facility had an indoor swimming pool, whirlpool, Sauna, Steam room, Sundeck and a TV Lounge. They offered adult movie channels, two gay and one Straight/Bisexual and 24 hour secured parking garage right next door to the clu

Midtowne Spa was originally owned by Marty Benson, who passed away in 1988. He was also the original owner of The Melrose Spa, at 7269 Melrose Ave in Los Angeles, which closed in May 2017, and took over ownership of 1350 Club at 510 W Anaheim St, in Wilmington, which closed some time in May 2022.

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '80-84; Weho Times, L.A. Times

1930 → 1934

808 Night Club

808 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90017

808 S Figueroa St

90017

Run by former vaudevillian Estelle Milmar. A stage where female impersonators performed...nine out of ten were actively homosexual. Was so successful that it moved to a larger location 5 blocks north in 1934

Attr — Bohemian Los Angeles: And the Making of Modern Politics pp.56

1974 → 1987

Metropolitan Community Church

1050 S Hill St, Los Angeles, CA 90015

1050 S Hill St

90015

Attr — Bob Damron '80-84

1973 → 1974

Mirror Room

1600 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90017

1600 W 6th St

90017

F. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → 1975

Tiki

1617 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90017

1617 W 6th St

90017

F

Attr — Barfly West '73

1975 → 1991

The Woman's Building

1727 N Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

1727 N Spring St

90012

Founded as an act of protest, The Woman's Building is a cornerstone in late-twentieth-century lesbian and feminist culture.

From 1973 to 1991, the Los Angeles-based organization and facility stood as a counterpoint to most major American museums, galleries, and arts programs, which routinely excluded female artists from their circles. Created by and for women, The Woman’s Building exemplified the impulse among feminists, including lesbians and bisexual women, to establish autonomous spaces outside of traditional, patriarchal institutions.

Three trailblazing women – artist Judy Chicago, art historian Arlene Raven, and graphic designer Sheila Levrant de Bretteville – came together in 1973 to create the first independent art school for women called the Feminist Studio Workshop (FSW). The founding of the FSW represented a crucial milestone for feminist activism within the art world, which targeted mainstream institutions for their broad dismissal of female artists.

The FSW was originally headquartered at 743 S. Grand View Street, near MacArthur Park. The founders and students began to describe the educational center as The Woman’s Building, a tribute to the Sophia Hayden-designed structure at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, which exhibited work by female artists from around the globe.

In 1975, the organization relocated to the 1914 Beaux Arts building at 1727 N. Spring Street, where it remained until its closure in 1991. Like its predecessor, the nonprofit center was known as The Woman’s Building in reference to the creative achievements and autonomy of female artists.

Throughout its eighteen-year run, The Woman's Building cultivated an experimental space for women from around the world to explore ideas in feminist theory and sexuality through art. Artists whose work may have been marginalized in other venues found a platform for expressing political goals and viewpoints. Provided safe space for women artists and writers, including Terry Wolverton and Cheri Gaulke.

Attr — LA Conservancy

1992 → today

Reach LA

1400 E. Olympic Blvd. # 240, Los Angeles, CA 90021

1400 E. Olympic Blvd. # 240

90021

REACH LA (Realistic Education in Action Coalition to Foster Health) is a youth-driven organization serving African-American and Latino gay, bisexual, and transgender youth who are struggling with issues that prevent them from fully engaging in a larger community.

Lacking a safety net of supportive family, schools, churches, or community organizations, a nationwide network of house and ball communities was established in the late 1980’s and 90’s. In Los Angeles alone there are 17 “houses” which provide a safe support system for drag queens and transgender youth of color who are exploring their sexuality and identity. A main activity of each house is to compete in local “ball” events, where members are recognized for dance, modeling, and fashion artistry.

In 1992, three women artists founded REACH LA in response to the lack of HIV/AIDS prevention education for youth of color. They worked with teenage youth to develop educational programming that was targeted to combat the rise in HIV infection rates among adolescents and young adults. We have since cultivated our legacy into a multifaceted approach that includes HIV prevention education, HIV testing, linkage to care and support services for HIV positive & high-risk negative youth and young adults. REACH LA has built a safe and supportive environment that strives to educate, motivate and mobilize youth around sexual/reproductive health, culture and self-preservation.

Attr — Reach LA

1971 → 1975

Gay Community Services Center

1614 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90017

1614 Wilshire Blvd

90017

In 1969, a loose association of activists, including gay and lesbian rights activist Morris Kight, began volunteering to provide mental health support and referrals to LGBT people, & discuss the consept of a Gay Community Center.

1971: With $35 in the bank, the "Gay Community Services Center" files its incorporation papers, opens its first "Liberation House" for homeless LGBT people, and rents its first headquarters at 1614 Wilshire. It provides services including counseling, family services, and a V.D. clinic.

1972: The IRS denies the Center's application for non-profit status at the IRS building in Hollywood, explaining the Center is "neither benevolent nor charitable" because it serves homosexuals. That year the annual budget is $42,000 and services are provided by an all volunteer staff. The Center also establishes the world's first lesbian health clinic staffed by volunteer lesbian medical professionals.

1974: Appeal of IRS decision is successful. The Center becomes the first openly LGBT organization (and the first organization with the word ‘gay’ in its title) to receive tax-exempt status.

1975: The Center moves to what was formerly a motel at 1213 N. Highland Ave. It receives the first federal grant ever given to an LGBT organization: $1 million for alcoholic services to women. Staff reported that during the first year between 1,700 – 2,500 men and women passed through the doors each week.

Attr — Vanguard Summer 2014 (LA LGBT Center's Quarterly Magazine)

1969 → 1972

Gay Liberation Front

1822 W 4th St, Los Angeles, CA 90057

1822 W 4th St

90057

Operated out of the home of gay rights activist Morris Kight.

In December 1969, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) activists in Los Angeles launched a branch of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), which had been recently founded by New York activists as a response to the Stonewall Riots. While LGBT activism had been growing and becoming more radical throughout the late 1960s, Stonewall and the GLF helped to fundamentally transform the gay movement and connect it to the antiwar, Black liberation, feminist, and anti-imperialist movements of the time.

In Los Angeles, the GLF operated out of the Westlake home of Morris Kight, a gay antiwar activist. One of the more famous actions it took was a protest against the "No Fags" sign at Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood. As an individual, Kight was also instrumental in forming the gay rights parade organization Christopher Street West. Kight and other GLF leaders also helped to form the Gay Community Services Center, which continues to serve the community today as the LA LGBT Center.

Attr — A People's Guide to Los Angeles, Pulido 2012 pp.260

1980 → 1990

Little Joy

1477 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

1477 Sunset Blvd

90026

Bob Damron: (Latins)

Attr — Bob Damron '80-84; Sin Bros '90

1965 → 1971

Paper Doll

1713 W 7th St, Los Angeles, CA 90017

1713 W 7th St

90017

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1982 → 1984

Royal Viking Motel

2025 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90057

2025 W 3rd St

90057

(M) (H)

Still open but ceased being listed in directories

Attr — Bob Damron '82-84

1930 → 1980

Echo Park Lake

1794 Park Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90026

1794 Park Ave

90026

Cruisy area (AYOR - sure suicide)

Attr — Bob Damron '80

1984 → today

Tom of Finland Foundation

1421 Laveta Terrace, Los Angeles, CA 90026

1421 Laveta Terrace

90026

In 1984, the non-profit Tom of Finland Foundation was established by Durk Dehner and his friend Touko Laaksonen a.k.a. Tom of Finland. As Tom had established worldwide recognition as the master of homo-erotic art, the Foundation's original purpose was to preserve his vast catalog of work. Several years later the scope was widened to offer a safe haven for all erotic art in response to rampant discrimination against art that portrayed sexual behavior or generated a sexual response. Today the Foundation continues in its efforts of educating the public as to the cultural merits of erotic art and in promoting healthier, more tolerant attitudes about sexuality.

Attr — Tom of Finland Foundation

1999 → today

Black AIDS Institute

1833 West 8th Street #200, Los Angeles, CA 90057

1833 West 8th Street #200

90057

Founded May 1999 by longtime AIDS activist and survivor Phill Wilson to address the specific needs of the LGBT African American community.

The Black AIDS Institute (BAI) is the only national HIV/AIDS think tank focused exclusively on Black people. The Institute’s mission is to stop the AIDS epidemic in Black communities by engaging and mobilizing Black leaders, institutions, and individuals, in efforts to confront HIV. BAI disseminates information; advocates for sound, inclusive, culturally responsive public and private sector health policies; offers training and capacity building; provides health screening for HIV/STI/Hep C and other chronic and/or infectious diseases, and linkage to comprehensive HIV care: and conducts advocacy and mobilization from a uniquely and unapologetically Black point of view.

Every year, on February 7, individuals and organizations across the nation participate in National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD) to promote HIV prevention, testing, treatment, and community involvement in black/African American communities.

Attr — Black AIDS Institute, CDC

2017 → present

NAVEL

1611 S Hope St, Los Angeles, CA 90015

1611 S Hope St

90015

NAVEL is a queer-run cultural space self-described as a "Test Site for Kinship" with a mission to bring radical thought into form. The NAVEL collective, operating out of a 3300 sq. ft. loft warehouse space, builds community and redistributes resources to cultural workers who have been historically excluded — especially those who are Queer & Trans, Poor, Disabled, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Through residencies, programs, and events NAVEL co-creates experimental spaces to imagine and build a more abundant, just, and collaborative world.

Navel was the site of the Queer Biennial 2018, anti-Pride program No Cruising, and the Queer Maps Launch. The Queer Maps Launch featured site-specific installations by Adrian Gilliland, Seth Bogart, Marval A Rex, MrDrummer79, and performances by Gabriela Ruiz, Miss Barbie Q, Freckle, and Kim Anh.

Attr — navel.la

1950s → today

Redz

2218 E 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90033

2218 E 1st St

90033

Alternate names: Redhead; Redheads; Reds; Redz; Chuparosa; Redz Angelz

One of the few lesbian bars to cater to Latinas opened in Boyle Heights in the 1950s. For over fifty years, this popular lesbian bar catered to a predominantly Mexican and Mexican American clientele.

Over the course of its history, the bar's name evolved from Redheads to Reds to, most recently, Redz. It opened at a time when working-class lesbian bars were on the rise around Los Angeles, particularly in Westlake and North Hollywood. It represented an important intersection of race, class, gender, and sexual identity.

Nancy Valverde remembers, "We started going to [Redheads] on 1st St...the old man Charlie was the owner, and he made the mistake of hiring a lesbian for waitressing. Well that was his mistake because it's been gay ever since!" from Nancy From East Side Clover

Changed ownership in 2016 and currently open as Redz Angelz. Still caters primarily to LGBTQ community.

Attr — Los Angeles Conservancy; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73

1950 → 1969

Geri's

666 S Alvarado St, Los Angeles, CA 90057

666 S Alvarado St

90057

Alternate names: Jerry's, 666

A gay bar in Westlake during the 1950's and 1960's. The site of a well-publicized raid in 1962.

Attr — SurveyLA Historic LGBT Context Statement; Inguide '66

1966 → 1986

Park Theatre

710 S Alvarado St, Los Angeles, CA 90057

710 S Alvarado St

90057

Originally the Alvarado Theatre (built 1914), it was renamed the Park Theatre on April 6, 1966. The theatre switched to porn, and then gay porn. In the 1970’s, the Park Theatre returned to mainstream films. The Park Theater was one of the first venues to program gay film. The theater was owned by Shan Sayles and Monroe Beehler.

The two owners discovered Pat Rocco while looking for filmmakers to provide content for their series at the Park, and asked to see his work. According to Anthony Slide’s 2000 book “Nitrate Won’t Wait: A History of Film Preservation in the United States”, “The Original Pat Rocco Male Film Festival” at the Park Theatre in July 1968 was the first program of all-gay films to play in America.

Attr — Los Angeles Theaters; ONE / USC; UCLA Cinema Archive; Escoffier, Jeffrey, "Bigger Than Life: The History of Gay Porn Cinema from Beefcake to Hardcore" pp. 52-60

1971 → 1972

Gay Women's Service Center

1168 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

1168 Glendale Blvd

90026

Founded February 1971 by Virginia Hoeffding and Del Whan of the Los Angeles Gay Liberation Front, the GWSC was the first organization in the U.S. incorporated as a social service agency exclusively for lesbians. It was also the first telephone listing in Los Angeles to ever contain the word "gay," made possible by a phone company administrator who also happened to be a lesbian.

Morris Kight, gay rights pioneer and activist in Los Angeles founded the Gay Community Services Center (which became, and remains the LA LGBT Center). He looked to absorb all startup lesbian service centers in LA, in order to consolidate the LGBT community's political power. Sharon Raphael and Mina Meyer from the GWSC were reluctant to incorporate, citing concerns about “joining with the men, because we felt something would be lost." Many volunteers left the Gay Women's Service Center and joined the Gay Community Services Center. Eventually Raphael and Meyer conceded. In good faith, they donated their furniture and took leadership roles. However, Meyer "left the Center because of the sexism. It was just intolerable."

The Center moved to 1542 Glendale Blvd before it became part of the Gay Community Services Center.

Attr — SurveyLA: LGBT Historic Context Statement; Gay L.A. pp.170-171; Baltza, Katie, Before AIDS: Gay Health Politics in the 1970s pp. 51-53

1945 → 1955

Westlake Park (aka MacArthur Park)

2144 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057

2144 Wilshire Blvd

90057

Attr — http://www.workers.org/2005/us/lavender-red-43/

2020 → today

Noa Noa Place

2321 E 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90033

2321 E 1st St

90033

Opened December 5, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and among closures of LGBTQ+ bars throughout Los Angeles. Co-owned by Deysi Serrano, Luis Octavio, and Donaji Esparza, Noa Noa Place provided food, drinks, drag performances, and dancing to the Queer Latinx community.

Later they changed their name to "El Place."

Serrano, owner of Milpagrille, who Octavio and Esparza both call “mama luchona, that makes shit happen,” ran the popular, healthy eatery and supported philanthropic community efforts such as the Boyle Heights community fridge. Octavio is the founder of the renowned and largest Latino community market, Molcajete Dominguero, which brings together hundreds of artists and vendors to provide unique shopping experiences for folks in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Northern California areas. And Esparza is a popular Spanish radio show host, currently with Univision network’s KLOVE, who has worked as a radio talent for 14 years, and uses her platform to support and uplift Latinx communities differently.

"El Noa Noa" was a hit song written by the late singer-songwriter Juan Gabriel that immortalized the bar and dance hall of the same name where his career began in Juarez Chihuahua, Mexico. Co-owner Luis Octavio said of Noa Noa, "'Where everything is going to be different,' just as what the song that inspired us to do this mentions - and it's going to be a Queer Latinx bar-pizzeria place."

In 2021, the owners said that they tried to negotiate lower rent with their landlord, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

“It is an older building with things constantly breaking down. We’ve been able to survive but at the end of the day we also want to make profit," Octavio told LAist.

Octavio also said that as other bars and nightlife spaces reopen, competition has made it difficult for the bar to survive .

Attr — L.A. Taco, @noanoaplace

1951 → 1990

Physique Pictorial

1834 W 11th St, Los Angeles, CA 90006

1834 W 11th St

90006

Bob Mizer started the first physique magazine, Physique Pictorial, aimed at gay men interested in appreciating the male form.

Attr — https://www.laconservancy.org/sites/default/files/files/documents/LGBT%20Historic%20Context%209-14%20%28FINAL%29.pdf

1980 → 1982

2006 Bar

2006 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90065

2006 N Figueroa St

90065

80-82: (trying for SM, W)

Attr — Bob Damron '80-82

1984

Duane's

2006 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90065

2006 N Figueroa St

90065

84: (Some W, SM, OC)

Attr — Bob Damron '80-82

1973 → 1975

The Woman's Building

743 S Grand View St, Los Angeles, CA 90057

743 S Grand View St

90057

Founded as an act of protest, The Woman's Building is a cornerstone in late-twentieth-century lesbian and feminist culture.

From 1973 to 1991, the Los Angeles-based organization and facility stood as a counterpoint to most major American museums, galleries, and arts programs, which routinely excluded female artists from their circles. Created by and for women, The Woman’s Building exemplified the impulse among feminists, including lesbians and bisexual women, to establish autonomous spaces outside of traditional, patriarchal institutions.

Three trailblazing women – artist Judy Chicago, art historian Arlene Raven, and graphic designer Sheila Levrant de Bretteville – came together in 1973 to create the first independent art school for women called the Feminist Studio Workshop (FSW). The founding of the FSW represented a crucial milestone of for feminist activism within the art world, which targeted mainstream institutions for their broad dismissal of female artists.

The FSW was originally headquartered at 743 S. Grand View Street, near MacArthur Park. The founders and students began to describe the educational center as The Woman’s Building, a tribute to the Sophia Hayden-designed structure at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, which exhibited work by female artists from around the globe.

In addition to the FSW, the building housed a number of likeminded feminist institutions, including the National Organization for Women (NOW) the first Sisterhood Bookstore, and the newsletter Lesbian Tide.

In 1975, the organization relocated to the 1914 Beaux Arts building at 1727 N. Spring Street, where it remained until its closure in 1991. Like its predecessor, the nonprofit center was known as The Woman’s Building in reference to the creative achievements and autonomy of female artists.

This poster advertising the Women in Design conference held in 1975 at the Woman’s Building features Sheila Levrant de Bretteville’s signature eyebolt. According to De Bretteville the eyebolt was a symbol for “strength without a fist.” The eyebolt was made into a necklace, and every conference attendee was given one to wear as a ticket to the event. The overall image of the poster is meant to represent a dialogue among women amongst the grid. De Bretteville describes further: "The palm trees on the grid meant that LA was this oasis of feminist activity ... and I saw the Angelika Kaufman moon as the time that’s passing in which women were being nourished by the muse…I thought of the Feminist perspective as a kind of grid that enabled me to filter through what I saw, heard and read, enabling me to see what I had not previously noticed or known." (attrib. Center for the Study of Political Graphics)

Attr — Los Angeles Conservancy, Center for the Study of Political Graphics

1976 → 1981

Casa Juan

1025 S Alvarado St, Los Angeles, CA 90006

1025 S Alvarado St

90006

(M) (Mexican R)

Attr — Gay Business List 1976; Bob Damron '80-81

1968 → 1971

Vanity

2122 W 11th St, Los Angeles, CA 90006

2122 W 11th St

90006

M

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1971 → 1973

Queen of Hearts

2122 W 11th St, Los Angeles, CA 90006

2122 W 11th St

90006

M

Attr — Gay Guide '71, Barfly West '73

1974 → today

Alcoholism Center for Women

1147 S Alvarado St, Los Angeles, CA 90006

1147 S Alvarado St

90006

Founded by Brenda Weathers, this was a pioneering residential treatment center for women/lesbian alcoholics. Began with a landmark federal grant to the Gay Community Services Center, but disputes over how to spend the money led to the infamous Center strike.

Attr — SurveyLA: LGBT Historic Context Statement

1966 → 1977

Fallen Angel

2709 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90057

2709 W 6th St

90057

D. M. *

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '67-7

1963 → present

Silver Platter

2700 W 7th St, Los Angeles, CA 90057

2700 W 7th St

90057

The Silver Platter, which opened in 1963, is the oldest gay bar in the MacArthur Park area. For years, it was a magnet for men "in Tejano boots and big cowboy hats" who had immigrated from Mexico and Central America. In the early 1990s, after the original owner died from AIDS-related complications and left the bar to his brother, a few people started showing up in dresses. Soon, it was dozens, and the bar became known as a rare place where vestidas, as cross-dressers are called in Spanish, could gather. It remains a popular club for Los Angeles' trans Latinx community.

Was home to "Wildness" weekly club nights, organized by artist and filmmaker Wu Tsang, from 2008-2010. His 2012 documentary "Wildness" features the bar literally speaking about its history, the neighborhood, and the impact of the trendy party on the bar's "safe space." Voiced by a transgender actress from Guatemala, the bar whispers about the generations of gays who have found sanctuary there, away “from the ignorance, the fear and hatred of the outside world.”

Attr — LA Times, "Outfest: Wu Tsang’s ‘Wildness’ documents the Silver Platter scene," 13 July 2012.

1964 → 1974

Mansfield House

2600 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

2600 Sunset Blvd

90026

M

Attr — Guild Guide '64; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '66-74

2009 → today

TransLatin@ Coalition

3055 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010

3055 Wilshire Blvd.

90010

TransLatina Coalition stylized as TransLatin@ Coalition

The TransLatin@ Coalition (TLC) was founded in 2009 by a group of Transgender and Gender nonconforming and Intersex (TGI) immigrant women in Los Angeles, California, as a grassroots response to address the specific needs of TGI Latin@ immigrants who live in the United States.

Since then, the agency has become a nationally recognized organization with representation in 10 different states across the U.S. and provides direct services to TGI individuals in Los Angeles. In 2015, The TransLatin@ Coalition identified the urgent need to provide direct services to empower TGI people in response to structural, institutional, and interpersonal violence, and the Center for Violence Prevention and Transgender Wellness was born. Since then, the organization has secured funding from the state and local government sources as well as several private foundations and organizations to provide direct services to all TGI individuals in Los Angeles County (LAC). TLC’s primary focus is to change the landscape of access to services for TGI people and provide access to comprehensive resource and services that will improve the quality of life of TGI people.

Mission:
The mission of The TransLatin@ Coalition (TLC) is to advocate for the specific needs of the Trans Latin@ community that resides in the U.S.A. and to plan strategies that improve our quality of life.

Bamby Salcedo serves as President & CEO.

Attr — TransLatin@ Coalition website

1993 → today

Las Memorias AIDS Monument - Lincoln Park

3600 N. Mission Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90031

3600 N. Mission Rd

90031

Founded by Richard L. Zaldivar in December 1993, The Wall-Las Memorias Project serves low-income and hard to reach communities throughout Los Angeles—educating community members on the importance of HIV/AIDS, substance abuse prevention and community building in the LGBTQ community. In 2004, Zaldivar realized his vision for a monument to memorialize those lost to AIDS by offering a place of remembrance and healing.

The AIDS monument was designed by architect David Angelo and public artist Robin Brailsford. A community advisory board selected the site in 1993, based upon its rich cultural and artistic history with the Latino community and its proximity to the local AIDS Treatment Center at County USC Hospital, the Rand Schrader AIDS Clinic.

The Las Memorias AIDS Monument was designed as a Quetzalcoatl serpent, an Aztec symbol for rebirth. The monument consists of eight wall panels: six murals depicting life with AIDS in the Latino community and two granite panels that contain the names of individuals who have died from AIDS. The monument also includes a serene park setting with benches and an archway set in garden areas for personal meditation. The total size of the monument is about 9,000 square ft., with half of this area being developed as new landscaping.

Located at Lincoln Park, Las Memorias AIDS Monument is the first publically funded AIDS monument in the country. The 9,000 square-foot monument is composed of a stainless steel archway and eight panels - six of the panels feature murals by Southern California artists, and two granite panels will eventually display the names of 8,000 people lost to AIDS. Each year, new names are added to the panels during a special ceremony, Noche De Las Memorias (A Night of Memories) which takes place on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1.

Attr — The Wall Las Memorias Project

1970

Brig

3103 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057

3103 Beverly Blvd

90057

Attr — The Advocate Feb '70, Gay Guide '71

1971 → 1973

Metropolitan Community Church

2201 S Union Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90007

2201 S Union Ave

90007

Founded by Reverend Troy Perry in 1968, the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) is the oldest continuously operating LGBTQ ministry in the world.

Trained as a Pentecostal minister, Reverend Perry left the church in the early 1960s after parish leadership learned he was gay and excommunicated him. Events in his personal life moved him to return to the ministry in 1968 with the goal of providing a place for LGBTQ individuals to worship freely.

Reverend Perry conducted services in his living room for the first six weeks. The size of the congregation steadily grew each week, and by 1969 the church had 150 congregants.

As the ministry grew, the congregation turned to other meeting spaces, including a nearby women's club, theatres, and other churches. In 1971, the MCC dedicated its own church at 2201 South Union Avenue. Beth Chayim Chadashim, the world's first LGBTQ synagogue, also held services in the building.

As the MCC expanded its outreach across the country, it became a target for arson. Fires were first reported in 1972 and 1973 at churches in San Francisco. In 1973, the MCC headquarters at South Union Avenue and West 22nd Street was destroyed by two separate instances of arson.

Attr — Los Angeles Conservancy

1972 → 1974

Cypress Baths

3241 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90065

3241 N Figueroa St

90065

B. C. P.

Attr — Barfly West '73

2000 → 2018

ONE Archives

909 W Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90007

909 W Adams Blvd

90007

ONE Archives is the oldest continuing LGBTQ organization in the United States, and the largest repository of LGBTQ materials in the world.

2000: ONE Institute/IGLA moves to its current location at 909 West Adams Boulevard provided by the University of Southern California.

2004: The organization is renamed ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.

October 2010: The collections at ONE Archives become a part of the USC Libraries.

1971 → 1981

Hungry Savage

2939 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

2939 Sunset Blvd

90026

Barfly West '73: M; Bob Damron '79-81: (PT)

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Los Angeles Bugle 1979; Bob Damron '79-81

1982 → 1984

Good Company L.A.

2939 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

2939 Sunset Blvd

90026

Bob Damron '82-83: (PT)

Attr — Bob Damron '82-83

1965 → 1978

Four Poster

2939 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

2939 Sunset Blvd

90026

Barfly West '73: M

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73, Bob Damron '65-'78

1977 → 1981

Stud Two

3037 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3037 Sunset Blvd

90026

Bob Damron '80: (Some Latins, SM) (D)

Attr — Los Angeles Bugle 1977; Bob Damron '80

1965 → 1973

Ramm's Head

3037 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3037 Sunset Blvd

90026

Barfly West '73: D. Y. W.

Raided by LAPD the week after the New Year's raid of the Black Cat Tavern

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-73

1971 → 1980

Butch Gardens

3037 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3037 Sunset Blvd

90026

Chicano artist Teddy Sandoval created the notorious "Butch Gardens School of Fine Art," a fictitious art school and his artist insignia. He named it after his local Butch Gardens bar, which he frequented. Sandoval's work encompassed performance, mail art, and ceramics, and he exhibited in the famed 1975 Chicanarte exhibit at the Barnsdall art park. Despite working in decorative ceramics - a medium quite rare in Chicano art practices - Sandoval‘s flamboyance and artistic interests in interior design and the homoerotic are a rarely acknowledged element of the Chicano art movement in Los Angeles.

Richard T. Rodriguez describes the actual Butch Gardens as a place where “mostly gay and lesbian cholos and cholas congregated,” including such artists as Jack Vargas and Gronk (Glugio Nicandro), but "it was not a venue that hosted Chicano art production like Score Bar in Downtown, which would play host to the famed ―Terrill/Gronk show in 1984." (Hernández, 2011)

According to Stuart Timmons, Butch Gardens on Sunset in Silver Lake was one of the first gay bars visited by political candidates, including Vince Bugliosi, Burt Pines (who hired Rand Schrader, homosexual and gay activist, to his staff in the 1970's) -- and even openly-homophobic District 13 council member Paul Lamport, who was driven from office by L.A.’s gay vote.

Attr — The Gay Guide '71; Bob Damron '74-75; Benavidez, Max and Steve La Ponsie, Gronk, pp. 52; "A Maricón Beauty," Artforum.

1969 → 1985

Little Cave

3111 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3111 Sunset Blvd

90026

aka Paul's Little Cave

Gay Guide '71: (S); Barfly West '73: D. E. L. Y

Attr — The Advocate '69; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '70-75; Professional Network 1984 [map]

1939 → 1968

If Club

810 S Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90005

810 S Vermont Ave

90005

The earliest known lesbian bar. Working class, racially-mixed, butch lesbian hang out. The clientele was Black, white, and Latina, demonstrating that queer life in Los Angeles did not exist only in white and affluent areas but was also embedded in working-class communities of color. Women at these clubs developed a strong, oppositional community, with their own styles and slang; for example, butch Black women termed themselves "hard dressers." Police frequently raided the bars and arrested patrons, charging women either with "masquerading" - that is, wearing men's clothing - or prostitution.

A 1966 “Barfly” gay guide described the If Club (also known as the If Café) as, “a crowd of butch girls, men in 40s, others from area.”

Featured space in Lillian Faderman's Curator Map.

Attr — Vice Versa '47; A People's Guide to Los Angeles, Pulido p.46, Bob Damron '68

1965 → 1968

The Longhorn

3111 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3111 Sunset Blvd

90026

also known as Longhorns

Attr — Bob Damron's Address Book, 1965

1950 → 1969

Open Door

831 S Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90005

831 S Vermont Ave

90005

Crowd of butch girls, men in 40s, others from area. Working class, racially-mixed, butch lesbian hang out. The clientele was Black, white, and Latina, demonstrating that queer life in Los Angeles did not exist only in white and affluent areas but was also embedded in working-class communities of color. Women at these clubs developed a strong, oppositional community, with their own styles and slang; for example, butch Black women termed themselves "hard dressers." Police frequently raided the bars and arrested patrons, charging women either with "masquerading" - that is, wearing men's clothing - or prostitution.

Featured space in Lillian Faderman's Curator Map.

Attr — Barfly '66; A People's Guide to Los Angeles, Pulido p.46

1968 → 1973

Wilshire Club

674 S Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90005

674 S Vermont Ave

90005

"Pete & Rich"; also listed L. M.

Attr — The Timely Gay Bar Guide 1970; Barfly West '73

1982

Trex Travel Planners

3250 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010

3250 Wilshire Blvd

90010

Attr — Bob Damron '82

2009 → 2020

The Sweat Spot

3327 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3327 Sunset Blvd

90026

The Sweat Spot was choreographer Ryan Heffington’s dance studio in the heart of Silverlake, which he opened after hosting a series of popular dance classes called Sweat Sundays. It was a 2200 square foot space and a hub of the east side arts community. The classes included ballet, contemporary, modern, jazz, hip hop, dance fitness, Gaga, Pilates and a variety of emerging dance styles and fitness classes specific to the teachers and choreographers who called The Sweat Spot their home for 10 years. In addition to Heffington, these instructors included Maurice Harris, Nina McNeely, Jasmine Albuquerque, and many others who straddled underground and mainstream culture. The Sweat Spot was a rehearsal space for local queer dance-centric performances such as KTCHN and WIFE.

Most of the classes that were offered at The Sweat Spot’s physical location were all levels, and it was common to see complete beginners and professional dancers sweating side by side.

Attr — Wikipedia, https://thesweatspotla.com/

1973

Big Brother

1616 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90007

1616 W Washington Blvd

90007

D. G.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1948 → 1953

Harry Hay Residence

2328 Cove Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90039

2328 Cove Ave

90039

In the summer of 1948, gay activist Harry Hay clandestinely began a group called "Bachelors Anonymous" in his private Silver Lake residence. By 1950, the collective of men had become the Mattachine Society — America's first official gay organization. Mattachine inspired as a major force in the gay liberation movement, not only in Los Angeles, but throughout the country.

The primary goals of the society were to

"Unify homosexuals isolated from their own kind";
"Educate homosexuals and heterosexuals toward an ethical homosexual culture paralleling the cultures of the Negro, Mexican and Jewish peoples";
"Lead the more socially conscious homosexual to provide leadership to the whole mass of social variants"; and
"Assist gays who are victimized daily as a result of oppression".

Mattachine's membership grew slowly at first but received a major boost in the spring of 1952 when co-founder Dale Jennings was arrested in a Los Angeles park and charged with lewd behavior. Often, men in Jennings' situation would simply plead guilty to the charge and hope to quietly rebuild their lives. Jennings and the rest of the Fifth Order saw the charges as a means to address the issue of police entrapment of homosexual men. The group began publicizing the case (under the name "Citizens Committee to Outlaw Entrapment") and the publicity it generated brought in financial support and volunteers. Jennings admitted during his trial to being a homosexual but insisted he was not guilty of the specific charge. The jury deadlocked and Mattachine declared victory.

Hay resigned from the Mattachine Society in 1953. The steps up to his house were honored as a Los Angeles Cultural Historic Monument in 2012, cited as as a birthplace of gay rights.

Attr — Wikipedia

1982

Marshall's Roost

574 N Hoover St, Los Angeles, CA 90004

574 N Hoover St

90004

(R) (No Booze)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1979

Four Queens Cafe

574 N Hoover St, Los Angeles, CA 90004

574 N Hoover St

90004

(R) (No Booze)

Attr — Gayellow Pages 1979, Bob Damron '81

1981 → 1982

Lean Two

610 N Hoover St, Los Angeles, CA 90026

610 N Hoover St

90026

(R) (C) (AH)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1965 → 1973

Explorer

612 N Hoover St, Los Angeles, CA 90004

612 N Hoover St

90004

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Bob Damron '65-73

1977 → 1993

One Way

612 N Hoover St, Los Angeles, CA 90004

612 N Hoover St

90004

Bob Damron '80: (SM) (W) (PT) (Cruisy) (Wild back patio); Bob Damron '81-82: (Cruisy) (Some SM, W, FFA, etc) *; Bob Damron '84: * (Some SM, FFA) (DJ but no D) (Cruisy)

Home to "the-o-ret-i-cal" parties. In the center of this underground scene at the time, bands included WildKingdom, Nervous Gender, Party Boys, Fat and Fucked Up, Christian Death, Age of Consent and Red Wedding.

Raided by LAPD for overcrowding in November 1987. Patrons and community leaders suggested the bar was raided because of its "edgy" LGBTQ crowd.

Attr — Bob Damron '77-83, LA Times 25 November 1987

1934 → 1953

Club Alabam

4215 S Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90011

4215 S Central Ave

90011

The Alabam hosted an annual "drag ball" that attracted a multi-racial crowd, with men wearing lipstick and dressed in gowns. A reader’s letter was published in the Los Angeles Sentinel on January 30, 1947, complaining, “Halloween night, the Club Alabam gave the sexual dearranged men a chance to parade in splendor and glory at the famous ‘Drag Ball,’ where prizes were given for men dressed like women.”

Photographs here show contestants filling the dance floor during a drag contest at Club Alabam, hosted by Bill Hefflin circa 1945. Photographer: Clyde Woods. Part of the LA Public Library Photo Collection.

From the 1920s to 1950s, Central Avenue was the hub of the West Coast jazz scene. Famous the world over, “the Avenue,” as it was lovingly called, was a must visit destination for jazz lovers staying in Los Angeles. “I didn’t know where Sunset Boulevard was when I moved to L.A., but sure I knew Central,” legendary producer Quincy Jones recalled.

The Alabam was black-owned and run by bandleader Curtis Mosby, “the mayor of Central Avenue.” The club featured black entertainment for integrated audiences and was one of numerous nightclubs and theaters that flourished on Central Avenue until the early 1950s. “Club Alabam quickly became the hottest and ritziest nightclub on Central Avenue,” according to Sean J. O’Connell. “Oh God, we had people like Myrna Loy, George Raft; Loretta Young; they were down there all the time,” Norman Bowden remembered.

Over the years, people like Billie Holiday, Johnny Otis, and Gerald Wilson would perform at the Alabam. Trumpeter Clora Bryant remembered Holiday babysitting her daughter, while she rehearsed on stage. The Alabam also hosted comedians like Moms Mabley, and had a famous chorus line, choreographed by film choreographer Norma Jean Miller.

Attr — Survey LA: LGBT Historic Context Statement; Gay L.A. pp.3-4

2023 → today

The Ruby Fruit

3510 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3510 Sunset Blvd

90026

The Ruby Fruit is a wine bar serving "the sapphically inclined." Opened by Mara Herbkersman and Emily Bielagus in February 2023, The Ruby Fruit "welcomes everyone and serves as a safe space for not only lesbians, but non-binary, gender-nonconforming and trans people."

The Ruby Fruit is the first permanent lesbian bar to have opened in LA since 2017.

The wine bar’s name is an homage to Rita Mae Brown’s The Rubyfruit Jungle.

Attr — Official Site

1984

Animal

253 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90004

253 N Vermont Ave

90004

(Some SM, W)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1983 → 1986

Flamingo

3626 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3626 Sunset Blvd

90026

84: (L) (D) (Patio) *

Attr — Bob Damron '84; Data Boy '86

1987 → 1989

3626

3626 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3626 Sunset Blvd

90026

1980 → 1982

Jungle

3626 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3626 Sunset Blvd

90026

81: (Should be a winner); '82: (DJ & Patio)

Attr — Drummer, Issue 39 (1980); Bob Damron '81-82

1989 → 2004

Being Alive

3626 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3626 Sunset Blvd

90026

Mission: To end HIV infections by eliminating stigma, engaging people in wellness, removing barriers to care, and restoring dignity.

Established in 1986 by three friends, John Mohr, Ron Rose, and Rick Ewing, Being Alive was created as a response to a need for services free of red tape and bureaucratic entanglement. They saw the need for an organization made up of other people living with HIV and AIDS who would advocate for the HIV/AIDS community from the point of view of those who are infected. Today, Being Alive serves as a beacon of emotional support, treatment education, and empowerment to thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS.

Currently open at a location in West Hollywood.

1980 → 2013

El Conquistador

3701 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3701 Sunset Blvd

90026

(M) (Mexican R)

Attr — Bob Damron '80-83

1971

Tiffany

3260 W 8th St, Los Angeles, CA 90005

3260 W 8th St

90005

Attr — Gay Guide '71

2017 → today

Everybody

1845 North San Fernando Road, Los Angeles, CA, 90065

1845 North San Fernando Road

90065

Founded by Lake Sharp and Sam Rypinski. EVERYBODY is devoted to creating and supporting a brave and inclusive environment for all bodies to move, strengthen, and heal. We believe that health and wellness should be accessible, affordable and adaptive to all people regardless of their gender, size, age, ethnicity or ability.

- Gender inclusive locker room and bathrooms

- Gender inclusive staff training

Attr — Official site

1982 → 1984

Bon Mot

4022 North Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90031

4022 North Figueroa Street

90031

(Latins)

Attr — Bob Damron '82, 84

1981

Grey Fox

2375 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039

2375 Glendale Blvd

90039

81: (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1983 → 2005

Lé Bar

2375 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039

2375 Glendale Blvd

90039

84: (OC) (PT)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1984

South Fork

3470 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010

3470 Wilshire Blvd

90010

(Disco) (D)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1928 → 1974

Dunbar Hotel

4225 S Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90011

4225 S Central Ave

90011

From the 1920s to 1950s, Central Avenue was the hub of the West Coast jazz scene. Famous the world over, “the Avenue,” as it was lovingly called, was a must-visit destination for jazz lovers staying in Los Angeles. “I didn’t know where Sunset Boulevard was when I moved to L.A., but sure I knew Central,” legendary producer Quincy Jones recalled.

Undoubtedly the epicenter of the jazz scene in Los Angeles, the 115-room Dunbar Hotel was built in 1928 by Drs. John and Vada Sommerville. It was named for American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, and was a place where black travelers could stay in style and comfort. The luxurious hotel soon attracted the likes of Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, and Billie Holiday. Famed Club Alabam (featuring drag balls in the 1930's and 1940's) opened next door.

The jazz club that occupied the ground floor of the hotel featured performances that would showcase both male and female impersonators.

Attr — Survey LA: LGBT Historic Context pp.57

1966 → 1967

The Black Cat Tavern

3909 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3909 Sunset Blvd

90026

“The Black Cat was happy and hooping” before undercover police arrived and started beating patrons as they were ringing in the New Year: "There were colored balloons covering the ceiling ... and three glittering Christmas trees." Moments later, “all hell broke loose.” After arresting several patrons for kissing as they celebrated the occasion, the undercover police officers began beating several of the patrons and ultimately arrested fourteen patrons for “assault and public lewdness." The police used deliberate and excessive force during the raid to carry out explicitly homophobic state legislation that prevented queer folks from (1) kissing and/or engaging in any sexual acts, and (2) wearing clothing that did not match their socially prescribed gender role. For example, one of the patrons was aggressively beaten in the head by a cop wielding a pool cue.

This created a riot in the immediate area that expanded to include the bar across Sanborn Avenue called New Faces, where officers knocked down the owner, a woman, and beat two bartenders unconscious.

The owner of this bar, The Black Cat, which had opened in October of ‘66 – only two months earlier – had his liquor license and his entertainment license suspended. He fought for five months to get them reinstated. He lost every appeal and he eventually closed on May 21st 1967 because he had no liquor license. The signage remained until at least 1974

Several weeks later, this police action incited a civil demonstration of 200 attendees to protest the raids on February 11, 1967. The demonstration was organized by a group called PRIDE (Personal Rights in Defense and Education) – founded by Steve Ginsberg – and the SCCRH (Southern California Council on Religion and Homophile). The protest was met by squadrons of armed policemen. It was from this event that the publication The Advocate began as a newspaper for PRIDE. Together the raid on the Black Cat Tavern and later the raid on The Patch in August 1968 inspired the formation of the Metropolitan Community Church (led by Pastor Troy Perry).

On November 7, 2008, the site was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, HCM No. 939.

Attr — Wikipedia

1993 → 2011

Le Barcito

3909 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3909 Sunset Blvd

90026

The Sunset Junction bar had long been a magnet for gay Latinos with Spanish-language drag shows and other events. Le Barcito is located in the Sunset Boulevard building once occupied by a previous gay bar called the Black Cat Tavern, where the LAPD arrested several men for kissing, triggering one of the nation’s first gay-right protests in 1967. In 2009, the L.A. Weekly named Le Barcito as Best Club the Black Cat Dragged In.

1984 → 1993

Basgo’s Disco

3909 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3909 Sunset Blvd

90026

Latinx dance club, known previously as The Black Cat Tavern, Tobasco, Bushwacker, and later known as Le Barcito. The bar scene from 1992 film Sister Act was filmed here.

Club Fuck! (also known as Club FUCK!) was a nightclub that officially began the summer of 1989 and was hosted by Miguel Beristain, Cliff Diller, and James Stone.

The weekly party was located at Basgo’s Disco in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. The event lasted till 1993, when it was raided by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Vice Division. Fuck! constituted a gritty liminal space oppositional to both the neighborhood’s largely men-only leather bars as well as the clean-cut bars of West Hollywood. At Fuck! the modified, pierced, and tattooed body was front and center. Scarring, mummification, and piercing were staples at Fuck!, confronting fears of contagion while revealing the temporality of the body during the height of the AIDS crisis. Performances at Fuck! were both transgressive and theatrical, pushing the limits of what the performer’s body (and audience) could endure with a spirit of play.

Notable performers at Fuck! included Bob Flanagan, Sheree Rose, Buck Angel, Ron Athey, Vaginal Davis, Jenny Shimizu, Durk Dehner, Catherine Opie, Michele Mills.

In an April 1991 article in the LA Weekly, Fuck! was described as not simply “an existential exercise in bad attitudes,” but rather “a celebration of the primal life force amped up to overload,” with an “S&M/sexual subtext” that makes it “sociologically fascinating.”

Club Fuck was the subject of the exhibition entitled "FUCK! Loss, desire and pleasure" curated by Lucia Fabio and Toro Castaño at USC’s ONE Archives.

1982

Bushwacker

3909 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3909 Sunset Blvd

90026

Bob Damron '82: (W) (Looks promising)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1983 → 1984

Tabasco's

3909 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

3909 Sunset Blvd

90026

Bob Damron '83-84: (Disco) (D) (WE*)

Became Basgo's

Attr — Bob Damron '83-84

1980 → 1985

Plaza Flowers

3920 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

3920 Sunset Blvd

90029

Attr — The Voice '80

1999 → today

Rough Trade Gear

3915 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

3915 Sunset Blvd

90029

also known as: Rough Trade Sex, Leather, and Spurs

When it first opened, it was only upstairs. Downstairs was a hair salon.

Used to also specialize in country/western gear, now leather and neoprene.

Attr — Rough Trade

1984

Mark's

3928 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

3928 Sunset Blvd

90029

(R) *

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1965 → 1978

Redwood Room

3372 W 8th St, Los Angeles, CA 90005

3372 W 8th St

90005

Gay Guide '71: (S) *; Barfly West '73: E. L. M. *

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-78

1982 → 1983

Halsted's

2453 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039

2453 Glendale Blvd

90039

(P) ('Wild back room')

"Founded by adult film director and star Fred Halsted, he himself described it as a naked industrial space transformed into "a stand-up fuck club." The club's most distinguishing characteristic was four truck trailers that were parked in the back inside a walled yard. The club only lasted about a year; Halsted admitted that "Los Angeles did not have enough perverts" to support the club. Before it closed, he filmed there A Night at Halsted's." - Wikipedia

Attr — Bob Damron '82-83

1967 → today

The Advocate

863 N Virgil Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

863 N Virgil Ave

90029

Founded in 1967 by Richard Mitch as a response to the raids at the Black Cat, The Advocate grew from a small newsletter for a local gay rights group (PRIDE) to the longest-running LGBT publication in print today.

The Advocate was first published as a local newsletter by the activist group Personal Rights in Defense and Education (PRIDE) in Los Angeles. The newsletter was inspired by a police raid on a Los Angeles gay bar, the Black Cat Tavern, on January 1, 1967, and the demonstrations against police brutality in the months following that raid. Richard Mitch (using the pseudonym "Dick Michaels") and Bill Rau (under the name "Bill Rand") joined PRIDE and, along with Aristide Laurent and artist Sam Winston, transformed the newsletter into a newspaper titled The Los Angeles Advocate. The first issue bore a cover date of September 1967, and was sold for 35 cents in gay bars in Los Angeles. By early 1968, PRIDE was struggling to stay viable and Mitch and Rau paid the group one dollar for ownership of the paper in February of that year. In 1969 the newspaper was renamedThe Advocate and distributed nationally. By 1974, Mitch and Rau were printing 40,000 copies for each issue.

Uncertain how long the magazine kept its office at this address.

Attr — LGBT Historic Context Statement (Survey LA)

1979 → 1992

A Different Light

4014 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4014 Santa Monica Blvd

90029

(Books)

Norman Laurila and George Leigh opened A Different Light in Silver Lake in October 1979. The bookstore focused on gay and lesbian literature, hosted signings and readings from LGBTQ writers, and was a cultural & social hub for the community. A Different Light opened additional locations in Greenwich Village, the Castro, and West Hollywood. The Silver Lake location closed in 1992.

At its height, the chain was one of the most influential LGBT booksellers in the United States, serving as a cultural hub and social center for LGBT people.

Talks were underway to get the Tudor-style building (originally built to house and repair Red Car system trolleys) nominated as a city historic cultural monument, but a demolition permit was pulled by the building's owner Frost/Chaddock on the same day as the talks. The building was legally demolished on Saturday, September 24, 2011.

Attr — Bob Damron '81-84; Echo Park Patch

1962 → 1967

New Faces

4001 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4001 Sunset Blvd

90029

In 1962, Alexei Romanoff was bartending at the Hy Spot, when he was approached by straight businesswoman Lee Roy. She wanted to partner with him to open a gay bar called the New Faces, on the site that became Circus of Books, located just down the street from The Black Cat. He said, "If I can remember right it [we painted it] black inside and our logo was the masks of Comedy and Tragedy." Romanoff was half-owner of the New Faces for the first few years of its existence, but he had a disagreement with Lee Roy and sold his share to her.

During the 1967 New Year's police raid at The Black Cat, Romanoff recalls: “The police officers got to the New Faces, which was not supposed to be raided that night, entered and said, ‘Who owns the bar?’ There was a bar manager and a bartender. The bartender was behind the bar [and] the bar manager said, ‘It’s Lee Roy.’ She was in a gown, because it was New Year’s Eve. They thought it was a man in drag, because the name was 'Lee Roy.' So they tackled her, broke her collarbone, beat her up, left her in a bloody mess on the sidewalk in front of the New Faces after they realized it was really a woman. They just left her there. They attacked the bar manager [and] the bartender started yelling. They grabbed him, pulled him over the bar, stomped on him, kicked him, they ruptured his spleen, broke his jaw and his skull, and he was completely bruised. They arrested the bartender and the bar manager plus 14 that were in [The Black Cat].”

"Between January 2nd and January 20th, police officers went in and out of the New Faces every night. They scared the customers away, and the bar closed on Jan. 21, 1967. So after five years the New Faces was closed down."

Romanoff took part in the demonstrations outside the Black Cat on February 11, 1967, which was one of the first in the United States protesting police brutality against LGBT people, and preceded the Stonewall riots by over two years. Romanoff was named Grand Marshal of LA Pride in 2017.

Attr — Romanoff, Alexei, "Alexei Romanoff and the LGBT Civil Rights Legacy of The Black Cat", 12 June 2015, Thirsty In LA; Directory '64; Bob Damron '65-'67

1985 → 2016

Circus of Books

4001 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4001 Sunset Blvd

90029

Circus of Books was a bookstore and gay pornography shop owned by Karen and Barry Mason, with locations in West Hollywood and Silver lake. As a notable Los Angeles gay cruising spot, place of refuge during the AIDS crisis, and mom-and-pop porn shop fighting federal obscenity charges, both locations are now considered important sites of Los Angeles' gay history.

A documentary on the store, filmed by the Masons' daughter Rachel Mason, was released in 2019.

1972 → 1985

Blu Nunn

4022 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4022 Santa Monica Blvd

90029

Barfly West '70: F; Bob Damron '72-83: (Breakfast & Lunch)

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '72-83

1971 → 1975

Sunset East

4007 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4007 Sunset Blvd

90029

Also listed as Sunset East Showbar

E. M.

Attr — H.E.L.P. Newsletter '71; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Vector '75

1967 → 1971

Joker

4007 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4007 Sunset Blvd

90029

E. M.

Attr — Advocate Dec 1967; H.E.L.P. Newsletter '71; Gay Guide '71; Bob Damron '69-71

1971 → 1973

Gay'm

4007 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4007 Sunset Blvd

90029

E. M.

Attr — H.E.L.P. Newsletter '71; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73

1966 → 1984

Tyke's

4306 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90065

4306 N Figueroa St

90065

aka Tyk's

Bob Damron: M, R (OC)

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '66-84

1983 → 1984

Mary's Place

4114 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4114 Santa Monica Blvd

90029

(R) (AH) (M)

Attr — Bob Damron '83-84

1983 → 1984

Sushi Fune

3820 Fountain Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

3820 Fountain Ave

90029

(M) (Japanese) (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1981

Swap Meat

1800 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1800 Hyperion Ave

90027

Wild back room

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1980

1800 Hyperion

1800 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1800 Hyperion Ave

90027

Wild back room

Attr — Bob Damron '80

1982

1800 Club

1800 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1800 Hyperion Ave

90027

Wild back room

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1984 → 1996

King of Hearts

1800 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1800 Hyperion Ave

90027

Damron '84: (F S) (WE*)

The uproar over Basic Plumbing spilled over to King of Hearts, which had operated illegally for years just down the street in relative obscurity. Cited by the city and told they too would encounter neighborhood opposition if they sought a variance, the new owners closed King of Hearts last summer.

Attr — Damron '84; 27 October 1997, LA Times

1997 → 2001

Exxile

1800 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1800 Hyperion Ave

90027

Recently advertisements appeared in a local gay magazine. “Exxile: A Private Men’s Club Now Open Nightly.”

Private Men's club, replacing King of Hearts. “Exile was kind of like a Costco, where you paid a fee to join.”

Attr — 27 Oct 1997, LA Times

1973 → 1983

Outcast

4219 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4219 Santa Monica Blvd

90029

Barfly West '73: A. W. *; Damron '73-83: (W) (SM) (some FFA) (Also C - AH) Enter through parking lot

Attr — Barfly West '73, Bob Damron '73-83

1983 → 2005

The Gauntlet II

4219 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4219 Santa Monica Blvd

90029

Gauntlet II was a major stronghold of the Los Angeles Leather Community for 22 years, and the bar's history goes back even further. Gauntlet I was formed in the late 1960's by Dale Habberstad and business partner Zack, and was located on Highland Blvd. in Hollywood. Around 1969, they closed the doors and moved on to other endeavors.

In 1984, the original founders wanted to reopen the Gauntlet. They purchased the property in Silver Lake where the Eagle LA stands today. Prior to this, the location had served as home to many gay bars since 1972 and was best known as The Outcast, just before it became Gauntlet II.

One club night that popularly featured queercore bands in the 90s was the "The Freak Show" at the Gauntlet II. Edward Hibbs, aka Gogo-Eddie emceeed and hosted events such as The Freak Show, which featured local queercore bands like Best Revenge, IAMLOVED, and Nick Name and The Normals (aka Kent James). Best Revenge, a popular LA queercore band and regulars at The Freak Show, was formed by Ryan Revenge (vocals/guitar) and KT (bass/vocals) in 1998.

1968 → 1972

Shed

4219 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4219 Santa Monica Blvd

90029

Attr — The Eagle LA

2006 → today

Eagle LA

4219 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4219 Santa Monica Blvd

90029

The current location of Eagle LA has served as home to many gay bars over the years dating back 44 years. It was known as the Shed from 1968-1972 The Outcast from 1972-1983, the famous Gauntlet II from 1983-2005, then later, Eagle LA.

Gauntlet II was in operation for 21 years. Then, in the summer of 2005 Charlie and business partner Vince decided to buy the bar with the intention of making a name change. In April 2006, Eagle LA was born, or, reborn as it may be. There was an original Eagle LA located in West Hollywood at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd. and Fairfax. It operated for 15 years and closed in 1995. Although that Eagle is of no relation to Charlie or Vince, they are proud to reestablish the Eagle LA and become the latest in a long line of Eagle bars in cities throughout the US and around the world. It has always been their mission to uphold the Leather/Uniform/Fetish traditions set forth by the infamous Eagle name and that traditions still holds true today.

In January 2021, The Eagle was one of several LGBTQ businesses to raise funds to prevent permanent closure in the face of the COVID pandemic. Over $150,000 was raised via a GoFundMe campaign.

Attr — Eagle LA website

1974 → 1997

Detour

4100 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4100 Sunset Blvd

90029

Damron '80: (Some W, SM) (PT) (Liquor) (Cruisy) & leather, Levi, and Western cruise bar for men; Damron '82: * (C&W) (DJ & live bands) (Cruisy)

"My favorite tavern was the Detour, the easier pickup place right now…Boots in pairs are suspended by their laces from the slats over the bar. In one corner hangs a glass ball in which the silhouette of a stagecoach slowly revolves. In the very back is a pool table. There is no room for playing a game since shirtless, sweating men, standing four deep, are boogying in place and sniffing poppers to the disco music." - Edmund White “States of Desire"

Sometimes listed as 1087 Manzanita

Attr — 25 Dec 1974 Contact; Bob Damron '75-83

1973

Leather Horse

4100 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4100 Sunset Blvd

90029

Barfly '73: A. W. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1966 → 1971

The Place

1087 Manzanita, Los Angeles, CA 90029

1087 Manzanita

90029

also listed as Connies 'The Place'

Attr — Magpie 3-68; H.E.L.P. Newsletter '71; Gay Guide '71

1994 → 2021

Faultline

4216 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4216 Melrose Ave

90029

Faultline opened the same year as the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. This Silver Lake institution features a large outdoor patio, an indoor lounge and two bars. Before it was Faultline, it was home to levi’s/leather cruise bars The Stud and Griff’s. Faultline underwent a major expansion in 2004, which added the large, enclosed outdoor patio. According to the Los Feliz Ledger, the Faultline space was a venue called the Red Rouge in the 1960s, owned by Judy Garland and her then husband, Sid Luft. According to Faultline’s owner Ruby De Fresno, as the concrete floor was being laid down, the star put her handprint and signed her name on the cement slab behind the bar back in 1963.

As of January 2021, the bar has ceased to exist at this location

The interior was decorated with “naughty neon” by artist Brian M. Currie, and “provocative art” by William Webster and Tom of Finland. Before vacating the current address, owner Ruby De Fresno told Q Voice News that, “All the interior decor and artwork is in storage. The neon penis, neon clock, and other historic items are being preserved, including the larger-than-life, iconic Faultline leather men art pieces.” iconic Faultline leather men art pieces, the interior Faultline sign, and the neon “F” from the exterior logo.

Attr — Faultline

1974 → 1988

Stud

4216 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4216 Melrose Ave

90029

Grand Opening January 20, 1974

80-81: (some W, SM, FFA) back patio; '82-84: (Patio) (Some B, OC, SM) *

Levi/leather cruise bar

Attr — Bob Damron '72-84

1989 → 1993

Griff's

4216 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4216 Melrose Ave

90029

Leather bar

Attr — LA Leather History Timeline

1988

Zone

4216 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4216 Melrose Ave

90029

Open for 6 months

Attr — LA Leather History Timeline

1972

Don's Male Box

1087 Manzanita St, Los Angeles, CA 90029

1087 Manzanita St

90029

Related to MB Club

Attr — Bob Damron '72

1974

M/B Club

1087 Manzanita St, Los Angeles, CA 90029

1087 Manzanita St

90029

Listed at 4100 Sunset in Bob Damron

Also listed as Don's Male Box

A. C. K. P. *

Attr — Bob Damron '74

1993 → 2001

Basic Plumbing

1924 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1924 Hyperion Ave

90027

"Dry Bath" private club.

"Lee Struwe says he and his partner, Hosea Cobb, opened Basic Plumbing in 1993. They chose the spot because it was “basically a gay area,” he said. “Location is very important.”

Cited for zoning violations in 1995, Struwe and Cobb have been embroiled in a heated battle the past year.

Neighbors blamed Basic Plumbing patrons for cruising problems that turned their streets and yards into a late-night arena of drug use and public sex. They staged a well-organized campaign against the club’s application for a variance and won."

Attr — 27 Oct 1997, LA Times

1962 → today

Casita del Campo

1920 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1920 Hyperion Ave

90027

(M) (Mexican) (R)

Casita also houses the Cavern Club Theater, an alternative performance space with frequent LGBTQ programming.

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1980 → 1982

Pure Trash

1903 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1903 Hyperion Ave

90027

Bob Damron '80-82: (2 "trashy" floors, johns) (Some W, SM) (PT) "Put a little trash in your life, but make it...Pure Trash"

"Music is a mix of new wave and progressive disco" - The Voice

Went out of business due to neighbor complaints

Attr — Bob Damron '80-82; 5 Sept 1985 LA Times; 28 March 1980 The Voice

1976 → 1984

Frog Pond

2106 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90027

2106 Hyperion Ave

90027

(R) *

In 1980, a fire bomb was thrown into the Frog Pond, a Hyperion Avenue gay restaurant and cabaret, by a suspect who yelled "Die faggots!” The blast injured 3 people. The primarily gay Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance was formed as a result, in order to help ease neighborhood tensions.

Bob White, the politically active owner of the Frog Pond restaurant, committed suicide in May 1985 amid mounting financial and personal problems. White’s partner and longtime companion Art Fredette had died of cancer four months earlier.

Attr — Bob Damron '77-83

1971 → 1975

Shingle Shack

1941 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1941 Hyperion Ave

90027

H.E.L.P. Newsletter 5-15-71; Barfly West '73: M. Y.; Gay Guide 1975

Attr — Barfly West '73

1980 → 1982

Hyperion Lumber Co.

1941 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1941 Hyperion Ave

90027

Also known as Lumber Yard

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82; Drummer Issue 39 (1980)

1978 → 1980

Wrangler's

1941 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1941 Hyperion Ave

90027

also listed as Jack Wrangler's, after adult film star Jack Wrangler

Bob Damron: (Some W, SM) (PT)

Attr — Bob Damron '79-80

1981 → 2001

Cuffs

1941 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1941 Hyperion Ave

90027

Bob Damron '83: (SM) (AH-WE) *

Cuffs opened in 1981 at height of the Silver Lake leather scene and stayed open until the early Aughts. Situated along the Hyperion Avenue strip among fellow institutions like Basic Plumbing and Pure Trash, the small beer bar had a reputation for being dark and crowded in a manner that fostered a certain degree of camaraderie among its patrons. As the AIDS crisis unfolded and more overtly sexual spaces closed, Cuffs persisted as a laid-back, sleazy hangout. The space was stripped down, with black walls, red lighting and minimal decor. The music was similarly dark and punk/industrial. Sex hung in Cuffs gloom with it reportedly so dark that whoever entered from outside was blind for a moment before their eyes could adjust. This feature enabled patrons to size-up recent arrivals and zip-up if they appeared to be the vice squad.

Attr — Bob Damron '84, Dirty Looks

1962 → 1971

Hy Spot

1941 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1941 Hyperion Ave

90027

Gay Guide '71: no sign-- illuminated facade.

"Now this place is a riot. (That was a bad word to use) What we mean is that this joint jumps. You can almost tell by the stuttering in the mad,mad,mad... Both Wally and Woody are the kind of guys that you would like to be around, never a dull moment."

Alexei Romanoff, who went on to open New Faces, and helped organize the protest against the raids at the Black Cat Tavern, was a bartender here in 1962.

A gay bar has been in this location since 1962, until Cuffs closed in 2001.

Attr — Directory '64; Gay Guide '71; Bob Damron '65-71; 20 July 1964, Citizens News

1977 → 1978

Headquarters

1941 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1941 Hyperion Ave

90027

Attr — Bob Damron '77-78

1981 → 1986

Health Works

2114 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

2114 Hyperion Ave

90027

Bob Damron: (Baths - Both sexes*)

Billed itself as “L.A.'s only co-sexual bath club.” Owned by Steve Downard

Attr — Bob Damron '83-84; LA Times 27 Feb 1986

1966 → 1981

Hyperion Baths

2114 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

2114 Hyperion Ave

90027

also listed as Hyperion Health Club

Barfly West '73: B. C; Bob Damron: (Baths) (Good days) L.A.'s busiest daytime baths, not plush but very active, "For Everyone"

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '66-82

1965 → 1971

Ark

4519 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4519 Santa Monica Blvd

90029

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Bob Damron '65-71

1972 → 1983

Bunk House

4519 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4519 Santa Monica Blvd

90029

Also known as Bunkhouse

Bob Damron: (W) (PT)

Attr — Bob Damron '72-83

1980 → 1984

Zoo

4322 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4322 Melrose Ave

90029

(R) (Sun. brunch) (Liquor) *

Fetish Club Saturdays

Attr — Bob Damron '81-84

1982

Kitchen Stuff

704 N Heliotrope Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90029

704 N Heliotrope Dr

90029

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1976 → 1984

The Leather Game

708 N Heliotrope Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90029

708 N Heliotrope Dr

90029

(Leather, clothes, toys, uniforms, etc.)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

2017 → 2020

Cuties

710 N Heliotrope Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90029

710 N Heliotrope Dr

90029

A queer-focused coffee shop & community event space opened July 2017, offering a cozy, safe space for LA's LGBTQ+ family. In August 2020, during the COVID crisis, Cuties closed its brick-and-mortar shop - but has continued its organization online.

A note from Virginia, owner of Cuties (via Facebook):

"When it became clear that maintaining operations and social gatherings inside were no longer a safe option as they would put our staff and customers at risk, we decided to close to wait out the storm.

Since then, we’ve been able to keep paying Sasha Jones, our manager who has been leading this team and building community both online and off. Sasha’s role is supported directly from the funds that the community is providing through Patreon.

Right now, our organization does not bring in enough revenue to pay for our space. So we’ve been accumulating debt to our landlord, hoping that we could reopen later and pay it down over time.

It’s clear to me now that continuing to accumulate debt in an environment that shows little promise of operational safety in the near future is unwise. As of August 1st, we turned over the keys. Moving forward, all of our efforts will be online.

While I considered appealing to the community to ask for increased financial support, I can’t in good conscience ask you to fund a space that is not being used to generate value for us. If I were to ask you to do that, I’d have to recognize that money from the queer community would be moving directly into the pockets of our landlord. This is incongruent with our values."

Attr — https://www.hicuties.com/

1983 → 1984

Heliotrope House

707 N Heliotrope Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90029

707 N Heliotrope Dr

90029

(Seafood-R)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1982 → 2008

Rudolpho's

2500 Riverside Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90039

2500 Riverside Dr.

90039

Owned by the Del Campo family (Casita Del Campo), this restaurant also played host to live concerts, punk shows, and club nights.

Dragstrip 66 was a long-running monthly queer dance club in Los Angeles. Co-created by Mr. Dan (aka hostess Gina Lotriman) & DJ Paul V. (ex-Indie 103.1), Dragstrip launched in January 1993 at Rudolpho's, and ran every 2nd Saturday for 11 years.

After that, it moved for a short time to The Echo and Safari Sam's - and then yearly reunions at The Echoplex. It was a beloved gay community marker and an "all-invited" home to unleash all forms of sexuality, self-expression, drag, cross-dress, & masquerade. The Los Angeles Times described it as falling “somewhere between a John Waters film, a Bob Mackie fashion show, and a drunken punk dance party.”

A pivotal memory for many patrons was June 12, 1993, when, as club-goer Scott Craig remembers, “The LAPD and LAFD showed up to shut Dragstrip down for [allegedly] being over capacity. They herded all these fabulous freaks into the parking lot and everyone refused to leave. Mr. Dan got up on a car and screamed out, ‘We refuse to leave! We’re not hurting anyone!’ A helicopter hovering above decided to turn on the bright search light and, well, the crowd went crazy -- like someone had put them on stage. Ultimately, the cops let us back in to finish our party!”

Attr — Interiew, DJ Paul V.; "Dragstrip 66: Saying Goodbye is Such a Drag," LA Times 7 January 2010.

1975 → 1978

Mark IV Baths

4424 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4424 Melrose Ave

90029

On April 10, 1976, the Los Angeles Police Department staged a massive raid on a leather-community fundraiser at the Mark IV Baths. The event offered consenting SM enthusiasts who agreed to be auctioned for role-playing as slaves, with proceeds from the winning bids going to the Los Angeles Gay Community Services Center and other gay charities.

Deploying helicopters, buses and dozens of cops — and bringing along television news crews — the LAPD invaded the gathering. Nearly 400 people were detained and 42 were arrested, including John Embry, the publisher of the leather magazine Drummer, and the first "Mr. Drummer" title-holder, Val Martin, who served as auctioneer. The police released public statements claiming they had halted an actual slave auction and describing the participants as dangerous perverts.

Val Martin later recalled, "We repeated many times what the [playful and charitable] purpose of the auction was. They made us lay on the ground, hands on our necks. They treated us like animals.... They were taking pictures, calling us names."

Ultimately, the district attorney charged only four of the participants, changing the violation from "slave dealing" to "prostitution." All received fines and community service. The homophobia displayed by the LAPD drew strong condemnation from gay leaders and the gay media — and the ACLU later dubbed the raid "one of the more blatant landmarks in the history of police paranoia with regards to the gay community."

Longtime activist Jim Fouratt, who was living in Los Angeles at the time, recalls that the event itself also drew criticism from some gay activists: "Yes, the participants were all consensual, but there was outrage from progressive gay people in the LA lesbian and gay community at the idea of a slave auction as both entertainment and as a fundraiser. I remember being active with the Lavender and Red Union and we spoke out against the racial insensitivity."

Attr — Bob Damron '76-78

1990 → today

Flex Spa

4424 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4424 Melrose Ave

90029

1996 → 1997

Barracks

4621 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4621 Santa Monica Blvd

90029

Took over from the longstanding Meat Rack. Despite a long embroiled battle with neighbors, advocacy from City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg helped the sex club win a variance to continue operating in 1997. However, nine days after, Mayor Riordan overruled the variance. The sex club was converted into a secondhand clothing store.

Attr — Los Angeles Magazine Mar 1998

1974 → 1996

Meat Rack

4621 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4621 Santa Monica Blvd

90029

Bob Damron '80-84: (P) ("wild back room")

Attr — Bob Damron '80-84

1983 → 1996

Joly's #2

4356 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4356 Sunset Blvd

90029

Piano Bar

Also written as "Jolie's #2"

According to Alexander (co-owner of Akbar), Jolie's 2 looked like "Navajo white and cigarette stains," with vertical blinds, lots of mirrors and hanging fake plants. One of the things he remembers about first entering the bar was the distinct smell he noticed emanating from the piano in the back, where the jukebox and couches were (and still are) located.

“It was a little baby grand piano that smelled of booze and cigarettes, and the keys were slightly out of place,” he recalls.

Attr — LA Weekly

1975 → 1982

Silver Saddle Spa (Upstairs)

4356 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4356 Sunset Blvd

90029

(Baths) "Open 24 hours, Western style - unique and different. Very popular. In and out privileges to Silver Dollar Saloon downstairs"

Attr — Bob Damron '75-82

1996 → today

Akbar

4356 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4356 Sunset Blvd

90029

First opening on New Year's Eve 1996, co-owner Scott Craig describes Akbar as a “neighborhood bar and clubhouse with a proud rainbow flag in front.” Opening right after the AIDS epidemic was at its most brutal force, the owners felt that, at the time, the stigmas and fear in place meant more isolation for the gay community, but they wanted to change that. “There were bars in the neighborhood, there were gay bars in the neighborhood, there were straight bars, but there was not a bar where us and our mix of friends, which are straight and gay, could go together. So we decided to open a bar for us,” says co-owner Peter Alexander.

In 1995, after consulting with quite a few friends who told him what it was like to own a bar, Craig walked into Joly’s #2, an old gay piano bar at the corner of Sunset and Fountain. Both the bar and the piano inside it were on their last legs.

“I went in and went up to the owner of Joly’s #2, and he offered me a figure and I accepted,” says Craig.

On Dec. 12, 1995, Craig got the keys to the place. One of the things he remembers about first entering the bar was the distinct smell he noticed emanating from the piano in the back, where the jukebox and couches were (and still are) located.

“It was a little baby grand piano that smelled of booze and cigarettes, and the keys were slightly out of place,” he recalls.

In 2004, the entire building went up for sale. Craig and Alexander decided to buy it, lest someone eventually price them out of the neighborhood. Once they had the building, they busted through the wall of the adjacent clothing store, where a dance floor had been in a previous iteration known as the Silver Dollar Saloon. During this renovation, they found it odd that the pipes they were uncovering were particularly large. They later discovered the upstairs had been a bathhouse called the Silver Saddle, and the pipes were so big because they were supporting steam rooms and other amenities.

Attr — LA Weekly

1976 → 1986

Silver Dollar Saloon (Downstairs)

4356 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4356 Sunset Blvd

90029

Always busy - known as the city's most FRIENDLY and FUN bar. Always SPECIAL EVENTS! A must for LA-Hollywood visitors. (Below Silver Saddle Spa)

Attr — Bob Damron '76-83; SCGBA 1986

1981 → 1984

New York Company

2470 Fletcher Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90039

2470 Fletcher Dr

90039

Bob Damron '82, 84: (R) (Very New York*)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-84

1980 → 1982

Perfect Pattie Cafe

4348 Fountain Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4348 Fountain Ave

90029

(R)

Attr — Bob Damron '80-82

1955 → 1965

The Gaiety

784 S Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90005

784 S Western Ave

90005

Attr — http://www.martinturnbull.com/hollywood-places/places-f-to-o/

1962 → 1983

ONE Inc.

2256 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90006

2256 Venice Blvd

90006

ONE Inc. was the umbrella organization that contained ONE Magazine, the ONE Institute, and ONE Archives.

1962: ONE Inc. moves to 2256 Venice Boulevard.

1967: ONE Magazine ceases publication.

1975: Jim Kepner’s personal archive is named the Western Gay Archives.

1979: The Western Gay Archives is renamed the National Gay Archives: Natalie Barney/Edward Carpenter Library, and moves to 1654 North Hudson Avenue in Hollywood.

1981: ONE Institute becomes the first institution of higher learning in the United States to offer masters and doctoral degrees in Homophile Studies.

1983: ONE Inc. moves into the Milbank Estate at 3340 Country Club Drive purchased by philanthropist Reed Erickson. Soon after, for reasons uncertain, Erickson seeks to have ONE removed from the estate.

Attr — ONE Archives; White, C. Todd, Pre-Gay L.A.: A Social History of the Movement for Homosexual Rights pp.111

1977 → 2004

MB Club

4550 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4550 Melrose Ave

90029

Bob Damron: (P) (No booze - "wild back room") (F S)

"MB Club closed its doors on Sunday, January 11th, 2004. This was mostly a local haunt for those of us on the Eastside, downtown, Hollywood, & points east of the LA River.

Most of the members were friendly, laid back "Silver Lake" types wearing 501 Levi's, white T or A-shirts with occasional leather jackets & boots. Don't let the clothes fool you since many of the members were professionals during the day.

There was a common room set up as a bar, but with no alcohol license there were only sodas & water. The person manning the entry also was the bar-t. One of them, Mike of Highland Park, was always the consummate host who was warm & caring to his customers. Heating up jiffy pop & offering it to his customers, he always made it a point to be the interested listener which endeared him to the members. Such great people skills.

The Paterfamilias, Don founder & owner, passed away apparently a few years after the closing. This is before my time, but the MB Club was originally in Silverlake somewhere near the now defunct Stud on Sunset & Manzanita.

Great place to meet people from all types of backgrounds, ethnicities, socioeconomics reflecting the diversity that is LA. I really miss this small brick facade low slung one story building which allowed all of us to mix in fraternal harmony.

PS Greg J., if you ever read this, thanks for going out of your way to help me out on occasion." - Gary I., Yelp

Attr — Bob Damron '77-84

1979 → 1981

Eatin High

4501 Fountain Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4501 Fountain Ave

90029

(L) (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '81, 84

1973 → 1975

Florentine Room

4579 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4579 Melrose Ave

90029

A. F. L. M. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1978 → 2023

Body Builders

2516 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

2516 Hyperion Ave

90027

(Gym) *

Open since 1978, and listed in Damron's Address Book. Current owners Erik Flowers and his aunt, Jackie Joniec, bought the gym in 2000. The gym has over 7000 sq. ft of workout space.

The gym’s previous owners had given discounts to clients of AIDS Project Los Angeles, but eventually stopped. Flowers and Joniec started up the relationship again, and also have given discounted memberships to the nearby Alternatives residential treatment program, which caters to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people dealing with AIDS, HIV, addiction and other problems.

“We had to look back at the gym’s history and saw what it went through with the AIDS epidemic in the ‘80s,” says Flowers. “You have to be considerate in order to be part of the neighborhood. Some of the people who are HIV-impacted or have addictions don’t have cars anymore, and they can only survive in the neighborhood and what it has to offer them.” (L.A. Times, 2004 Jan. 5)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-83

1977 → 2016

El Chavo

4441 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

4441 Sunset Blvd

90027

(M) (Mexican R)

Attr — Bob Damron '77-83

1971 → 1973

Patino's Lounge

2538 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

2538 Hyperion Ave

90027

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Bob Damron '71-73

1973 → 1983

Toy Tiger

2538 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

2538 Hyperion Ave

90027

Barfly West '73: E. L. M. *; Bob Damron '74-83: (R) (E) (OC)

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '74-83

1997 → 2012

The Other Side / Flying Leap Cafe

2538 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

2538 Hyperion Ave

90027

Was considered L.A.'s last gay piano bar. Over the years it went through many iterations and names, among them Patino’s and Toy Tiger. It became The Other Side in the late 1990s when it was bought by Paul Hargis. The bar’s basic makeup remained through the different ownerships: the driveway that led under the building and to a back parking lot; the hidden staircase from the parking lot to the entrance; the piano at one end of the room.

Subject of Jane Cantillon's documentary "The Other Side: A Queer History's Last Call"

Attr — LA Weekly

1972 → 1974

Hollywood Music Center

4658 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4658 Melrose Ave

90029

A. D. E. Y. *

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '72-74

1960 → 1985

Vista Theater

4473 Sunset Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027

4473 Sunset Dr

90027

Opened in 1923. The Vista was a porno house for about 20 of its 62 years, moving from soft-core to hard-core and finally gay porn until it was refurbished for revivals in 1980 by the San Francisco-based Thomas Theaters chain, which subsequently sold it to Landmark.

Hosted the first Outfest Festivals 1982-1985. Still open today, but not specifically LGBTQ.

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1980 → 1984

Zen

2609 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

2609 Hyperion Ave

90027

(M) (Japanese R) *

Attr — Bob Damron '81-83

1982 → 1983

J.R.'s

1512 Hillhurst Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1512 Hillhurst Ave

90027

Attr — Bob Damron '82-83

1984

Stonewall West

1512 Hillhurst Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1512 Hillhurst Ave

90027

Attr — Bob Damron '84; Data-boy 354-84

1982 → 1984

Pernell Travel

2617 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

2617 Hyperion Ave

90027

Attr — Bob Damron '82-84

1948 → 1987

Joly's

117 S Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90004

117 S Western Ave

90004

Also listed as Joli's Pub, Joly's Pub

Barfly West '73: L. M.; Bob Damron: (OC) (WE)

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-83

1977 → 1978

Ah Men

2716 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

2716 Hyperion Ave

90027

Gay Men's Clothing

1971 → 1984

Liberation House

1168 N Edgemont St, Los Angeles, CA 90029

1168 N Edgemont St

90029

In 1971, the Gay Community Services Center (GCSC) transformed a modest Colonial Revival-style bungalow into a haven for formerly homeless LGBTQ individuals. The "Liberation House" was the nation's first facility for homeless gay adults and youth. The demand for placement in the house became so great that the GCSC created four other Liberation Houses to reduce the number of LGBTQ people living on the streets.

The concept and strategy of the Liberation Houses was largely that of Jon Platania, who located and rented the first of six at 1168 North Edgemont. Platania recognized structural problems in the fostering of queer homelessness, and helped the GCSC develop a sophisticated knowledge of poverty and anti-poverty policy that eventually made the GCSC appear more bureaucratic, mainstream, and thus eligible for city and county funding. Residents paid $1.50 per day toward rent and utilities.

One of the principles of Liberation Houses was to liberate oneself from the economic barriers that prevented one from experiencing the personal and sexual liberation of the Gay Liberation movement; both were intertwined. A potential resident could rightly hope that the Liberation Houses would provide sexual opportunities in addition to economic ones. But sex did not preclude the forming of emotional bonds either; quite the contrary. If admitted, residents were assigned chores and required to attend communal dinners every night. “It was very important that the house exist as a family unit,” Platania recalled.

In an internal memo to GCSC leaders, founding member Don Kilhefner urged the organization to focus even more on housing issues. “It hardly needs pointing out,” he wrote, “that our gay brothers and sisters need places to live too. If we don’t house our homeless, who will?” Liberation Houses had provided key outlets for those in need, but could hardly meet the great demand. Kilhefner and other housing activists sought to address the issue of queer homelessness and poverty structurally as well as at the grassroots. This required a close funding relationship with both the City and County of Los Angeles, an opportunity that emerged out of geographical and political circumstances that were unique to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s.

The GCSC later became the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Attr — SurveyLA's LGBT Historic Context Statement

1984 → 2014

MJ's

2810 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

2810 Hyperion Ave

90027

1971 → 1984

Woody's Hyperion Lounge

2810 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

2810 Hyperion Ave

90027

Barfly West '73: F. L. M. *; Bob Damron '72-83: (Some OC) (PT) (R) (Lunch)

Listed as The Pink in Barfly West '73

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '72-83

1982 → 1988

MAC's

2801 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

2801 Hyperion Ave

90027

Also known as "Men's Action Center"

"MAC’s was a private club for gay men that sat inside a 16,000 square foot warehouse complex. Special events were held there, and patrons had access to complete bath facilities. The features included an indoor/outdoor lounge, food, and beverage canteen, a TV room, a college-style locker room, a steam room, public and private showers, private rooms, community areas, a movie theater, specialty rooms, and a jacuzzi. As for the special events, MAC’s had a large party/ dance space with an adjoining lounge, private restrooms, storage rooms, and a multi-purpose loading dock area. Members were able to enjoy the dances thrown as well as these special events.

MAC’s in Silverlake tried to improve the lives of queer people by offering self-defense classes. This was because violent crime, especially against gay men, was increasing rapidly — the L.A.P.D. recorded 130 sexuality-related homicides in 1980 alone, and MAC's wanted gay men to feel a stronger sense of confidence, security, and safety. By taking these classes, gay men would learn vital safety skills such as assessing dangerous situations quickly, developing proficiency in simple holds, locks, and punches, using evasive moves and counters and situational techniques for unique situations, such as more than one attacker. The instructor for this course was an experienced martial arts master with national recognition and over 20 years of experience, who was also sensitive to the needs of gay men. He would not teach programmed violence, resistance with force, or the use of aggression." - ONE Archives

"The private rooms at Mac’s Bathhouse in Silver Lake are a hot ticket on Saturday nights. Well-dressed men with gym bags start arriving at the labyrinth-like club before sunset, and by early evening a “No Vacancy” sign dangles beneath a stern AIDS warning posted on the cashier’s window, signaling that the 50 personal cubicles are taken.

Those who come later are forced to accept semi-private accommodations. As they trade their street clothes for towels and settle into bunk beds, steam rooms and each other’s arms, a gay pornographic movie plays silently on a television and an empty Jacuzzi burbles near the rounded walkway known as the tunnel of love." - L.A. Times

Once considered the "Cadillac of bathhouses," Mac's was ordered to close in 1988 in a new enforcement of stringent regulations restricting sexual activity at gay bathhouses.

Attr — Bob Damron '82-83; 26 Jan 1988 LA Times; 10 May 1988 LA Times; ONE Archives

1992 → today

The Center for Transyouth Health and Development

4650 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027

4650 Sunset Blvd.

90027

The Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is dedicated to providing affirming care for transgender and gender diverse children, adolescents, young adults and their families. As one of the oldest and largest transyouth programs, the Center partners with youth and their families to advance the field through innovative practice, training and research. Formerly known as the Transgender Youth Help and Development program at the Division of Adolescent Medicine, and was formerly housed at the 5000 Sunset Blvd, 4th Floor CHLA location.

Gender-affirming medical treatment and mental health services
Family support services and linkage to outside resources
Case management services, including assistance with legal name and gender marker changes
Peer Support groups
Sexual health education including groups, one-on-one navigation services and HIV/STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) screening and treatment.
Access to PEP (Post Exposure Prophylaxis) and PrEP (Pre Exposure Prophylaxis) for HIV prevention.
Voluntary participation in ground breaking research

From 2008-2013 Bamby Salcedo (HIV Health Education Services Project Coordinator at CTYHD and founder of the TransLatin@ Coalition) created a live show and calendar called Angels of Change featuring 12 transgender youth who, in addition to being models, were ambassadors and advocates for the CTYHD program.

Attr — Children's Hospital of LA, GLAAD

1983 → 1988

ONE, Inc.

3340 Country Club Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90019

3340 Country Club Dr

90019

1983: ONE Inc. moves into the Milbank Estate at 3340 Country Club Drive purchased by philanthropist Reed Erickson. Soon after, for reasons uncertain, Erickson seeks to have ONE removed from the estate.

1984: The National Gay Archives is renamed the International Gay & Lesbian Archives (IGLA).

1988: IGLA moves to a space owned by the City of West Hollywood at 626 North Robertson Boulevard (the current location of the ONE Archives Gallery & Museum).

1980 → 1981

Castle Hill

4857 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

4857 Melrose Ave

90029

(R) (Cl. Monday)

Attr — The Voice '80; Bob Damron '81

1981 → 1984

55 Club

715 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

715 N Western Ave

90029

(RT) (Latins)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1973 → 1979

Plush Pony

5261 Alhambra Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90032

5261 Alhambra Ave

90032

D. E. F. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1965 → 1986

Ken's River Club

3153 Riverside Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027

3153 Riverside Dr

90027

Barfly West '73: D. L. M.; Bob Damron '80-82: (D) (some Orientals); Bob Damron '84: (Disco) (D) * (Some Latins)

Ken’s River Club, on Riverside in Silver Lake, was the gay spot shared by Latinos and Asians during the 1970s. Pervasive racism in West Hollywood boosted bars in Hollywood and Silver Lake that catered to gay people of color, including the Study at Western and Sunset, and Mugi’s on Hollywood Boulevard.

"Closeted Chicano males, even those who 'passed,' in barrio gangs felt constrained to seek refuge in the 1970's in gay bars that were at least a few miles away from home, such as Ken's River Club."

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-84, Gay L.A. pp. 286

1977 → 1980

Dock

3146 Riverside Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027

3146 Riverside Dr

90027

(D) (PT) (C - AH - til 4 or 5am)

Attr — Bob Damron '80

1971 → 1972

Honeybucket

5071 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

5071 Melrose Ave

90038

Attr — Gay Guide '71

2012 → 2023

Otherwild

1768 N. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, 90027

1768 N. Vermont Ave

90027

Otherwild is owned by Rachel Berks. A queer-identified woman-owned store, design studio and event space, there were locations in New York (35 E 1st St., New York, NY 10003, open 2016-2020) and Los Angeles.

Gained notoriety through their “The Future is Female” slogan T's and sweatshirts. The original “The Future Is Female” T-shirt design was made for Labyris Books, the first women’s bookstore in New York City (NY Times, 18 Nov 2015).

The small business offers clothing, natural bath and beauty products, publications, housewares, jewelry and other items from “independent makers and craftspeople,” some of whom also offer workshops, classes and performances to the public. “Being out has deeply affected my mission,” Berks says. “I was determined to utilize all that I understand and know about the importance of community, the possibilities of visibility and language, the centrality of ethical struggles, and the oppression of economic paradigms. Otherwild is an outlet, as well as a place from which to continually learn. (Go Mag, 22 June 2017).

The Los Angeles storefront closed February 11, 2023.

Attr — otherwild.com, @otherwild

1970 → 1984

Gents' Turkish Baths

4550 Brooklyn Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90063

4550 Brooklyn Ave

90063

Barfly West '73: B. C. P.; Bob Damron: (M) (Latins)

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '70-72, '82-84

2019 → 2020

A Love Bizarre

3042 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039

3042 Glendale Blvd

90039

A Love Bizarre is an art gallery and marketplace, featuring the modern metaphysical goods of Suzy Mae’s Neon Altar, and the queer-focused fine art gallery and gift shop of Nathan Rapport.

A Love Bizarre offers inspired metaphysical goods and queer-made products from over 60 independent creators.

Originally opened in the back of Bar Franca in DTLA February 14, 2019. Reopened in Atwater Village space in August, 2019 and closed June 2020.

Attr — https://www.alovebizarre.store/about

1971 → 1985

Feminist Women's Health Center

746 Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90005

746 Crenshaw Blvd

90005

The first self-help health clinic in the country, founded by Lorraine Rothman and Carol Downer. Raided by the LAPD in 1972 for practicing medicine without a license.

Attr — SurveyLA LGBT Historic Context Statment; Feminist Women's Health Center

1950 → 1970

The Windup

5124 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90004

5124 Melrose Ave

90004

From a 21st-century perspective, 1950s bar owner Helen Branson wasn't particularly progressive. The 60-something matron barred "the obvious homosexual" from her modest tavern, strongly preferred patrons who could pass for straight, and didn't allow sexual touching. But the onetime palm reader's spunky memoir about running a gay bar on a crime-prone stretch of L.A.'s Melrose Avenue, first published in 1957, is filled with warm affection for "my boys" and with an uncommon understanding of (and sympathy for) gays, at a time when California law prohibited "inverts" from gathering in bars, and vice squad entrapment of "deviates" was commonplace.

Attr — Gay Bar: The Fabulous, True Story of a Daring Woman and Her Boys in the 1950s by Will Fellows, Helen P. Branson

1981 → 1984

Chatterton's Book Store

1818 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1818 N Vermont Ave

90027

(M)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1981 → 1983

Tom's Cafe

5155 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

5155 Melrose Ave

90038

(R) (Take own wine)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1973

Stardust

1023 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

1023 N Western Ave

90029

M

Attr — Barfly West '73

1971 → 1976

Mario's Last Call Saloon

5471 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

5471 Santa Monica Blvd

90029

M

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73, Bob Damron '71-'76

1982

Hollywood Blvd. Motel

1650 N Alexandria Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1650 N Alexandria Ave

90027

(M) (H)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1974 → 1984

Cypress Baths

5291 Fountain Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

5291 Fountain Ave

90029

B. C.

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1967 → 1974

Gemini Baths

5291 Fountain Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

5291 Fountain Ave

90029

"Sundeck, private rooms, rock steam. Men."

Attr — Los Angeles Free Press December 1-7, 1967; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73

1984

Tuna Sushi

5125 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

5125 Sunset Blvd

90027

(M) (Japanese) (A)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1974

Tiger Club Baths

3219 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039

3219 Glendale Blvd

90039

1968 → 1973

Atwater Steam Baths

3219 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039

3219 Glendale Blvd

90039

B. C. P.

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '68-73

1984

Faces

5520 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

5520 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

Bob Damron: (Some Latins, Orientals) (Liquor)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1981 → 1984

55 Club

5513 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

5513 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

(RT) (Latins)

Incorrectly listed as 5510 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1970 → 1972

The Women's Center

1027 Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90019

1027 Crenshaw Blvd

90019

Also known as Women's Liberation Center or the Crenshaw Women's Center.

Services included psychological, job, and abortion counseling, a suicide hotline for lesbians, a volunteer switchboard and a small bookstore (which morphed into Sisterhood). Raided by the LAPD in 1972 for practicing medicine without a license.

Attr — Survey LA: LGBT Historic Context Statement pp.71; Constructive Feminism: Women's Spaces and Women's Rights in the American City, Daphne Spain

1973 → 1979

Turkish Bath

5524 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

5524 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

Barfly West '73: B. C. P. "Come to where they all hang out!"; Bob Damron: (P) (Baths) (Some SM) (FFA)

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '73-79

1979 → 1983

Manspace

5524 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

5524 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

Barfly West '73: B. C. P. "Come to where they all hang out!"

Bob Damron '81-83: (P) (Baths) (Some SM) (FFA)

Second floor of a dilapidated row of shops. Nicknamed "Slip n Slide" because of all the Crisco that had melted into the floorboards. Reportedly burned down.

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '81-83; Cohen, Jon, Shots in the Dark: The Wayward Search for an AIDS Vaccine pp. 201

1973

Corkey's

5410 Valley Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90032

5410 Valley Blvd

90032

M

Attr — Barfly West '73

1979 → 1984

Club Horizon

3416 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90018

3416 W Washington Blvd

90018

(B) (RT)

Attr — Bob Damron '80-82, 84

1985

The Sling

1170 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

1170 N Western Ave

90029

Attr — Data Boy '85

1984

Rest Area

1170 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

1170 N Western Ave

90029

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1972 → 1983

1170 Club

1170 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

1170 N Western Ave

90029

(also listed as Eleven Seventy Club)

Barfly West '73: W. M.; Bob Damron '80: (SM) (PT) Leather shop upstairs; Bob Damron '81-83: (The Orbit) (SM) (PT) (Beer only - use rear entrance - leather shop upstairs)

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '73-83

1990 → 2009

Blacklite

1159 N Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90029

1159 N Western Avenue

90029

A notorious hangout for cross-dressers living on the edge.

"Transexuals (some working, some cooling their high heels), day laborers, gays seeking refuge from the mainstream fey bars and assorted lost souls mixed and mingled, boozed and cruised."

Listed in The "People Power" Love - Lust Superbook: Book 29. Transgender Guide by Tony Kelbrat

Attr — 08 Oct 1998, "Scary Bars," LA Times; Yelp

1974 → 1984

Leather by Leather

5542 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

5542 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1969 → 1974

Seventh Circle

704 N Van Ness Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

704 N Van Ness Ave

90038

D. G.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → 2015

Jewel's Catch One

4067 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90019

4067 W Pico Blvd

90019

Opened in 1973, Jewel's Catch One was one of the first black discos in the United States, and the longest running black gay dance bar in Los Angeles. Catch One was opened for people of color, who were often unwelcome at other nightclubs (such as West Hollywood’s Studio One, a prominent disco with a racist and misogynist door policy). It became a hub for performers, including Sylvester, Whitney Houston, Luther Vandross, Janet Jackson, Donna Summer, Whoopi Goldberg, Rick James, and Madonna.

The Catch One was owned by Jewel Thais-Williams, a black lesbian, who purchased what was then the Diana Club in a white neighborhood. Despite threats from authorities, police, and the public, Jewel remained open and found success — at its peak with patrons lined up around the building.

The community surrounding the Catch was vibrant: the club printed their own magazine that included lists of popular music, matchmaking services, classifieds, and listed events like theme parties, boys’ nights, girls’ nights, fundraisers and pageants. The venue served as a space for political organizations to have community meetings. During the AIDS crisis, Jewel hosted fundraisers to support black gay men in the community who were disproportionately impacted.

Since closing the Catch in 2005, Jewel runs the Village Health Foundation: a non-profit organization that provides complementary and holistic health care treatment to under-served and uninsured in Los Angeles. To honor her contributions to the LGBT community, Thais-Williams was appointed the Grand Marshall of the 2016 Los Angeles Pride Festival.

In 1993 Cristina Kotz Cornejo shot and directed a short-form Super8mm documentary 1993 about Jewel called “Jewel and the Catch.” A feature-length documentary Jewel's Catch One was directed by C. Fitz and released in 2016.

Attr — Bob Damron '77-85; SurveyLA: LGBT Historic Context Statement, ONE / USC, Wikipedia

1969 → 1974

Seventh Circle

740 N Van Ness Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

740 N Van Ness Ave

90038

(G)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1975 → 1980

Hollywood Century Theatre

5115 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

5115 Hollywood Blvd

90027

Hollywood's Only Exclusive Male Cinema

Attr — Bob Damron '75-80

1984

Michael's

4500 Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

4500 Los Feliz Blvd

90027

(M) (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1973 → 1974

Big John

5150 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

5150 Hollywood Blvd

90027

M

Attr — Barfly West '73

1972 → 1973

Zachary

5414 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

5414 Melrose Ave

90038

F. L. M. "For NOW people with a FUN staff at the IN place"

Cocktails, continuous piano bar, entertainment. Dinner, Sunday Brunch

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '72-74

1973 → 1979

Larry's

5414 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

5414 Melrose Ave

90038

S&M Bar

Attr — Bugle '76, Damron '79

1980 → 1984

Mugi

5221 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

5221 Hollywood Blvd

90027

(M) (Japanese R)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1982

Persian Cowboy

5229 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

5229 Hollywood Blvd

90027

(R) (Looks promising)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

2023 → today

Honey's at Star Love

1532 N Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1532 N Western Avenue

90027

Taking over the former Girl at The White Horse, Honey's is a queer bar residency pop-up catering to a queer, lesbian and trans community. They host D.J.s, karaoke, burlesque, comedy nights, & more.

Kate Greenberg, who doubles as the director of operations at Mozza, partnered with Mo Faulk (owner of Bluedoor wellness center) and Charlotte Gordon, a product and experience designer with a background in events production, to bring Honey’s at Star Love to life.

Attr — Eater LA

1972 → 1973

Sunset's Club

5521 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

5521 Sunset Blvd

90028

E. G.

Attr — Action '72; Barfly West '73

1969 → 1973

Arena

5574 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

5574 Melrose Ave

90038

Became Griff's

Attr — Magpie '69; Gay Guide '71; Bob Damron '70-72; Barfly '73

1973 → 1984

Griff's

5574 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

5574 Melrose Ave

90038

Barfly West '73: M.L.; Bob Damron '81: (SM) (W) (Police problems have brought out the worst in "his" easily flappable, highly inflammable majesty); Bob Damron '82-84: (SM, W) (WE*)

Griff’s was owned by Griff Griffin, a member of the gay motorcycle club Satyrs MC. He died in 1993.

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '74-84

1968 → 1971

Rev. Troy Perry's Home / Metropolitan Community Church

6205 Miles Ave, Huntington Park, CA 90255

6205 Miles Ave

90255

Founded by Reverend Troy Perry in 1968, the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) is the oldest continuously operating LGBTQ ministry in the world.

Trained as a Pentecostal minister, Reverend Perry left the church in the early 1960s after parish leadership learned he was gay and excommunicated him. Events in his personal life moved him to return to the ministry in 1968 with the goal of providing a place for LGBTQ individuals to worship freely.

Reverend Perry first announced the formation of a new church in an advertisement in The Advocate. On October 6, 1968, he held the first service of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in the living room of his Huntington Park home with twelve people in attendance.

Reverend Perry conducted services in his living room for the first six weeks. The size of the congregation steadily grew each week, and by 1969 the church had 150 congregants.

As the ministry grew, the congregation turned to other meeting spaces, including a nearby women's club, theatres, and other churches. In 1971, the MCC dedicated its own church at 2201 South Union Avenue. Beth Chayim Chadashim, the world's first LGBTQ synagogue, also held services in the building.

Attr — Los Angeles Conservancy

1980

Balled Eagle

1657 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1657 N Western Ave

90027

(PT) (D)

Attr — Bob Damron '80

1978 → 1995

Mr. Mike's

3172 Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039

3172 Los Feliz Blvd

90039

Bob Damron '78-84: (E) (OC)

Piano Bar

Attr — Bob Damron '78-95

1965 → 1973

Cellar

3172 Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039

3172 Los Feliz Blvd

90039

Gay Guide '71: * also (C) after hours; Barfly West '73: A. D. M. Y.

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-73

1982 → 1983

Casablanca

5457 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

5457 Hollywood Blvd

90027

(D) (E)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1980 → 1981

Jocks Trap

5459 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

5459 Hollywood Blvd

90027

(some W)

Attr — Bob Damron '80-81

1981 → 1984

Percy's Adult Book Store

1719 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1719 N Western Ave

90027

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1977 → 2006

Coral Sands Hollywood Motel

1730 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1730 N Western Ave

90027

Bob Damron '80: (Cruisy) (H) (Sauna, pool, etc.) All male gay motel, hot tub & sauna, 24 hour heated pool, nude bathing, well-equipped gym, sun deck, BBQ area, free refreshments on Wednesdays 6:30-8pm.

Bob Damron '81: (Cruisy) (H) (Sauna, pool, etc.) *; Bob Damron '82: (H) (Sauna, pool, etc.) *; Bob Damron '84: * (H) (Sauna) (pool) (Cruisy)

Site of Outfest's 2001 Platinum Oasis, an 18-hour interactive art installation curated by Ron Athey and Dr. Vaginal Davis, featuring torch singers, electroshock video games, manicures, Bruce la Bruce photo shoots, and baptisms.

"Upstairs" rooms were for cruising.

"The atmosphere and service continued to improve, and the sordid (if fun!), wild past has long since given way to a clean, reputable destination for families and international travelers – gay and non-gay alike."

The hotel was redeveloped by Irish real estate investor Dean McKillen, and reopened as the Cara Hotel in 2020.

Attr — Bob Damron '80-84; "Outrageous Oasis," The Advocate 23 Jul 2002

1975 → 2008

The Study

1723 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1723 N Western Ave

90027

Bob Damron '75-84: * (Open days)

Attr — Bob Damron '75-84

1972 → 1979

Bon Air Motel

1724 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1724 N Western Ave

90027

H

Attr — Barfly West '73

1980 → 1984

Leathermaker

5720 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

5720 Melrose Ave

90038

(Clothes, etc.)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1973 → 1977

York Baths

5013 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90042

5013 York Blvd

90042

B. C. M. P.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973

Boxcar

2906 Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039

2906 Los Feliz Blvd

90039

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → 1984

Spartan Spa

5613 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

5613 Hollywood Blvd

90028

Barfly West '73: B. C.; Bob Damron '81-82, 84: *

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1980 → 1981

Fourth World

5228 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90042

5228 York Blvd

90042

(YC) (Latins) (Disco) (D) (RT)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1971 → 1976

Aquarius Club Baths

4504 Eagle Rock Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90041

4504 Eagle Rock Blvd

90041

(YC) (P) *

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1978 → 1981

Tom's Books

5659 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

5659 Hollywood Blvd

90028

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1930 → 1939

The Big House / Buddy's Rendezvous

5732 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

5732 Hollywood Blvd

90028

This Hollywood nightclub was a popular gathering place for LGBT persons and featured female impersonators during the 1930s.

Attr — https://www.laconservancy.org/sites/default/files/files/documents/LGBT%20Historic%20Context%209-14%20%28FINAL%29.pdf

1971 → 1976

Aquarius

4594 Eagle Rock Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90041

4594 Eagle Rock Blvd

90041

B. C. P.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → 1975

Selma's

5859 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

5859 Melrose Ave

90038

B. C. P.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1982 → 1984

Pits

6202 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

6202 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

* (SM) (PT) (Pit Shop - Leather - Upstairs in back)

Attr — Bob Damron '83-84

1966 → 1973

Islander

6907 Santa Fe Ave, Huntington Park, CA 90255

6907 Santa Fe Ave

90255

Attr — Barfly West '73

1978 → 1983

Academy

6236 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

6236 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

(R) (Uniforms)

Attr — Bob Damron '78-83

1972 → 1977

Jackie's

6023 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6023 Sunset Blvd

90028

Also listed as Jackie's Broadcast

M

Attr — Action '72; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '73-77

1970 → 1975

Black Continent

4360 W Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90018

4360 W Adams Blvd

90018

(B) *

Attr — Gay Guide '71, '75

1980

Intermission

4370 W Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90018

4370 W Adams Blvd

90018

(B) (M) (OC)

Attr — Bob Damron '80

1970 → 1975

Haven

5903 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

5903 Hollywood Blvd

90028

Barfly West '73: L. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1976 → 1980

Stopover

5903 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

5903 Hollywood Blvd

90028

Bob Damron: (YC) (Disco) (D) (E in "Backlot") (R) (L.A.'s 'top' super bar) (Cabaret - several bars)

Attr — Bob Damron '76-80

1984

Le Park

1123 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90038

1123 Vine St

90038

Le Park: (M) (R) (C) (RT)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1976 → 1984

Gino's

1123 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90038

1123 Vine St

90038

Gino's: (Teenie-boppers) (Disco) (D) (No booze) (AH)

Attr — Bob Damron '76-84

1980 → 1981

Villa Sombrero

6101 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90042

6101 York Blvd

90042

(M) (Mexican R)

Attr — Bob Damron '80-81

1966 → 1982

Lillian's

962 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

962 N Cahuenga Blvd

90038

(R)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1973

New Naples

1514 N Gower St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1514 N Gower St

90028

F. R.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1979 → 1981

The Horse

6351 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

6351 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

(W) (PT) ('Picking up')

Attr — Cruise '79 Vol 4 No 8; Bob Damron '81

1989 → today

Bienestar Human Services

5326 E Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90022

5326 E Beverly Blvd

90022

Bienestar was founded in 1989, primarily as a direct response to the lack of resources for the Latino LGBTQ community in Southern California at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Bienestar now has many centers across Southern California.

Attr — Bienestar

1981 → 1983

Magic Holiday Travel

6203 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6203 Sunset Blvd

90028

Attr — Bob Damron '81-83

1973 → 1975

K's Star Room

1271 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90038

1271 Vine St

90038

F. L. M. R.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1981

Timbers

1046 Cole Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

1046 Cole Ave

90038

(Disco) (D)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1984

Las Jalapenos

5917 Franklin Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

5917 Franklin Ave

90028

(M) (Mexican) (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1984

Blanche's on Bronson

1917 N Bronson Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90068

1917 N Bronson Ave

90068

(Disco) (D)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1979 → 1983

Gym Health Club

5919 Franklin Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

5919 Franklin Ave

90028

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1974 → 1978

Handlebar

5925 Franklin Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

5925 Franklin Ave

90028

D. L. W.

Attr — Barfly West '73

2015 → today

Celebration Theatre

6760 Lexington Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

6760 Lexington Ave

90038

Celebration was founded in 1982 by gay rights pioneer and co-founder of the Mattachine Society, Chuck Rowland, when he leased a storefront in Silver lake to start a community theatre dedicated to producing gay-themed material.

In 1992, the company moved to a 64-seat equity waiver space in West Hollywood. The theatre’s vision became more audience-focused and quickly achieved major artistic recognition as an incubator for new works. Many shows have gone on to success in New York and beyond, including Pinafore!, A Language of Their Own, Naked Boys Singing!, Play It Cool, Supernormal Clutches, The Ballad of Little Mikey, Justin Love, and revolver. In 2013 Celebration moved from their Hollywood location and spent 2 years roaming LA in search of a more permanent space to call home. In 2015 Celebration got their wish and is now bring award winning theatre to the community from The Lex, at McCadden and Lexington in Hollywood.

Former Artistic directors include Robert Scrock, Richard Israel, Derek Charles Livingston, John Michael Beck, and most recently, Michael A. Shepperd and Michael Matthews.

Celebration continues to provide a safe and supportive forum for professional and emerging LGBTQQIA writers, directors, designers, and performers, giving voice to the full experience of gay culture. And in the past decade, the theater has expanded outreach into its own community, offering educational and family programs, as well as partnering with numerous community organizations, like the LA Gay & Lesbian Center and Congregation Kol Ami.

Over 30 years later, Celebration remains the only professional theatre with the mission of creating an outlet for LGBTQQIA voices in Los Angeles.

1973

Hi Lo Door

6508 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

6508 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

Barfly West '73: M

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → 1986

Los Barrilitos

6508 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

6508 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

Bob Damron '82-84: (M) (Mexican R) (S)

Attr — Barfly West 1973; Bob Damron '82-84; Places for men 1986 Ferrari Publications;

1973

Rabbit Habit

7312 Pacific Blvd, Huntington Park, CA 90255

7312 Pacific Blvd

90255

F. L. W. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1971 → 1973

Gas Station

6550 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

6550 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

Gay Guide '71: (D) *; Barfly West '73: D. L. Y. *

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '71-73

1980 → 1984

Manhole

6531 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

6531 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

Bob Damron '82: (Hip-neighborhood); Bob Damron '84: (C-AH-WE)

Attr — Databoy '80; Bob Damron '82-84

1957 → 1972

Daughters of Bilitis

852 N Cherokee Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

852 N Cherokee Ave

90038

The DOB formed in San Francisco in 1955. It was conceived as a social alternative to lesbian bars, which were subject to raids and police harassment. As the DOB gained members, their focus shifted to providing support to women who were afraid to come out.

The Los Angeles chapter of the organization was founded by Helen Sandoz and Stella Rush in 1957. Meetings took place at Sandoz's apartment at 852 Cherokee Avenue.

As president of the Los Angeles chapter, Sandoz was influential in making lesbians comfortable with participating in public meetings with heterosexual men, gay men, and representatives from the scientific and medical communities.

The Daughters of Bilitis formally disbanded in 1972, leaving a deep impact within the LGBTQ community.

Attr — https://www.laconservancy.org/sites/default/files/files/documents/LGBT%20Historic%20Context%209-14%20%28FINAL%29.pdf

1973

Office

1640 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1640 Vine St

90028

L. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → today

Van Ness Recovery House

1919 N Beachwood Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90068

1919 N Beachwood Dr

90068

Founded by Don Kilhefner, this was the first residential substance abuse and treatment facility specifically for LGBT persons - and the first to accept people with HIV/AIDS.

Attr — Survey LA: LGBT Historic Context Statement; Gay L.A. pp. 192

1965 → 1984

Frolic Room

6245 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6245 Hollywood Blvd

90028

Was a speakeasy in 1930 during Prohibition. Opened legally in 1934; still open today. Listed only in LGBT materials from 1965-1984

Attr — Bob Damron '65-'84

1971

The Tool

1503 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1503 N Cahuenga Blvd

90028

M

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Bob Damron '71

1972

Holiday Room

1503 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1503 N Cahuenga Blvd

90028

M

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Action '72

1969 → 1976

Sewers of Paris

1608 Cosmo St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1608 Cosmo St

90028

Restaurant, After Hours Private Club

Gay Guide '71: (P) (D) after hours

Attr — Magpie 7-69; H.E.L.P. Newsletter; Bob Damron '71-73; Gay Guide '71

1929 → 1933

Jimmy's Backyard

1608 Cosmo St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1608 Cosmo St

90028

During Prohibition, the side streets off of Hollywood Boulevard, such as Ivar, Cosmo, and Cahuenga, were home to numerous speakeasies. They did not advertise their existence, and many were open only briefly before they would be raided by the LAPD and closed. Nightclubs that endured slightly longer included B.B.B.'s Cellar, the Montmartre, and Jimmy's Backyard. Although they were also patronized by straights, they were referred to as "queer bars" and "pansy joints" because they featured female impersonator revues. So accepted were such performances, that the nightclubs and the movie stars that attended were actually written up in magazines like the Hollywood Reporter and Variety.

Opened New Year’s Eve 1929 by Thomas Gannon, This Hollywood nightclub was a popular gathering place for LGBT persons and featured female impersonators during the 1930s. It was considered L.A.’s first openly gay bar.

Jimmy’s Back Yard hosted Rae Bourbon’s “Boys Will Be Girls” extravaganza.

When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, law enforcement officers, afraid of losing all vestiges of control over Hollywood nightlife, flexed their muscles by cracking down more often on Hollywood clubs that welcomed the sexually diverse. They were especially hostile to places that offered floorshows in which “man masqueraded as women, and women pose as men. When Hollywood Vice Squad raided Jimmy’s Backyard, they carted off the female impersonators, who were each sentenced to 6 months in jail.

Attr — April 1932 LA Times; Yapp, Nicholas, The 1950s (Decades of the 20th Century), pp. 96; Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969 pp.144; Gay L.A. p. 46; Survey LA: LGBT Historic Context Statement pp. 57

1974 → 2014

Hollywood Spa

1650 Ivar Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1650 Ivar Ave

90028

Hollywood Spa opened in 1974 and, before the advent of HIV and AIDS, was a major destination for gay men who had few other places to meet one another. It had 100 private rooms, a DJ, a steam room and jacuzzi, an “adult video” lounge, a gym and a cafe. The spa boasted on its website that it hosted over 100,000 visitors a year.

"At the upscale Hollywood Spa on Ivar Avenue, towel-wrapped patrons can look each other over while working out on gym equipment or sipping freshly squeezed orange juice from the cafe. Vintage Hollywood posters cover the walls, strobe lights flicker, and DJs spin the latest club music." (L.A. Times, 27 Oct, 1997)

The spa was ordered to close in 1988, as part of an enforcement of stringent regulations restricting sexual activity at gay bathhouses. “I don’t plan to close,” said Scott D.R. Goulet, owner of Hollywood Spa, 1650 Ivar Ave. “We adjudicated this issue two years ago. We won it then. The county was wrong,” he said. Co-owner and spa manager John Ferry told the LA Times: “We’re going to fight this thing. As far as we’re concerned, we’re the good guys. We consider the Hollywood Spa to be an important asset in terms of being a place for gay men to socialize, be educated about health issues and be free from homophobic attacks such as this lawsuit.” Goulet died of AIDS-related complications in 1993.

Peter Sykes, who owns the North Hollywood Spa, another gay bathhouse, took over Hollywood Spa after Goulet's death. In 2014, Sykes said Denley Companies, the real estate firm controlled by Mehdi Bolour, wanted to double the nearly $30,000 in rent he paid each month for the Ivar location. As of 2014, Sykes confirmed that Hollywood Spa was six months behind in payment of its rent.

The Spa finally closed its doors after a 5-day celebration over Easter weekend, 2014. As of today, the building is unrented.

Attr — Bob Damron '82, 84; 1988-05-10 LA Times, WehoVille

1966 → 1975

Star Room

1721 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1721 Vine St

90028

(R)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1973 → 1974

Onion, Too

1540 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1540 N Cahuenga Blvd

90028

D. L. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1979 → 1984

Greg's Blue Dot Lounge

742 N Highland Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

742 N Highland Ave

90038

Bob Damron '81: (PT) (Cruisy W. Hollywood type bar) *; Bob Damron '82: (PT) (WE*); Bob Damron '84: (PT) (Patio) (Sun. "mass" from 6 a.m.*)

Owned by Greg Hammond. In addition to the usual Friday and Saturday night festivities, Greg's was known for Sunday morning festivities, "Church" at Greg's for men who had been up all night and wanted a bit more drinking before heading home to sleep off the weekend and get ready for work on Monday. Another tradition was "bobbing for dildos."

Attr — Bob Damron '81-84

1974 → 2016

Circus Disco

6655 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

6655 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

Circus Disco was the oldest, and longest-running LGBTQ Latino nightclub in Hollywood and Los Angeles. From 1974 to January 2016, patrons of all races and orientations walked through the giant clown mouth at Circus Disco and into a cavernous warehouse where the judgments and inhibitions of the outside world got left behind. Opened by Gene La Pietra and Ermilio “Ed” Lemos as a primarily Latino alternative to the then-exclusionary nightclubs of West Hollywood, Circus quickly developed a reputation (along with Jewel's Catch One and, later, its next-door neighbor Arena) as one of the city's few gay clubs with no dress code and no racist door policy. The club expanded its clientele in 2000 when it became home to Giant, the city's first house and techno mega-club. Historic preservation efforts proved anticlimactic: The new owners have promised to keep the clown entrance and stick a disco ball in the lobby when they turn the site into a 786-unit housing complex.

Circus Disco played an important role in the Latinx LGBTQ community and in its history of political organizing and coalition building. In 1983, civil rights and labor leader César Chávez addressed roughly one hundred members of the Project Just Business gay and lesbian coalition at the bar, where he offered strategies for organizing boycotts and coalition fundraising.

Bob Damron: * (YC) (Disco) (D) (Very M) (3 bars, shops)

Also listed sometimes as 6648 Lexington Ave, Hollywood, CA

Attr — Bob Damron '79-84, LA Weekly, ONE Archives, LA Conservancy

1968 → today

Griffith Park

4730 Crystal Springs Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027

4730 Crystal Springs Dr

90027

The park was one of L.A.’s most notorious spots for men to go and cruise for sex. John Rechy put Griffith Park on the cultural map as a cruising hotspot after his 1967 novel “Numbers” detailed a chance encounter at the famous sprawling enclave between Los Feliz and the Santa Monica Mountains. Rechy himself had been arrested in Griffith Park and faced a five-year prison sentence for soliciting sex, as he told the Los Angeles Review of Books. “The vice cops, the court, the lawyers, the judge, the unbelievable moving of the trial into the sex arena of Griffith Park so that the judge could ‘see for himself,’” all actually took place for Rechy in the days when Griffith Park was a site of anonymous sex, accompanied by the threat of a criminal charge.

Edmund White mentions that "Griffith Park is cruisy" in his 1980 book “States of Desire: Travels in Gay America.” Gay L.A. states that "wild orgies involving scores of men were common. The orgies even took place in daylight because Griffith Park had vast areas where the overgrown scrub provided a venue that was like a veritable outdoor gay bathhouse."

On Memorial Day of 1968, men and women gathered at the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round to hear Mike Hannon, a policeman turned lawyer and Civil Rights activist, speak to the challenges of being gay in a homophobic society.

In 1970 and 1971, the GLF organized a series of gay-ins, three of which took place at the merry-go-round in Griffith Park. Like the parade, the purpose of these gay-ins was to encourage LGBT persons to come out of the closet and to encourage the public to accept alternative expressions of sexuality and gender. The events, which attracted thousands of people, took place during the day and included speeches, music, and dancing as well as booths that offered free legal and social services. Challenging the LAPD policy that effectively banned gays and lesbians from congregating in public was also one of the goals of the GLF, which was largely achieved by these events. The LAPD officers that policed the events only agitated the crowds. So the GLF obtained a restraining order on the basis that it was a violation of their civil rights.

Attr — SurveyLA: LGBT Historic Context Statement; Faderman, Lillian and Stuart Timmons "Gay L.A."

1954 → 1965

The Paradise Club

6628 S. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90044

6628 S. Vermont Ave

90044

Gay L.A. (Faderman, Timmons) reports that the Paradise Club arose in the 1950s - along with several other lesbian bars - and that it was a place "where butch-and femme couples less fashionable that those at the Gypsy Room could dance."

In Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, Faderman observes that "the customers were young women who were supermarket clerks, waitresses, factory workers, beauty operators, prostitutes. They were almost invariably elaborately made up, dressed in high heels and skirts or capris, or totally without makeup, in pegged, fly-front pants, black penny loafers, and a ducktail haircut. A couple would consist of one of each. Dress was the indicator of whom one may or may not flirt."

Attr — Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers (Faderman, 1991), Gay L.A. (Faderman, Timmons, 2006)

1978 → 2002

Palace

1737 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1737 Vine St

90028

(Very M) (PE) (Disco) (D) (S) (E)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1972 → 1980

Red Carpet

6280 Yucca St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6280 Yucca St

90028

M

Attr — Barfly West '73

1972 → 1975

Brass Rail & Cabaret

836 N Highland Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

836 N Highland Ave

90038

Barfly West '73: [Brass Rail] E. L. W., [Dude City] E. F. L. *

Also known as Paradise Ballroom (Vector, 1975)

Attr — Barfly West '73, Vector 1975

1972 → 1974

Dude City

836 N Highland Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

836 N Highland Ave

90038

Barfly West '73: [Brass Rail] E. L. W., [Dude City] E. F. L. *

Attr — Groovy Guy '72, Bob Damron '73-74

1978 → 1999

Probe

836 N Highland Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

836 N Highland Ave

90038

Bob Damron '81-82: (P) (Members only) (Disco) (D) (YC) (WE - only *); Bob Damron '83-84: (P) (Macho) (Disco) (D) (WE*)

PROBE, due to its limited capacity (under 500), remained somewhat exclusive for its entire existence from 1978 to 1999. Was used as a location in 1980 film American Gigolo. The police and state bureaucracy, (particularly through Alcoholic Beverage Control) once tried to get a copy of the membership list, but it was successfully legally defended as private property.

"Former Hollywood haunt the Probe began as a private club for gay men and, like a lot of other LGBT venues, became a home for all sorts of alternative-minded young people. By the 1990s, the Highland Avenue spot hosted flashback party Club 1970 and live band night Club With No Name. But for a lot of ’90s youth, the Probe will be best remembered as home to the trifecta of spooky kid parties with industrial club Kontrol Faktory, now-legendary goth hangout Helter Skelter and dark-alternative dance night Stigmata. The space was bare-bones but inviting. At Helter Skelter, you could look over the balcony and see the crowd dance like Haunted Mansion ghosts to the waltz-y songs. At Stigmata, you could take a break from dancing to “Sex Dwarf” and “Tesla Girls” in the spacious bar area. By 1999, though, the Probe was no more. It was sold and rechristened the Playroom, then later A.D. Now, the space is an antiques showroom." LA Weekly

Attr — Bob Damron '80-84

1974 → 1977

Paradise Ballroom

836 N Highland Ave, Los Angeles, 90038

836 N Highland Ave

90038

"Lil' Joe Chism, who was one of the original Soul Train dancers, began to incorporate the feel of the Campbellock within a dance the gay community was already doing that was called Posing. Posing was a dance made up of dramatic freezes that would accent the groove. Each freeze was finished with a dramatic pose emulating the old photos of Hollywood stars like Greta Garbo and other. This dance was done at one of the first gay discos in Los Angeles called Paradise Ballroom...This blending of dance styles was the beginning of what would become known as Punking." (Guzman-Sanchez, pp. 95)

Brass Rail was the "back room" with a pool table, bar, and a small gift counter with jewelry and miscellaneous personal items.

Attr — Guzman-Sanchez, Thomas, "Underground Dance Masters: Final History of a Forgotten Era"

1963 → 2011

Spotlight

1601 Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1601 Cahuenga Blvd

90028

Barfly West '73: L. M. * & Bob Damron '81-82, 84: (RT) (AYOR) (Was burned)

Was the longest continuously-running gay bar in Los Angeles when it closed in 2011.

Attr — Gay Guide '71 (wrong address); Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '66-84

1932 → 1934

B.B.B.’s Cellar

1651 Cosmo St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1651 Cosmo St

90028

Despite the fact Prohibition was enacted in 1920, making the sale of alcohol illegal, the nightlife in Los Angeles was very active and an underground speakeasy culture emerged where people with different sexual orientations mixed. Drag queens, known as "pansy performers," experienced a surge in underground popularity in nightclubs, and were some of the highest-paid nightlife performers in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco during the 1930-1933 "Pansy Craze."

B.B.B.’s Cellar run by Bobby Burns Berman, had a highly acclaimed revue of ten boys dressed as girls. The floorshow was called “Boys Will Be Girls,” starring Rae Bourbon. Fred Monroe also did highly celebrated impersonations of the female stars in his audience.

In September 1932, the Hollywood Reporter caught Tallulah Bankhead, William Haines, Ethel Barrymore, and Howard Hughes there one night, each guest with a hammer, instructed to pound the table every time a new guest arrived.

The L.A. police’s October 1932 raid on the Cellar and Jimmy's Backyard was described by Variety as part of “a drive on the Nance and Lesbian amusement places in town."

Attr — Gay L.A. pp. 44; Survey LA: LGBT Historic Context Statement pp. 8; Hollywood Filmograph Jan-Dec 1933

1973 → 1990

My House

1626 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1626 N Cahuenga Blvd

90028

Barfly West '73: M; Bob Damron '74-84: (Some OC) *

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '74-84; Sin Bros '90

1973 → 1976

Vine Lodge Motel

1818 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1818 Vine St

90028

H. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1968 → 1970

Little Tokyo

7810 Santa Fe Ave, Huntington Park, CA 90255

7810 Santa Fe Ave

90255

F. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1972 → 1973

Alley

6357 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6357 Hollywood Blvd

90028

L. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1971 → 1978

De Paul's

1729 Ivar Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1729 Ivar Ave

90028

E. L. *

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '71-78

1973 → 1974

Speak 39

1651 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1651 N Cahuenga Blvd

90028

L. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1978 → 1983

Odyssey

6810 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

6810 Melrose Ave

90038

1984

Fellini's

6810 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

6810 Melrose Ave

90038

F

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1971

Balcony

6417 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6417 Hollywood Blvd

90028

(S)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1973 → 1977

Aldo's Speakeasy

6413 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6413 Hollywood Blvd

90028

F. L. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1965 → 1973

Lucky Stop

6365 Yucca St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6365 Yucca St

90028

L. M.

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1984

Frolic II

1645 Wilcox Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1645 Wilcox Ave

90028

(Some OC) (RT)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1979 → 1983

Benny's

1645 Wilcox Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1645 Wilcox Ave

90028

(Some OC) (RT)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1955 → 1982

Arthur J's

6785 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

6785 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

(M) (R) (C) (AH) (AYOR) (RT)

"In the ’50s, gay teens found a way to connect in coffee shops, such as the Marlin Inn, Arthur J’s (slightly husterlish) and the notorious Gold Cup, all on or around the cruisy/sleazy zone of Hollywood and Vine."

"The over-twenty-one crowd of lesbians and gay men had their own coffee shops, such as the Gold Cup on Hollywood Blvd and Arthur J's on Santa Monica Blvd. Francesca Miller remembers Arthur J's as a phenomenally popular all-night hangout where gay people flocked after the bars closed. Arthur J's was thought by gay men to be a great place to score. Aristide Laurent, who was a regular in the 1960's, recalls that the sexual carryings-on had been so rampant in the men's room at Arthur J's that the waitresses were ordered to toss a cup of ammonia on the floor hourly so the fumes would preclude anyone from spending more time than was required to use the toilet." - Gay L.A.

"We headed to Arthur J’s coffee shop to use the restroom and do some last minute priming. It was a typical looking LA diner with a big counter where people sat around – but all the customers were men. Here we invaded the quiet world of mainstream gay white culture."

Attr — Bob Damron '71-82, Gay L.A. pp.150

1964 → 1984

Gaslight

1761 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1761 N Cahuenga Blvd

90028

Popular afternoons

Attr — Directory '64; Gay Guide '71

1981

Chesterfield Hotel

1624 N Hudson Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1624 N Hudson Ave

90028

(M) (H)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1979 → 1988

National Gay Archives: Natalie Barney/Edward Carpenter Library, International Gay & Lesbian Archives (IGLA)

1654 N Hudson Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1654 N Hudson Ave

90028

1979: The Western Gay Archives (previously Jim Kepner's personal archive) is renamed the National Gay Archives: Natalie Barney/Edward Carpenter Library and moves to 1654 North Hudson Avenue in Hollywood.

1984: The National Gay Archives is renamed the International Gay & Lesbian Archives (IGLA)

1988: IGLA moves to a space owned by the City of West Hollywood at 626 North Robertson Boulevard (the current location of the ONE Archives Gallery & Museum).

Attr — ONE / USC Library

1982

Hollywood 8 Motel

1822 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1822 N Cahuenga Blvd

90028

(M) (H)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1965 → 1970

Gauntlet

1210 N Highland, Los Angeles, CA 90038

1210 N Highland

90038

Gauntlet I was formed in the late 1960's by Dale Habberstad and business partner Zack and was located on Highland Blvd. in Hollywood. Around 1969, they closed the doors and moved on to other endeavors.

Attr — Bob Damron '65-69, Timely Gay Guide '70

1983 → 1984

Sanctuary

941 N Mansfield Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

941 N Mansfield Ave

90038

(P) (F, S)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1965 → 1978

Golden Horseshoe

4852 W Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016

4852 W Adams Blvd

90016

(B)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1971 → 1975

Goliath's

7011 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

7011 Melrose Ave

90038

A. E. Y.

Situated next door to David

Attr — H.E.L.P. Newsletter '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '72-75

1969 → 1982

David

7013 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

7013 Melrose Ave

90038

Gay Guide '71: (R) *; Barfly West '73: E. F. L. M. *; Bob Damron '81-82: (R) (E) (OC)

Situated next door to Goliath's

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '81-82

1968 → 1990

Lemon Twist

6423 Yucca St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6423 Yucca St

90028

Barfly West '73: L. M. Y.; Bob Damron '71-84: (Some OC) (E-WE)

Attr — Magpie 1-68; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '71-84; SCGBA 1986; Sin Bros 1990

1980

Fantasy Garage

1041 N Mansfield Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

1041 N Mansfield Ave

90038

(Disco) (Opening Spring '80) (Should be a winner)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1975 → 1996

Gay & Lesbian Community Service Center

1213 N Highland Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

1213 N Highland Ave

90038

1975: The Center moves to what was formerly a motel at 1213 N. Highland Ave. It receives the first federal grant ever given to an LGBT organization: $1 million for alcoholic services to women. Staff reported that during the first year between 1,700 – 2,500 men and women passed through the doors each week.

1980: Name changes to Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Service Center

1981: First official report comes out about "Gay-Related Immune Deficiency" or GRID, now known as AIDS. One of the men featured in the report is a patient of the Center's venereal disease clinic.

1982: First Los Angeles AIDS death was a client of the Center's Clinic.

1985: The Center opens the first HIV testing site in California, which quickly becomes the nation's largest. The Center opens Citrus House behind its Highland Ave building, the first transitional home for LGBT youth.

Jeanne Córdova (Lesbian Tide, Daughters of Bilitis) tells the story of adding "Lesbian" to the Gay Community Service Center sign.

Attr — Bob Damron '77-81, Vanguard Summer 2014 (LA LGBT Center's Quarterly Magazine)

1933 → 1945

Hollywood Rendezvous

1841 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1841 N Cahuenga Blvd

90028

In Los Angeles the "Pansy Craze" fad was sufficiently established so that the drag entertainer Ray Bourbon (Rae Bourbon) could open his own nightclub, the Hollywood Rendezvous. He was described as the "Master of the Murky Mouthful, exponent of darting dirtiness...who sings songs that would make Will Hays screech, "I hate you!"

In 1940, female impersonator Julian Eltinge was booked for a return engagement at the Rendezvous, but was required to apply for a permit to impersonate a woman. The vice squad testified that “many people of questionable character frequent the place,” and permit was denied. Eventually Eltinge was able to perform, but was not permitted to wear dresses.

Attr — Gay L.A. pp. 44; Bohemian Los Angeles: And the Making of Modern Politics pp. 147

1969 → 1972

Theatre VII

1445 N. Las Palmas Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1445 N. Las Palmas Avenue

90028

Hollywood Center Theatre became Theatre VII in 1969 with the tagline 'Where friendliness is Contagious.' Acts such as Charles Pierce (The Master of Camp) hit the boards. A year later, and now advertising itself as 'The only gay theatre like it anywhere!' -- the Theatre VII offered Live Male Stage Shows on the weekends. The name didn't hold; the new moniker was gone a few years later, but male oriented material continued from the likes of Casey Donovan The Back Row (Doug Richards), Gary Yuma Fun Farm and Calvin Culver Tubstrip.

Attr — Ad Sausage

1982 → 1983

Hudson House

1757 N Hudson Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1757 N Hudson Ave

90028

(H) (Some L)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1978 → today

Plaza

739 N La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

739 N La Brea Ave

90038

Bob Damron '81-82: (Latins) (Disco) (D) (S) *; Bob Damron '84: (Latins) (S) (Disco) (D)

The interior, with its long bar, rough-hewn lumber, and narrow dance floor, has the feel of a honky-tonk. Most customers are Mexican, but the $5 cover at The Plaza buys something few Latin nightclubs dare offer: female impersonators in sequined gowns lip-synching to frenetic cumbias and heartbreaking rancheras.

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '78-84, LA Mag, TimeOut

1973

De Hombre

739 N La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

739 N La Brea Ave

90038

Barfly West '73: E. F. L. R.

"Well, my eye caught an ad. Ann Dee is at the Theatre de Hombre, 739 N. La Brea, Hollywood. Nobody had to tell me about Ann Dee. I had seen her before. What can one say about a woman who has been called one of the greatest performers who ever lived.

"So, I ironed my work shirt. . .sewed my blue jeans (which unfortunately were ripped in a very awkward spot)... and headed for the club. Not to say that Theatre de Hombre is not a beautiful club. It is... but hell, I wanted to see (for the sake of my sisters who read this tacky column) the treatment I would receive dressing this way. The atmosphere was warm, the maitre d' gracious, and nobody could care what I was wearing (l love being noticed in a large crowd).

For a mere two drink minimum I sat through an hour and twenty minutes of one of the greatest shows I had ever seen, Ann was not only her inimitable self, but she was backed by a black singing trio who were fantastic, Richard Caruso who plays a great sax, and a heavy, heavy band. The place serves dinner, but if you can't or don’t want to spend the bread, there’s just a two drink minimum (no cover). The show had a few old favorites, but basically leaned toward a very modern far out today bag. She sings the hell out of Helen's, "I Am Woman." It's difficult to describe, you're going to have to see it to believe it. So one of these evenings, when you really feel like getting into a different trip...catch Ann Dee. "

- Tacky Trashy Theatre Column by Stacey Morgan (Lesbian Tide)

Attr — Barfly West '73, Lesbian Tide Jan 1973

1968 → 1971

Apollo Health Baths

7016 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90038

7016 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

(P)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1945 → 1994

House of Ivy

1640 N Las Palmas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1640 N Las Palmas Ave

90028

A. F. L.

"Gay bars that emerged during World War II included the Crown Jewel, Harold's, and Maxwell's in Downtown and the House of Ivy and the Windup in Hollywood."

Attr — Guild guide '64; Barfly West '73; SurveyLA LGBT Historic Context Statement

1940 → 1959

Bradley’s

6651 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6651 Hollywood Blvd

90028

aka Bradley’s Five & Ten

A popular cocktail lounge at the northwest corner of Hollywood and Cherokee, one of a dozen gay bars in 1943 within two blocks radius.

Had a long bar with a mirror behind it to reveal who came in and out the front door. The men’s bathroom at Bradleys acquired a reputation. John Kingsley, president of Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, and a local stationary store owner, began a campaign to close Bradley’s. After visiting the bar forty or so times, he wrote in the Hollywood Citizen News that “something strange” was going on in Bradley’s, something involving queers.

The military would post a sign at this place, and every other place they suspected drew a gay crowd, that said “Out of bounds to military personnel.”

Attr — Gay LA pp. 73; The Story of Hollywood: An Illustrated History, Williams 2006 p.282

1972 → 1973

Galleon Room

1638 N Las Palmas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1638 N Las Palmas Ave

90028

D. E. F. L.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → 1977

Las Palmas Theatre

1642 N Las Palmas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1642 N Las Palmas Ave

90028

T

Attr — Barfly West '73

2005 → 2017

Antebellum Gallery

1643 N Las Palmas Ave, Hollywood, CA 90028

1643 N Las Palmas Ave

90028

Antebellum claims to be the first art gallery dedicated to "fetish as art," serving primarily the LGBTQ communities. It was curated and run by Rick Castro, an American photographer (13 Years of Bondage: The Photography of Rick Castro) and motion picture director (Hustler White, 45 Minutes of Bondage).

Regarding the choice of the gallery's name "Antebellum," Castro said he saw the years it was open as "a 21st century pre-war era - a time of cultural strife between social freedoms and the religious right culminating in a bad reality TV millionaire becoming dictator. The Antebellum era, like the Weimar era are historic short bursts of creative experimentation and freedoms existing under a looming dark cloud of things to come."

Attr — Founder Rick Castro, Antebellum Gallery Blog

1991 → 2021

The Zone

1037 N Sycamore Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

1037 N Sycamore Ave

90038

2 story bathhouse in West Hollywood "Neon and blacklight, a giant maze with interesting rooms around every corner" (Yelp)

"Owner Peter Deep opened the legal club in 1991....Deep applied for a zoning variance, which he needed because he was near a residential area, and got it--no doubt because the club is immediately surrounded by light industry....He says he spent $100,000 meeting building codes and works hard to be a good neighbor, cleaning up the street, hiring security and providing valet parking for his customers.

Still, he agrees with them that in this city of commercial strips running through residential neighborhoods, it is tough to find a site that meets the city’s zoning criteria for adult entertainment businesses: They can’t be within 1,000 feet of another such establishment, or within 500 feet of a residential zone, religious institution, public park or school." L.A. Times, Oct. 27, 1997

"“I opened The Zone on July 19, 1991,” original owner Peter Deep posted in our Instagram account @weho_times. “LAPD came to the opening and threw me in jail overnight. No charges filed, it’s just I had the audacity to open a gay club in LA (as opposed to WeHo which is not part of City of LA).” WeHo Times, March 22, 2022

Closed permanently during the Covid pandemic.

Attr — L.A. Times

1982

George's Coffee House

6700 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6700 Hollywood Blvd

90028

Bob Damron '82: (M) (R) (RT)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1955 → 1982

Gold Cup Coffee House

6700 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6700 Hollywood Blvd

90028

In the ’50s, gay teens found a way to connect in coffee shops, such as the Marlin Inn, Arthur J’s (slightly husterlish) and the notorious Gold Cup, all on or around the cruisy/sleazy zone of Hollywood and Vine.

Barfly West '73: F. M. R.; Bob Damron '75-82: (M) (R)

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '75-82

1957 → 1959

Camp’s Bar

1708 N Las Palmas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1708 N Las Palmas Ave

90028

aka Roman Terrace

Mr. T, not the actor on TV, but an entrepreneur of gay bars at the time, had a bar next door to the Vieux Carre, called Camp’s Bar. He always had the best looking, young bartenders. And a semi-drag team, Maurice and Lamont, used to pantomime to records on stage. I said semi-drag, because in those days impersonators couldn’t wear falsies and had to have on men’s underwear under their drag costumes. They did a real campy, Yma Sumac number, but wore it out, doing it night after night.

Troy Walker performed here.

1975 → 1977

Pleasure Chest

1022 N La Brea Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90038

1022 N La Brea Ave

90038

Attr — Pleasure Chest history

1960 → 1966

Vieux Carré

1716 N Las Palmas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1716 N Las Palmas Ave

90028

Attr — The Lavender Baedeker '64; Bob Damron '65; IN Guide '66

1992 → 2013

Celebration Theatre

7051 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90038

7051 Santa Monica Blvd

90038

Celebration was founded in 1982 by gay rights pioneer and co-founder of the Mattachine Society, Chuck Rowland, when he leased a storefront in Silver lake to start a community theatre dedicated to producing gay-themed material.

In 1992, the company moved to a 64-seat equity waiver space in West Hollywood. The theatre’s vision became more audience-focused and quickly achieved major artistic recognition as an incubator for new works. Many shows have gone on to success in New York and beyond, including Pinafore!, A Language of Their Own, Naked Boys Singing!, Play It Cool, Supernormal Clutches, The Ballad of Little Mikey, Justin Love, and revolver. In 2013 Celebration moved from their Hollywood location and spent 2 years roaming LA in search of a more permanent space to call home. In 2015 Celebration got their wish and is now bring award winning theatre to the community from The Lex, at McCadden and Lexington in Hollywood.

Former Artistic directors include Robert Scrock, Richard Israel, Derek Charles Livingston, John Michael Beck, and most recently, Michael A. Shepperd and Michael Matthews.

Celebration continues to provide a safe and supportive forum for professional and emerging LGBTQQIA writers, directors, designers, and performers, giving voice to the full experience of gay culture. And in the past decade, the theater has expanded outreach into its own community, offering educational and family programs, as well as partnering with numerous community organizations, like the LA Gay & Lesbian Center and Congregation Kol Ami.

Over 30 years later, Celebration remains the only professional theatre with the mission of creating an outlet for LGBTQQIA voices in Los Angeles.

Attr — Celebration Theatre

1941 → 1951

The Flamingo Club

1027 N La Brea Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90038

1027 N La Brea Ave

90038

The Flamingo Club opened in 1941, featuring drag shows for mixed straight and gay and lesbian audiences. It also hosted "tea dances" for its LGBT crowd on Sunday afternoons (Ben, Lisa, 1988). Beverly Shaw (who later owned her own nightclub Club Laurel in Studio City) performed here. One of the performers at the Flamingo was Carroll Wallace who was billed as “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World.”

It was closed when its license was denied in 1951, claiming "the club is a gathering place for undesirables." (LA Times, 18 April 1951)

Attr — WeHo Preservation; Interview with Lisa Ben, 1988; Queer Music Heritage

1940 → 1949

Slim Gordon's

6721 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6721 Hollywood Blvd

90028

1930 → 1933

Club New Yorker

6724 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6724 Hollywood Blvd

90028

Club New Yorker was opened on the former site of the Greenwich Village Café. The club was situated in a basement adjacent to the Christie Hotel, with access from the street by a steep staircase.

It was a popular gathering place for LGBT persons. It featured actor Jean Malin, a female impersonator, reportedly one of the highest paid MCs in during the short-lived "Pansy Craze." "A six-foot-tall, 200-pound bruiser who also had an attitude and a lisp." A Hollywood trade paper quipped in September 1932, "Were you at the Club New Yorker [in Hollywood] the other night when Jean Malin announced that he was 'all fagged out?' Whoops!"

Malin died in a freak car accident in August 1933 at age 24.

Attr — Wanamaker, Marc, Early Hollywood pp.124; Gay L.A. pp. 42

1970 → 1979

Gay Pride Parade

6724 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028

6724 Hollywood Blvd

90028

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the LGBT community in response to a brutal police raid June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in NYC. The riots emboldened many LGBT activist groups across the nation, and is considered one of the most important events leading to LGBT rights in the United States.

One year later, June 28, 1970, activist groups in NYC, Chicago, and Hollywood planned to march in the streets to commemorate the riots. But organizer (and Metropolitan Community Church founder) Rev. Troy Perry said, “This is Hollywood. Let’s do something a little different — let’s hold a parade.” Perry, along with Rev. Bob Humphries and Morris Kight (Gay Liberation Front), asked the LAPD for permission to hold the parade on Hollywood Blvd. Once he realized it was the LGBT community making the request, Police Chief Ed Davis told the police commission, “If you’re going to let this group hold a parade, then you should let thieves and burglars parade, too.”

The police commission said the group could technically hold the parade, but issued unrealistic conditions:

$1m dollar bond to pay overtime to the police
$500,000 cash bond to pay merchants for the windows that would be broken by people throwing rocks at LGBT people
Minimum of 5000 people marching

Knowing this was an impossible ask, Perry, Humphries, and Kight went to the @ACLU. They were assigned a lawyer named Herb Selwyn who took the case and the City of LA to court. The judge ruled in favor of the parade, and ordered the City of LA to “protect these people, even if you have to call out the National Guard.” All conditions for the parade were dropped, except a $1500 security payment.

Because the court case took up so much energy, they had not planned much for the parade. However, that Sunday afternoon, people marched. Perry remembered “there were about 50,000 people on the sidewalks. I had never seen more people with hats and dark shades on in my life. I was surprised that more of them didn’t get in the streets with us, but people were worried. They had jobs. They were concerned about being on television, being photographed. And yet, it was the best feeling in the world.”

In 1979, what had become the LA Pride Festival moved to West Hollywood.

Attr — Wikipedia, Rev. Troy Perry

1976 → 1984

The Leather Game

7264 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7264 Melrose Ave

90046

* (Leather, clothes, toys, uniforms, etc.)

Attr — Bob Damron '81; The Voice, March 1980

1984

Montecito Hotel

6650 Franklin Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6650 Franklin Ave

90028

(H)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1923 → 1932

Café Montmartre

6763 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6763 Hollywood Blvd

90028

The side streets off of Hollywood Boulevard, such as Ivar, Cosmo, and Cahuenga, were home to numerous speakeasies. They did not advertise their existence, and many were open only briefly before they would be raided by the LAPD and closed. Nightclubs that endured slightly longer included B.B.B.'s Cellar, the Montmartre, and Jimmy's Backyard. Although they were also patronized by straights, they were referred to as "queer bars" and "pansy joints" because they featured female impersonator revues. So accepted were such performances, that the nightclubs and the movie stars that attended were actually written up in magazines like the Hollywood Reporter and Variety (SurveyLA LGBT Historic Context Statement, 2014).

"The Montmartre, once the hippest of the hip in the Twenties, catered primarily to homosexuals as the Thirties went on, but never self-named itself as a pansy club or queer bar." (Mann, William J., Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1920-1969, 2001).

Attr — Survey LA: LGBT Historic Context Statement

1988 → 2017

Melrose Spa

7269 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7269 Melrose Ave

90046

1966 → 2017

Melrose Baths

7269 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7269 Melrose Ave

90046

aka Melrose Spa

Bob Damron '77-84: * (Some OC, chubby chasers)

The Melrose Spa first opened in 1966. According to Lorenzo Talavera, the former Executive General Manager, it was once a Turkish bathhouse.

On January 10, 1988, the LAPD raided the Melrose Baths, arresting three patrons for “lewd conduct.” Between January 17th and 22nd, officers likewise raided the Corral Club, the Compound, and again the Melrose Baths. “Clearly, no one should think that these actions are isolated from the AIDS-hysterical decision recently made by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to give broader powers to the County Department of Health Services to close the bathhouses at their discretion,” commented the newsletter of the Los Angeles chapter of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. Such raids were the most explicit example of the state’s use of repressive methods to attempt to control the spread of AIDS.

The spa’s lease expired after 52 years on June 30, 2017 with no option to renew. According to Talavera, business had been steady.

Attr — Contact '75; Bob Damron '77-84; De Orio, Scott, "Punishing Queer Sexuality in the Age of LGBT Rights" 2017 pp. 264

1975 → 1980

Daniel's

6776 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6776 Hollywood Blvd

90028

A. F. R. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1972 → 1984

Beach Boy

7113 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7113 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Barfly West '73: A. F. M.; Bob Damron '73-84: (PT) ("Hustlers")

Attr — Action '72; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '73-84

1966 → 1982

Lillian's

1149 N La Brea Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90038

1149 N La Brea Ave

90038

(R)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1964

Annex West

7304 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7304 Melrose Ave

90046

Attr — Directory '64

1970 → 1974

Bacchanal '70

7304 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036

7304 Melrose Ave

90036

Gay Guide '71: (G) (D) *; Barfly West '73: D. E. G. L. *

Attr — The Voice '70; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73

1980 → 1981

Red Dog Saloon

7302 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036

7302 Melrose Ave

90036

Bob Damron '81: (May be closing)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1981 → 1986

The One

7302 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036

7302 Melrose Ave

90036

Bob Damron '84: (Preppies) (Cruisy)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-84; SCGBA 1986

1983 → 1984

Adonis Theatre

7308 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036

7308 Melrose Ave

90036

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1968 → 1973

Lillian's

1253 N La Brea Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90038

1253 N La Brea Ave

90038

F. M. R. "Top with them!" Hosts: "Jack and Jim" 5-9:30pm

Attr — Magpie March '68; Homosexual National Classified Directory '71; Barfly West '73

1982

Michael's Grill

7450 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036

7450 Beverly Blvd

90036

(M) (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1984

Holiday Inn

1755 N Highland Ave, Hollywood, CA 90028

1755 N Highland Ave

90028

(M) (H) (Cruisy pool)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1982 → 1983

Saddle Tramp

7225 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7225 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

(W) (Looks promising)

Attr — Bob Damron '82-83

1984

Seven Seas

6904 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

6904 Hollywood Blvd

90028

(M) (Twinkies) (Disco) (D) (18 & over) (No Booze)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1963 → 1966

The Apache

7369 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7369 Melrose Ave

90046

Also known as The Apache (Trading Post)

Attr — 14 Oct 1963 The News; IN Guide, 1966.

1970 → 1976

Etc.

1433 N La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1433 N La Brea Ave

90028

(R)

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Bob Damron '71-76

1999 → today

Chico

2915 W Beverly Blvd, Montebello, CA 90640

2915 W Beverly Blvd

90640

In 1999, Julio Licón and Marty Sokol walked into Mr. D’s Cocktail Lounge, located in a Montebello mini-mall. Business was fading at Mr. D’s and the owner wanted out. The bar drew a local Mexican-American clientele, a smattering of self-identifying gay men and women, trans women and drag queens.

It was proposed to rename the Mr. D's into "Chico," because "the place is small and [they were] looking to appeal mostly to a male clientele.” Licón and Sokol loved the name.

Home to Club Scum.

Attr — KCET

1964 → 1973

Little Club

1725 W Florence Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90047

1725 W Florence Ave

90047

(S)

Attr — Guild Guide 1964; Gay Guide '71; Bob Damron '65-'73

1980 → 1981

Hair Exchange

7310 1/2 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7310 1/2 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

(Hair stylist)

Attr — Bob Damron '80-81; The Voice '80

1979 → today

International Love Boutique

7046 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

7046 Hollywood Blvd

90028

(Clothes, leather, 'toys' etc.)

Attr — Bob Damron '79-84

1981 → 1984

Yukon Mining Co.

7328 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7328 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

(R) (24 hours*)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1981

Chez Claude

702 N Gardner St, Los Angeles, CA 90046

702 N Gardner St

90046

(M) (R) (Looks promising)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1968 → 1976

Tradesman

7505 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7505 Melrose Ave

90046

Gay Guide '71: (SM) * also (C) after hrs; Barfly West '73: A. M. Y. *

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '68-76

1980 → 1981

Holiday Spa

7080 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

7080 Hollywood Blvd

90028

(Health Club)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1973 → 1984

Saharan Motor Hotel

7212 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7212 Sunset Blvd

90046

Bob Damron '73-83: (M) (H); Bob Damron '84: (cleaned up & "hookers" gone) *

Still open / acquired, but no longer considered specifically LGBTQ.

Attr — Bob Damron '73-84

1980 → 2007

Drake Bookstore

7566 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7566 Melrose Ave

90046

In January 1988, officers with the Los Angeles Police Department arrested several men for “lewd or dissolute conduct”—the same statute criminalizing public sex that gay activists had struggled to reform in the 1970s—at Drake’s bookstore

Attr — The Voice '80, Bob Damron '81-84

1975 → 1980

Drake Theatre

7566 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7566 Melrose Ave

90046

Barfly West '73: T; Bob Damron '77-80: (L.A. After Dark) (P) (H) *

Initially screening straight adult movies, it went over to gay male adult movies in around 1975/1976.

In 1977 the Drake Theatre was listed in the Bob Damron Address Book as operating as a gay male adult theatre. It was later known as the Aladdin Theatre.

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '77-80

1973 → 1982

L.A.A.D.

7566 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7566 Melrose Ave

90046

(L.A. After Dark) (P) (H) *

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1968 → 1973

Seventh Keg

7713 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036

7713 Beverly Blvd

90036

M

Attr — Advocate July 1968; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73

1984 → 1996

Great Hall / Long Hall - Plummer Park

1200 N Vista St, West Hollywood, CA 90046

1200 N Vista St

90046

The Great Hall / Long Hall Plummer Park was completed in 1938 as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and countywide efforts to expand park space during the Great Depression.

When West Hollywood became a city on November 29, 1984 , Plummer Park is where the country’s first openly lesbian mayor and four other councilmembers were sworn in.

At the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, from 1987-1996, the facility in Plummer Park hosted the meetings of the local chapter of the prominent AIDS advocacy group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), serving as the backdrop to unprecedented campaigns for greater visibility and more effective treatment. The group was instrumental in compelling the federal government to respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis through new research and healthcare programs.

1985 → today

Minority AIDS Project

5149 W Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016

5149 W Jefferson Blvd

90016

Minority AIDS Project (MAP) is the first community-based HIV/AIDS organization established and managed by people of color in the United States. Archbishop Carl Bean and members of Unity Fellowship of Christ Church founded Minority AIDS Project in 1985.

MAP’s services and educational programs are community-wide and available to all people. However, from the beginning, the primary focus of services and outreach has been to People of color communities in Central and South-Central Los Angeles. Until the doors opened at MAP, these communities had little or no real access to preventive education and essential health care services.

Archbishop Bean and the church congregation volunteered and began the work by providing a culturally competent continuum-of-care of AIDS-related services as well as providing the facts about HIV/AIDS to individuals and community groups who were interested. At the outset, the services met the needs of those living with AIDS.

Today, MAP employs a diverse staff of committed professionals who are bilingual and come from all walks of life. The staff work is enhanced by the supportive talents of volunteers to serve the needs of our clients in Los Angeles County living with HIV/AIDS and families who are affected by this pandemic. MAP also provides prevention education through the HIV/AIDS testing program which is free and open to the public year-round.

Attr — Official site

1982 → today

Unity Fellowship Center

5147 W Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016

5147 W Jefferson Blvd

90016

Archbishop Carl Bean’s Unity Fellowship Church is America’s largest African-American LGBT church, with 14 branches nationwide.

Unity Fellowship Church, Los Angeles (UFCLA) was founded in 1982 by Rev. Carl Bean for primarily openly Gay and Lesbian African Americans. The first meetings were held in the private residence of Rev. Bean, on Cochran Ave., in Los Angeles, California.

Bean was a Motown and disco singer, noted particularly for his version of the early gay liberation song "I Was Born This Way" and autobiography of the same title.

Attr — Unity Fellowship Church

2019 → today

Archbishop Carl Bean Square

5149 W Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016

5149 W Jefferson Blvd

90016

On Sunday, May 26, 2019, L.A. City Council President Herb J. Wesson designated the intersection of Jefferson Blvd. and Sycamore Ave. in South Los Angeles as Archbishop Carl Bean Square.

Bean, a leading national advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer persons, was recognized for founding Unity Fellowship Church of Christ (UFC) in 1982 and the Minority AIDS Project (MAP) in 1985. He died in 2021.

Unity Fellowship is often noted as the first Black church for LGBTQ persons. MAP offers prevention, care and treatment services for low-income African American and Latino individuals at a high risk or living with the HIV/AIDS virus.

Recalling his long association with the minister, Wesson said he first met him in 1982 when Bean was striving to bring attention to the lack of services for minorities with HIV/AIDS.

“I learned from the then-Rev. Bean that services to Black people were not being provided and he felt that there was a need. He used to go pick up things for the pantry himself. It started out with him and half-a-hand of volunteers and they serviced about 12-to-15 families,” said Wesson.

“You look at MAP today and there’s 40+ staff serving 1,500+ folks. With little-to-no resources, he was just a person who was determined and he is my friend.”

Attr — LA Sentinel

1981 → 1999

Hunter's Cocktails

7511 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024

7511 Santa Monica Blvd

90024

Barfly West '73: L. Y.; Bob Damron '81-84: (PT) ("Picking up")

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '81-84, Weinstein 1999

1969 → 1978

Jaguar

7511 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024

7511 Santa Monica Blvd

90024

Barfly West '73: L. Y.

Later became Hunters.

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '69-78, Vector March '75

1952 → 1954

The Golden Carp

7650 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7650 Melrose Ave

90046

A dreamy gay bar with a fish-stocked stream winding through it, and a system that made interior rain. Multiracial and co-ed gay bar.

Attr — 1954 Gay Girl’s Guide, Gay L.A. pp.285

1976 → 1984

Hollywood 'Y' Baths

7661 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7661 Melrose Ave

90046

Barfly West '73: B. C. P. Y.; Bob Damron '76-84: (P) *

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '76-84

1973 → 1975

Y.M.A.C.

7661 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7661 Melrose Ave

90046

Barfly West '73: B. C. P. Y.

Evolution of the Hollywood 'Y' Baths

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '73-75

1998 → today

Being Alive

7531 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7531 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Mission: To end HIV infections by eliminating stigma, engaging people in wellness, removing barriers to care, and restoring dignity.

Established in 1986 by three friends, John Mohr, Ron Rose, and Rick Ewing, Being Alive was created as a response to a need for services free of red tape and bureaucratic entanglement. They saw the need for an organization made up of other people living with HIV and AIDS who would advocate for the HIV/AIDS community from the point of view of those who are infected. Today, Being Alive serves as a beacon of emotional support, treatment education, and empowerment to thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS.

Was previously at a location in Silver Lake.

1981

L.A. Tool Co.

7610 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7610 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

(P) (BYOB) * (Wild back room)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1982

Moon of Tunis

7445 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7445 Sunset Blvd

90046

Also known as Moun of Tunis

(M) (N. African) (R)

Opened in 1977 and still in operation today, but only listed in 1982.

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1976 → 1984

Sesame & Lilie's

7513 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046

7513 Sunset Blvd

90046

(M) (R)

Attr — Gay businesses 1976 list; Bob Damron '77-84

1971

V.I.P. West

7956 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048

7956 Beverly Blvd

90048

(YC) (P) (S)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

2006 → 2022

Studs at the Pussycat

7734 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California 90046

7734 Santa Monica Boulevard

90046

The building opened in 1940 as the Monica Theatre. Initially it was a typical neighborhood house and then shifted toward a good career running foreign films. By 1960 the theatre had started a slide toward soft-core porno.

In 1970 it became the Pussycat and for a long period was one of the flagship houses for Vincent Miranda's chain. Long runs and lines around the block were the rule for films such as "Deep Throat" and "Devil in Miss Jones" as porno chic became the rage.

Later as a gay porno venue it got rebranded as the Tomkat. In 2006 it got the name Studs and later it was branded as Studs at the Pussycat. The adult multiplex theater in the city of West Hollywood was the sole remaining to feature gay, straight and transgender adult movies.

Citing multiple rent hikes and a rise in crime in the area, the owners Omar Fiori Cassing and Max Cassing did not renew their lease at this location. The final film shown at Studs was on October 29, 2022.

Attr — WEHOville, Los Angeles Theatres

1980 → today

Pleasure Chest

7733 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7733 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

* (Leather, "toys," jewelry, erotica, etc.)

Opened May 18, 1980 with an event that featured "live music by the Great American Yankee Freedom Band, champagne punch, fashion show, dancing plus exciting array of prized."

Attr — Bob Damron '81-84; The Voice Vol. 2 No. 10 (May 9, 1980)

1978 → 2009

Spike Bar

7746 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7746 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Bob Damron '81-82, 84: * (Some W, SM FFA) (Patio) (Cruisy) (D.J. but no D)

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '78-84

1973 → 1976

Rendezvous Lounge

7746 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7746 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Barfly West '73: D. L. *

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '73-76

1970 → 1971

New Generation

7746 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7746 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Gay Guide '71: also (C) after hrs.

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Bob Damron '70-71

1930 → 1940

Footlight Club

7746 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7746 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

A nightclub, which featured cross-dressing entertainers, such as male impersonator Tommy Williams.

1978 → 1984

Basic Plumbing

725 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

725 N Fairfax Ave

90046

Bob Damron '81-82: (P) (YC- only) ("Wild back room" - no booze); Bob Damron '84: (P-YC) (F S)

Considered a "dry bath."

John Waters recalls that they "had doormen that demanded that customers pull up their shirts before entering and show their stomachs." Once inside, "the booths were bathed in an eerie, red light...and some of the glory hole compartments were made out of clear Plexiglass, not [opaque] wood."

Attr — Bob Damron '80-'84, Mr. Drummer Feb 1979; Water, John "Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder"

1968 → 1972

Cork Room

3808 W Slauson Ave, Windsor Hills, CA 90043

3808 W Slauson Ave

90043

(G)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1980 → 1983

PX

7818 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7818 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

(Leather, toys, Jac-Masters)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1981 → 1982

Jac-Masters

938 N Fairfax Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90046

938 N Fairfax Ave

90046

*

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1979 → 1983

PX

940 N Fairfax Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90046

940 N Fairfax Ave

90046

(Leather, etc.) *

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1970 → 1973

Ark

7832 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024

7832 Santa Monica Blvd

90024

Gay Guide '71: (YC) * also (C) after hrs; Barfly West '73: A. F. "For that Xtraordinary Experience!!" "The Unique Coffeehouse"

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73

1969 → 1973

Stampede

7832 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024

7832 Santa Monica Blvd

90024

Gay Guide '71: (YC) * also (C) after hrs; Barfly West '73: A. F. "For that Xtraordinary Experience!!" "The Unique Coffeehouse"

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '69-73

1964 → 1977

Carriage Trade

8077 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048

8077 Beverly Blvd

90048

Gay Guide '71: (R) (M) *; Barfly West '73: F. L. M. S.

The first fundraiser for the LGBT-focused political action committee Municipal Elections Committee of Los Angeles (MECLA) was held in the back room of the Carriage Trade restaurant. Nineteen men were invited, and thanks to their contributions 10 of 11 candidates MECLA supported in the Los Angeles election won.

Attr — Guild Guide '64; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-77; Clendinen, Dudley "Out For Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America" pp. 356-357

1979 → 1995

Eagle

7864 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024

7864 Santa Monica Blvd

90024

Bob Damron: * (Some W) (Cruisy) (SM)

Attr — Bob Damron '80-84

1972 → 1974

Key Club Baths

1136 N Fairfax Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90046

1136 N Fairfax Ave

90046

Attr — H.E.L.P. Inc Newsletter; Bob Damron '72-74

1978 → 2011

Beth Chayim Chadashim

6000 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035

6000 W Pico Blvd

90035

Founded on April 4, 1972, Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC) was the world's first LGBTQ synagogue. It sought to provide Jewish LGBTQ individuals with an open and accessible place of worship.

Before BCC's creation, the local Jewish LGBTQ community held weekly meetings at the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), a nearby LGBTQ Christian congregation at 22nd Street and Union Avenue.

The name "Beth Chayim Chadashim" was inspired by the MCC's newsletter, "House of New Life." After members of the BCC congregation voted to adopt the name for their synagogue, it was translated and edited into Beth Chayim Chadashim.

The first service for BCC was held on June 9, 1972 in congregation member Jerry Gordon's home.

By its second year, members of the sixty-member congregation began to experience tension over the synagogue's direction. Conflicts arose over how closely the congregation should adhere to tradition and whether membership should be extended to heterosexual individuals. Of particular concern was that fewer than half of the members were women.

In an effort to create a more amiable environment for lesbian and bisexual women, the BCC became the first congregation to create a prayer book with gender-neutral language, as opposed to one where God is referred to solely in the male form.

In 1973, a fire destroyed the MCC building on where the congregation was holding services. Beth Chayim Chadashim relocated to 6000 West Pico Boulevard in 1978.

In 2011, the synagogue moved down the street to its new home at 6090 West Pico Boulevard.

Attr — Los Angeles Conservancy; BCC

1973 → 1984

Au Petit Joint

7953 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7953 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

(M) (French R) (Wine only)

Attr — In Touch '73; Vector, '75, Bob Damron '81-84

1979 → 1989

Carriage Trade

8225 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048

8225 Beverly Blvd

90048

Attr — Bob Damron '79-89, Gayellow Pages 1979

1981 → 1984

Carriage Trade

8225 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048

8225 Beverly Blvd

90048

(R) (Mixed bag*)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1979 → 1995

Peanuts

7969 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7969 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Bob Damron '79-84: (Disco) (D) (WE*) (Many L)

Peanuts started out as a lesbian nightclub but became mixed with a little of everything. It had two bars, pool table, mid-sized dance floor in front of floor to ceiling mirrors. It hosted nights from different promoters, catering to many different crowds from the LGBTQ community.

Attr — Bob Damron '79-84; 1988 17 March "Out of Step," LA Times;

1974 → 2015

French Quarter Market Place

7985 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024

7985 Santa Monica Blvd

90024

(R) (Lunches & AH) *

Part of the Louisiana Purchase shopping center, and opened by restauranteur Arthur J.

"This building is famed in gay circles as a gathering place for political and social activists. The restaurant’s support for the gay community during the AIDS crisis has not been forgotten by long-time residents. Members of the Municipal Elections Committee of Los Angeles (MECLA), a political action committee [that raised money to support gay-friendly candidates] in the 1970s, met at [and kept a small office above] the French Market to raise money that supported gay-friendly candidates. It also is where Jerry Brown in 1991 met with gay activists to solicit their support for his candidacy for president."

Veteran LGBTQ journalist Karen Ocamb noted that the French Quarter “was also the jumping off or come-back point for lots of LGBT political events and a refuge for those needing a break from AIDS protests.” In 1991 the restaurant was "crucial in community support for Rob Roberts’ hunger strike on the grassy triangle nearby to urge Gov. Pete Wilson to sign the gay civil rights bill, AB 101."

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84; Bishop, "The French Market's Story," Wehoville 2016; Ocamb, "WeHo French Market Place Memories," Frontiers Media 2015

1980 → 1985

Buck Rogers' Happenings

7985 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024

7985 Santa Monica Blvd

90024

Robert L. Rogers was a public relations man who, along with Sydney Barbaro, decided to start a magazine to help gays communicate. It listed events, meetings for gays and their parents, and other support activities.

The June 1985 issue includes a final statement from Rogers, who died from AIDS in 1985.

Attr — Bob Damron '84, "Robert Rogers; Publisher of Gay Magazine," LA Times, 9 June 1985.

1973 → 1974

Nero's

7994 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7994 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Barfly West '73: D. E. L.

Became Rusty Nail in 1974

Attr — Barfly West '73, Bob Damron '74

1982 → 1984

The Nail

7994 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7994 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Bob Damron '84: * (W, YC) (Cruisy)

Attr — Bob Damron '83-'84

1968 → 1971

Le Tom Cat

7994 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7994 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Gay Guide '71: (D)

Attr — Magpie Jan '68, Gay Guide '71

1974 → 1982

Rusty Nail

7994 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7994 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Bob Damron '81-82: * (Some W) (YC) (D.J. but no D)

Attr — Contact Gay Newspaper and Guide, 25 December 1974; Bob Damron '81-82

1973

Ryan's

1358 E Century Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90002

1358 E Century Blvd

90002

E. L. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1968 → 1994

Data-Boy Magazine and Instant Press

7512 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

7512 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Data-Boy Magazine was a gay entertainment magazine launched in 1968 by Data-Boy Instant Press, an early computerized printing service owned by Saul "Fat Shirley" Sufron. Billy Eye, who covered the Punk, New Wave and East L.A. underground music scene in Los Angeles for Data-Boy magazine, said Sufron told him the namesake for the magazine was from his Yiddish mother encouraging him with, “Dat a boy.”

The magazine was provided free at various LGBT bars and hangouts. Mostly advertising for local bars, clubs and services it also included reviews of stage plays and films. In the late 1970s-1980s it expanded to Northern California and the two publications were bound back to back with appropriate numbering for each.

This ended sometime in the mid 1980s when the publication address changed to Los Angeles and the magazine was called California Data-Boy combining all of the state into one periodical.

Additional address found: 7626 Santa Monica Blvd

Attr — Bob Damron '80-84

2011 → today

Beth Chayim Chadashim

6090 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035

6090 W Pico Blvd

90035

Founded on April 4, 1972, Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC) was the world's first LGBTQ synagogue. It sought to provide Jewish LGBTQ individuals with an open and accessible place of worship.

Before BCC's creation, the local Jewish LGBTQ community held weekly meetings at the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), a nearby LGBTQ Christian congregation at 22nd Street and Union Avenue.

The name "Beth Chayim Chadashim" was inspired by the MCC's newsletter, "House of New Life." After members of the BCC congregation voted to adopt the name for their synagogue, it was translated and edited into Beth Chayim Chadashim.

The first service for BCC was held on June 9, 1972 in congregation member Jerry Gordon's home.

By its second year, members of the sixty-member congregation began to experience tension over the synagogue's direction. Conflicts arose over how closely the congregation should adhere to tradition and whether membership should be extended to heterosexual individuals. Of particular concern was that fewer than half of the members were women.

In an effort to create a more amiable environment for lesbian and bisexual women, the BCC became the first congregation to create a prayer book with gender-neutral language, as opposed to one where God is referred to solely in the male form.

In 1973, a fire destroyed the MCC building on where the congregation was holding services. Beth Chayim Chadashim relocated to 6000 West Pico Boulevard in 1978. In 2011, the synagogue moved down the street to its new home at 6090 West Pico Boulevard. The dedication was on April 10, 2011.

The new location is the first synagogue in Southern California to be qualified for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, with solar panels on the roof, insulation made from recycled blue jeans, carpet made from recycled tires, reclaimed wood, and drought-resistant native plants.

Attr — L.A. Conservancy / BCC official site

1969 → 1979

Gallery Room

8100 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

8100 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Gay Guide '71: (R), (M); Barfly West '73: F. L. Y. *

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73, Bob Damron '69-'79

1984

The Leather Game

8250 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90048

8250 Melrose Ave

90048

(Clothes)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1973

Dove's Cove

5813 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232

5813 Washington Blvd

90232

D. E. F. L M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1970 → 1973

Atlas Club

8344 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048

8344 Beverly Blvd

90048

B. C. P.

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73

1965 → 1987

Theodore's

8171 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

8171 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

(M) (R)
Old-fashioned diner / coffee shop listed in Bob Damron guide.

Especially after Schwab's Drug Store closed, Theodore's became a stomping ground for local celebs. People remember seeing John Lennon drop by, as well as Robert De Niro. Later in the 70's, a young Robin Williams and John Ritter used to stop by following their morning comedy classes.

The restaurant became the "Silver Spoon" in 1987

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1968 → 1977

Orlando Baths

309 S Orlando Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90048

309 S Orlando Ave

90048

B. C. P.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1979 → 1984

County Seat

8228 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

8228 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Bob Damron '81: (R); Bob Damron '82: (Cruise bar) (PT) (Looks promising); Bob Damron '84: (Cruisy) (PT) *

Owned by Maurice Walker

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84; Data Boy '79; The Voice 1980

1976 → 1980

Lillian's

8228 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

8228 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Attr — Bob Damron '76-80

1981 → 2020

Gold Coast

8228 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

8228 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Bob Damron '82: (Cruise bar) (PT) (Looks promising); Bob Damron '84: (Cruisy) (PT) *

"Gold Coast is known for its annual Red Dress Party. It started with a vow between two Gold Coast bartenders, Mark Ferguson and Yves-Claude, who both were HIV positive and, given the lack of effective treatment at the time, were in and out of the hospital. Their grim and yet humorous pact was that when one of them died, the other would show up at the memorial service in a red dress.

When Mark Ferguson died from HIV-related complications in 1997, Yves-Claude happened to be out of town. But, not one to renege on his promises, Yves-Claude decided to take it to a higher level. He decided to celebrate his friend and co-worker’s life with a party at Gold Coast at which everyone was invited to wear a red dress. The Red Dress Party has been held at Gold Coast every July for since then, with some of its proceeds going to a gay-related charity." - WehoVille

Attr — Bob Damron '82-84

1970 → 1971

Basilica

1809 W 88th St, Los Angeles, CA 90047

1809 W 88th St

90047

(S) (G) also (C) after hours

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1960 → 2019

Book Circus / Circus of Books

8230 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

8230 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Circus of Books was a bookstore and gay pornography shop owned by Karen and Barry Mason, with locations in West Hollywood and Silver lake. As a notable Los Angeles gay cruising spot, place of refuge during the AIDS crisis, and mom-and-pop porn shop fighting federal obscenity charges, both locations are now considered important sites of Los Angeles' gay history.

This store is in the heart of what was once West Hollywood’s “Vaseline Alley,” a parking lot and alley where gay men cruised for sex.

“There was a lot of activity in the alley behind our store,” Mason said. “People would meet each other here, and even though we, as owners, kept out of it, it was definitely a pickup spot. I think when Circus of Books opened, this was such a special place for people who were gay or were trying to come out or feel comfortable.”

A documentary on the store, filmed by the Masons' daughter Rachel Mason, was released in 2019.

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84; WeHoVille

1976 → 1995

The Numbers

8029 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046

8029 Sunset Blvd

90046

Bob Damron '81-82: (R) *; Bob Damron '84: (R) (OC) (Hustlers) *

Owned by Donald E. Cook, who also owned Ah Men clothing store at 8900 Santa Monica Blvd.

“You know what I miss? What was the name of that ludicrous gay bar? It used to be on the corner of Sunset and…You walked down the staircase and it was all old game show hosts with wigs—and violent hustlers. It’s long gone but you could find out the name. It was hilarious. I miss that place. The parking lot was in the back and to get in you had to walk down a mirrored circular staircase so everybody saw you. It was very John Rechy, very City of Night. It was a kind of really a lovely atmosphere that I miss.” - John Waters

Attr — Bob Damron '78-84

1984 → 1986

Pierre's

8265 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

8265 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Bob Damron '84: * (C, W-Disco-D)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1980 → 1981

L.A. Bar

8265 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

8265 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Bob Damron '81: (Disco) (D) (PT) (WE*)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1981 → 1984

Nu Town Saloon

8265 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

8265 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

Bob Damron '82: * (PT) (C&W) (Disco & live bands) (R); Bob Damron '84: * (C&W-Disco-D)

Attr — Bob Damron '82-84; 16 January 1981, The Voice

1981 → 1982

Old Barn

8257 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

8257 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

("Wild back room")

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1927 → 1959

Garden of Allah Hotel

8152 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046

8152 Sunset Blvd

90046

Residential hotel and bungalow colony built by silent film star Alla Nazimova. She welcomed unmarried guests to her hotel (risqué for the time), and the hotel was known for its swinging parties. Nazimova herself was bisexual and hosted women-only pool parties at the estate on Sunday afternoons.

"Part of the party at Alla’s Garden involved the Sapphic scene of that era – which she referred to as the “Sewing Circle,” a group of lesbian and bisexual entertainment industry women who lived secret lives. There was Jean Acker, a motorcycle-riding actress who was Rudolph Valentino’s first beard/wife. Acker later lived openly with lover and former Ziegfeld Follies girl Chloe Carter. Other notable women in Alla’s life: Dorothy Arzner (who just so happens to have the largest body of studio film work of any female director to this day), actress Eva Le Gallienne, Oscar Wilde’s niece Dolly Wilde, the writer Mercedes de Acosta, and theatrical benefactor Glesca Marshall who lived with Nazimova at the Garden of Allah until Nazimova’s death in 1945." - Stuart Timmons

Attr — Mapping Gay L.A.; AllaNazimova.com; Stuart Timmons LGBTQ Tour

1971 → 1972

Bar-B-Que Heaven

163 N La Cienega Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211

163 N La Cienega Blvd

90211

(R) (M)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1964 → 1977

B.J.'s

2692 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90034

2692 S La Cienega Blvd

90034

Gay Guide '71: also (C) after hours; Barfly West '73: A. E. M.

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '68-77

1978 → 1984

Manhandler

2692 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90034

2692 S La Cienega Blvd

90034

aka Manhandler Saloon

Bob Damron: (PT) (R - AH - WE) (Some SM, W, FFA)

Attr — Bob Damron '78-84

1970

Kelly's Kick

8171 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046

8171 Sunset Blvd

90046

(D)

Attr — Lulu Awards 1970, Gay Guide '71

1965 → 1986

The Westside

6112 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90034

6112 Venice Blvd

90034

Barfly West '73: A. D. F. L. M. *; Bob Damron '65-83: * (R) (D) (Open for lunch - Patio - good days)

Also known as Westside Room

"Nude male waiters is the latest gimic [sic] of The Westside restaurant" - Camp Ink

Attr — Camp Ink June '71; H.E.L.P. Newsletter '71; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-83; SCGBA 1986

1976 → 1985

Odyssey

8471 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048

8471 Beverly Blvd

90048

(YC) (Disco) (D) (Juice bar - no booze) (AH*)

Very popular all-ages (sometimes 18+) discotheque, featuring local DJ Chuck E. Starr. Odyssey opened as a gay club, but the clientele became more mixed every night.

The club was owned by the notorious Eddie Nash (Wonderland Murders), and was purportedly burned down by him to collect insurance money.

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1972 → 1974

Quickie Theatre

8325 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

8325 Santa Monica Blvd

90046

also listed as 8235 Santa Monica Blvd

Barfly West: C. T.

A listing in September 1974 advertised all male films 10 am to 5 am

Attr — Barfly West '73

1974 → 1979

After Dark

365 N La Cienega Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048

365 N La Cienega Blvd

90048

Was considered an ethnically mixed discotheque.

Attr — Bob Damron '74-79, Gay L.A. pp. 286

1965 → 1976

Gino's

8452 Melrose Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90069

8452 Melrose Pl

90069

A. C. D. F. P. Y.

"When police came to raid, an advance warning system would change the music to "The Star Spangled Banner," which effectively ended dancing."

Attr — Barfly West '73; Faderman, Lillian and Stuart Timmons, Gay L.A. pp. 84, Bob Damron '65-78

1972 → 1974

Oliver

365 N La Cienega Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048

365 N La Cienega Blvd

90048

F. L. M. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1947 → 2008

Coronet Theatre

366 N La Cienega Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048

366 N La Cienega Blvd

90048

C. T.

Opened August 16, 1947 by Frieda Berkoff, a member of a famous Russian dancing family. Also called Coronet Louvre film museum.

The Coronet was a long-time center of gay entertainment — and some very daring art shows — but were not exclusively gay. The Coronet was raided several times in the ’50s for showing such gay art films as Kenneth Anger’s Fireworks, Genet’s Un Chant D’Amour or Flaming Creatures.

In December 1968 the Coronet was the venue for the west coast premiere of John Herbert's "Fortune and Men's Eyes," directed by Sal Mineo. The regular run opened January 1969 and ran until July.

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '73; Kepner, Jim, "Gay Los Angeles: The Early Days," 1998

1982

Marty's

8657 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035

8657 W Pico Blvd

90035

(M) (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1970 → 1974

Bitter End West

8409 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8409 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

D. E. F. L. M. *

The Bitter End, for more than a decade one of New York's most successful night spots, opened a Los Angeles branch on Monday, November 23, 1970.

- The Valley News, Van Nuys, California

Attr — Barfly West '73; Zipper, 1971; Action, 1972

1971 → 1987

Garden District

747 N La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90069

747 N La Cienega Blvd

90069

F. L. S. *

Attr — Barfly West '73; Gay Guide '71; Bob Damron '71-84; Orange Coast Magazine Oct 1987

1968 → 1971

Cabaret

940 N La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90069

940 N La Cienega Blvd

90069

(R) (E) (Looks promising)

Became jazz club "The City" from 1972-1974

Attr — Bob Damron '68-71, Billboard 29 April 1972

1975 → 1983

Cabaret

940 N La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90069

940 N La Cienega Blvd

90069

(R) (E) (Looks promising)

Cabaret was open 1968-1971, then became jazz club "The City" from 1972-1974.

Attr — Bob Damron '75-'83

1980 → 1984

Rogues

8477 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8477 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

(P) (Jacuzzi, sauna)

Attr — Bob Damron '80-84

1967 → 1971

Ciro's

8433 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, California 90069

8433 Sunset Boulevard

90069

Ciro's nightclub on the Strip, which had long been shuttered, reopened as a gay venue featuring the young female impersonator Jim Bailey. Sunday’s hosted gay tea dances – and one of the first places where men were allowed to dance together.

Advertised in The Voice, 1970

Attr — Faderman, Lillian and Stuart Timmons, Gay L.A. pp. 150, Nesteroff, Kliph, The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy

1940 → 1957

Ciro's

8433 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8433 Sunset Blvd

90069

Permitted gay customers to cruise as long as they behaved with discretion. Female impersonator as MC.

Attr — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciro's

1973 → 1977

3rd St. Athletic Club

8709 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048

8709 W 3rd St

90048

Barfly West '73: B. P.

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '73-76

1978 → 1985

8709 Club Baths

8709 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048

8709 W 3rd St

90048

Barfly West '73: B. P.; Bob Damron '82: (P) (Referral necessary) (YC) (Some W, SM) *; Bob Damron '84: (P) (YC-only) *

"Became the most legendary of Los Angeles' bathhouses. Though located on an inconspicuous street corner, on the inside of the 8709 there was an elaborate maze, much black paint, and rooms large and small. According to legend, closeted actors entered through a secret door that led to an unlit, anonymous orgy room. The 8709 also attracted an endless stream of blonde surfer types who migrated, erotically charged, from the disco down the street. One customer of the 8709 reminisces about being 'fortunate enough to go there,' and recalls how he was always amazed by the beautiful men.' Another remembers 'walking through the large orgy room that was packed so tight with bodies you couldn't move.' Because the ground floor backed onto a deli, 8709 customers could order food through a small window, precluding any need to leave." (Gay L.A.)

Extremely discriminatory, many stories of rejection due to age and weight.

Sheldon Andelson, millionaire attorney and businessman, owned the 8709. It was a financially lucrative business; nevertheless, he closed the bathhouse in May 1985 to avoid the connection being outed by the press (a KCBS expose was in the works) during the height of public scrutiny of bathhouses.

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '82, 84; GLBTHistory.org; Faderman, Lillian and Stuart Timmons, Gay L.A. (UC Press, 2006)

1977 → 1980

Pleasure Chest

8549 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8549 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

* (Leather, "toys," jewelry, erotica, etc.)

Reopened in 1980 at 7733 Santa Monica Blvd

Attr — Bob Damron '77-'80

1981 → 1985

Bodycenter

8711 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048

8711 W 3rd St

90048

(Nautilus gym)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-84

1988 → 1993

Rose Tattoo

665 N Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

665 N Robertson Blvd

90069

The building which housed legendary gay nightclub Studio One took a turn back to its classic nightclub roots when it was bought by lesbian entertainer Linda Gerard in 1988. She rechristened it The Rose Tattoo, presumably after the Tennessee Williams play of the same name. The Rose Tattoo was a celebrity-filled cabaret, restaurant and piano bar where, as emcee, Gerard would open the evening’s entertainment with a song. In a room swathed with green carpet, mirrored walls and pink tinted art-deco bas-relief, jazz singers and a menagerie of performers crooned away on its many stages.

In 1993, citing exhaustion, Gerard closed The Rose Tattoo and sought out a less stressful entertainment career in Palm Springs, where she still entertains today.

Attr — Wehoville 23 Sept 2013, Wikipedia

1973

Cricket Club

10514 Long Beach Blvd, Lynwood, CA 90262

10514 Long Beach Blvd

90262

Attr — Barfly West '73

1979 → 1993

Sports Connection

8612 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8612 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

Gym

Attr — Bob Damron '82, 84, LA Time (various dates)

1989 → today

June Mazer Lesbian Archives

626 N Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

626 N Robertson Blvd

90069

The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives is the largest major archive on the West Coast dedicated to preserving and promoting lesbian and feminist history and culture. By creating a safe place for women to explore the richness of lesbian history, perhaps adding to it themselves, we are paving the way for future generations to understand more fully their own identity and history and help maintain this vital link to their own past. Their mission is to collect, preserve, and make accessible lesbian, feminist, and women’s history as a means of providing a link between multi-generational lesbians.

The Archives, originally called the West Coast Lesbian Collections, was founded in Oakland California, in 1981. Six years later it was moved to Los Angeles by Connexxus Women’s Center/Centro de Mujeres. The Archives acquired its present name after the death of June Mazer, in honor of her work as a community activist and invaluable supporter of the Archives.

The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives remains the largest archive on the West Coast that is dedicated exclusively to preserving lesbian history, and to guaranteeing that those who come after us will not have to believe that they “walk alone.” The Archives is committed to gathering and preserving materials by and about lesbians and feminists of all classes, ethnicities, races and experiences. Included are personal letters and scrapbooks, artwork, manuscripts, books, records, newspapers, magazines, photographs, videotapes, flyers, papers of lesbian and feminist organizations, private papers, and even clothing, such as softball uniforms from the 1940s and 50s. The Mazer Video Archive contains event documentation, personal oral histories, and talks about the collections by community members.

Hundreds of lesbians and feminists have been inspired to donate artifacts of their personal and collective histories. The Archives encourages all lesbians to deposit the everyday mementos of your lives so that others can discover them in the future.

In 1989, the archives earned 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and received donated space from the City of West Hollywood, where it remains today - at the same address as the ONE Archives Gallery and Museum.

- Lillian Faderman

Attr — Mazer Lesbian Archives site

1973

Last Chance

8866 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035

8866 W Pico Blvd

90035

Attr — Barfly West '73

1980 → 1982

Imre-Gordon, Inc.

8680 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8680 Melrose Ave

90069

Electrolysis

Attr — Bob Damron '80-82

1973

Amber Light

1314 Potrero Grande Dr, Rosemead, CA 91770

1314 Potrero Grande Dr

91770

D. M. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1991 → 1999

Little Frida's

8730 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8730 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

Well-known lesbian coffee house. Featured in Ellen's coming out episode.

1984

Patio Cafe

450 N Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048

450 N Robertson Blvd

90048

(M) (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1968 → 1979

Falcon's Lair

742 N Highland Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

742 N Highland Ave

90038

Gay Guide '71: (SM) *; Barfly West '73: W. *

Leather bar, with sawdust on the floor. Showed classic old silent films, in the loft, one day a week. It became Greg's Blue Dot in 1979.

Named after Rudolph Valentino's estate Falcon Lair ?

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '68-80

1971 → 1980

The Lesbian Tide

8855 Cattaraugus Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90034

8855 Cattaraugus Ave

90034

The Lesbian Tide (1971-1980) was a lesbian periodical published in the United States by the Los Angeles chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis. It was the first lesbian periodical in the US to reach a national audience and the first US magazine to use the word "lesbian" in the title.

Jeanne Cordova was the founder.

Attr — SurveyLA: LGBT Historic Context Statement

1936 → 1939

Jane Jones Little Club

8730 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8730 Sunset Blvd

90069

Lesbian-centric nightclub raided by the Vice Squad September 1939 for selling liquor after hours, and was shut down.

Faderman and Timmons describe the womens’ nightclub as “in the tradition of the upscale nightclub, and they promoted an exotic glamour, much like the lesbian bars of Weimar Berlin.” Jones, they said, “was a big woman with a basso profundo voice who’d been a singer in movie musicals.”

Attr — Faderman, Lillian and Stuart Timmons, Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics and Lipstick Lesbians, UC Press, 2006

1981 → 1984

Bodycenter

703 N San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

703 N San Vicente Blvd

90069

(Nautilus gym)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1936 → 1942

Tess's

8711 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8711 Sunset Blvd

90069

Also known as Tess's Continental and Tess's Café International.

"When Your urge’s mauve, [go to] Tess's Café International on Sunset Boulevard. The location offered supper, drinks, and the ability to watch boy-girls who necked and sulked and little girl customers who… look like boys." from How to Sin in Hollywood, 1940

Café Internationale was owned and operated by Elmer and Tess Wheeler and catered to women. They featured performances from women singers dressed in male drag — two who were quite well-known were Tommy Williams and Jimmy Renard. According to Lillian Faderman in Gay L.A., Marlene Dietrich was in the crowd when Tommy Williams performed there one night.

As a result of the Navy ban in 1942, state authorities revoked the liquor license for Café Internationale. Owner Elmer Wheeler sued in 1942 to have the license reinstated, but he died that December and the club closed for good. His widow Tess opened another club later and became a fixture, along with her partner Sylvia Reiff (who was said to look like Radclyffe Hall), in the burgeoning Los Angeles lesbian scene after the war.

Featured space in Lillian Faderman's Curator Map.

Attr — "1942: Navy Bans Gay Clubs," Playground to the Stars, 2019; Faderman, Lillian and Stuart Timmons, Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics and Lipstick Lesbians, UC Press, 2006, pp. 87.

1979 → 1982

Blue Parrot

8851 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8851 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

Bob Damron '79-82: (D.J. but no D) (Cruisy) (YC) *

Many queer bars, which could not really exist officially, or they’d get shut down, used code names. Often the first word of the bar’s name was a color, and the second word was a bird. This was known as the “bird circuit” – you could visit any urban area in the country and usually find a “Blue Parrot” or a “Purple Parrot” or a “Black Swan” or such like.

Attr — Bob Damron '79-82; Jenn, Jason, The Stuart Timmons City of West Hollywood LGBTQ History Mobile Tour

1982 → 2004

Revolver

8851 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8851 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

Bob Damron '84: (D.J. but no D) (Video)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

2005 → 2011

East West Lounge

8851 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

8851 Santa Monica Blvd.

90069

Gay bar and lounge with "The Tequila Room"

2011 → today

Revolver

8851 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, California 90069

8851 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

"Proudly Gay Owned and Operated, Revolver Video Bar has been a staple in West Hollywood Boys Town for over 30 years."

1990 → 2009

A Different Light

8853 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8853 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

The first A Different Light Bookstore opened at 4014 Santa Monica Blvd. in Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood in October 1979, followed by a branch in New York City's Greenwich Village in 1983 and a branch in San Francisco's Castro (489 Castro St.) district in 1985. In May 1990, a second Los Angeles store opened at 8853 Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood. Supplanted by the West Hollywood store, the original store in Silver Lake closed in 1992.

At its height, the chain was one of the most influential LGBT booksellers in the United States, serving as a cultural hub and social center for LGBT people.

Attr — Wikipedia

1977 → 1983

Sports Locker

8853 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8853 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

Men's Activewear store founded by Jim Andre.

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82; @jonandre comment at flickr link; email from Jim Andre

1983 → 2016

Video West

805 Larrabee St, West Hollywood, CA 90069

805 Larrabee St

90069

Movie rentals/sales, including x-rated, catering specifically to the LGBT community. As of 2015, it was West Hollywood’s oldest and only video rental store.

A second location existed at 11376 Ventura Blvd. in Studio City, CA.

Attr — Lyle Palaski, employee, and WehoVille

1958 → 1984

Four Star Saloon

8857 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8857 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

Barfly West '73: F. L. M. R. *; Bob Damron '81-82: (R) (PT) (Large island bar) *; Bob Damron '84: (R) (C W) (PT)

In the book Under the Rainbow (edited by Chris Freeman), the actor John Carlyle mentions that singer Johnnie Ray and actor Clifton Webb, both lavender lads, often “had to be helped off their bar stools at closing time.” He adds that composer Leonard Bernstein, while a married man in New York, he was quite queer out here in West Hollywood. He’d come to the Four Star Saloon “in evening clothes after a concert and ogled hustlers.”

Featured location in The Morning After (1968) with Jane Fonda

Attr — Guild Guide '64; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1961 → 1985

Ah Men

8900 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8900 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

Gay Men's Clothing Store owned by Donald E. Cook (who also owned Numbers Bar and Restaurant at 8029 Sunset))

Attr — http://www.queerty.com/photos-vintage-ads-for-las-gay-bars-of-the-1970s-then-now-20130511

1988 → today

ONE Archives Gallery & Museum

626 N Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

626 N Robertson Blvd

90069

1988: IGLA moves to a space owned by the City of West Hollywood at 626 North Robertson Boulevard (the current location of the ONE Archives Gallery & Museum).

1994: W. Dorr Legg dies. ONE Inc. merges with the IGLA and becomes primarily an LGBTQ archive; the organization refers to itself as ONE Institute and ONE Institute/IGLA.

1997: Jim Kepner dies.

2000: ONE Institute/IGLA moves to its current location at 909 West Adams Boulevard provided by the University of Southern California.

1988 → 2000

ONE Institute / International Gay Lesbian Archive (IGLA)

626 N Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

626 N Robertson Blvd

90069

1988: IGLA moves to a space owned by the City of West Hollywood at 626 North Robertson Boulevard (the current location of the ONE Archives Gallery & Museum).

1994: W. Dorr Legg dies. ONE Inc. merges with the IGLA and becomes primarily an LGBTQ archive; the organization refers to itself as ONE Institute and ONE Institute/IGLA.

1997: Jim Kepner dies.

2000: ONE Institute/IGLA moves to its current location at 909 West Adams Boulevard provided by the University of Southern California.

1980 → 1982

Phoenix

807 N San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

807 N San Vicente Blvd

90069

(P) (Physical fitness center)

Attr — Bob Damron '80-82

1965 → 1970

Tangents Magazine

3473 Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90068

3473 Cahuenga Blvd

90068

Don Slater began Tangents Magazine after splitting from ONE Magazine and Bill ambert (W. Dorr Legg). The magazine had money troubles and was only pubished 1965-1970.

Attr — https://www.laconservancy.org/sites/default/files/files/documents/LGBT%20Historic%20Context%209-14%20%28FINAL%29.pdf

1983 → 2020

Rage

8911 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8911 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

1984

Iron Works

8764 Holloway Dr, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8764 Holloway Dr

90069

(Gym) *

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1976 → 1981

Drake's Coffee Shop

8919 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8919 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

(M) (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1977 → 1983

Hilldale Coffee Shop

8919 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8919 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

(M) (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '77-'83

1979 → 1986

Unicorn Book Store

8940 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8940 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

*

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1978 → 1980

Rascals

8944 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8944 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

Bob Damron '80: (Blew it earlier, but picking up again) (WE); Bob Damron '81-82: (Cruisy) *

Address listed differs from address printed on matchbook

Attr — Bob Damron '78-'80

1967 → 1977

Por Favor

8944 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8944 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

Barfly West '73: F. L. M. S. *

Frequented by Judy Garland, who was known to occasionally stand up, wave at the crowd, and affectionately call, “Hi fags!”

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '70-'77

1980 → today

Motherlode

8944 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8944 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

Attr — Drummer Magazine, Issue 39 (1980); Bob Damron '81-'84

1994 → today

The Abbey

692 N Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

692 N Robertson Blvd

90069

The Abbey itself opened up across the street in 1991 in the location that is now Bossa Nova.
When it opened, The Abbey was a coffee shop.
According to owner David Cooley, in an interview with Frontiers, the coffee shop got its theme from the stained glass windows found in his business partner’s basement and its name because with just five letters, the “Abbey” could save costs on signage.
In 1994, The Abbey moved across the street into the area where the bakery and patio bar are today.
In 1995, the Abbey received a beer and wine license, which was sold from out of the bakery.
In a WeHoVille profile on the Abbey, This Is West Hollywood publisher Scott Schmidt reminisced that during the 1990’s, “People would bring their books and study,” because it was one of the few places students under 21 could go in West Hollywood at night.
In 1997, The Abbey received its first full liquor license.
Also in 1997, The Abbey added a back patio area, immediately behind the bakery and patio bar, where the Cabanas and Cabana Bar are located today. The bar was initially located between the Bar room and back patio but was moved to its current location on the northern wall in a later renovation.
In 2001, the area currently occupied by the Abbey’s dance floor was added as a space to host private parties and special events.
In 2005, The Abbey would fully take over the International Terra Cotta Building to its full 16,000 square foot configuration.
In 2006, Cooley entered a partnership with SBE Enterprises
in 2009, LogoTV named The Abbey as “The Best Gay Bar In The World”
In 2010, The Abbey converted the private room into its dance floor during the last major renovation.
The next year, The Abbey petitioned the City to convert from a restaurant to a nightclub to allow for dancing on its dance floor and smoking in outdoor areas.

Was a meeting place for local branches of AIDS advocacy groups like ACT UP. This marked the beginning of the Abbey's branding as an unofficial headquarters for gay rights advocates. After Proposition Eight passed in 2008, owner David Cooley hired buses to transport protestors downtown. Soon after, he banned bachelorette parties at the bar until gay marriage was legalized.

Attr — This is West Hollywood

1996 → 2000

The Fire House

696 N Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

696 N Robertson Blvd

90069

Los Angeles club veterans April LaRue, Victor Vargas and Josh Wells created the Fire House. The owners, who have stakes in such various clubs as the Opium Den and the Men’s Room, gutted a former retail outlet and created a fiery, hell-like motif, complete with torches flanking the entrance and blood-red walls. Predominantly gay club with dance floor.

Purchased in 2000 by owners of NYC's g lounge to become Here Lounge.

Attr — LA Times

2001 → 2016

Here Lounge

696 N Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

696 N Robertson Blvd

90069

Here Lounge was opened in 2001 by the owners of New York City’s g lounge.
Here Lounge was the first of three New York bar imports to West Hollywood. The other two: Don’t Tell Mamma and Flaming Saddles.
California’s Alcoholic Beverages Commission suspended Here Lounge’s license for a month in 2013 for violations of the entertainment and employee attire regulations in a sting that also hit other nearby gay and lesbian establishments including Micky’s.

Acquired by The Abbey's David Cooley in 2016 to become The Chapel at The Abbey.

Attr — This Is West Hollywood

1973

Ruby Rue Saloon

1103 N La Brea Ave, Inglewood, CA 90302

1103 N La Brea Ave

90302

D. E. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1965 → 1975

Corner Pocket

8800 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8800 Sunset Blvd

90069

Gay Guide '71: Hip (YC) *; Barfly West '73: M

Attr — Gay Guide '71, Barfly West '73, Bob Damron '65-75

1991 → 1994

The Abbey

685 N Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

685 N Robertson Blvd

90069

The Abbey opened up in 1991 in the location that is now Bossa Nova.
When it opened, The Abbey was a coffee shop.
According to owner David Cooley, in an interview with Frontiers, the coffee shop got its theme from the stained glass windows found in his business partner’s basement and its name because with just five letters, the “Abbey” could save costs on signage.
In 1994, The Abbey moved across the street into the area where the bakery and patio bar are today.

Cooley said, "I would market it by going down to the Log Cabin [Alcoholics Anonymous] down the street and, you know, "Come up for coffee!" I would also just get a lot of good-looking guys to hang out there and buy them coffee and cake for the night. And people started noticing that it was a really attractive crowd in there. It had a good three-year run. Then I had the opportunity to move to where we are now, across the street, to this terra-cotta statuary business."

Attr — This Is West Hollywood

1937 → 1940

Club Bali

8804 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8804 Sunset Blvd

90069

Also known as Café Bali.

Its walls were decorated by a Disney artist, and the waiters wore red sarongs. The Bali was covertly known as a “gay spot” but advertised itself as the “it bar” for everybody – one write-up described it as perfect for the “partially potted.”

At the Bali nightclub the gay composer and singer Bruz Fletcher, whom the newspapers described as a favorite of nightclub-hopping film stars, entertained the cognoscenti with gay double entendres in songs such as “Bring Me A Lei from Hawaii”, “Keep an eye on His Business”, and “The Simple Things.”

In 1935 it was the Three Star Club, and raided for selling liquor after hours. By the spring 1937 through spring 1939, it was “Bali,” a tropical-themed café-nightspot popular with the Hollywood film crowd, who crammed in to hear its featured singer, Bruz Fletcher (B. Stoughton Fletcher). In 1941-1942 it was Club Society and raided a couple of times for liquor violations.

Attr — Gay LA pp. 44, Los Angeles Guide, 1941

1982 → 1986

Greenery Cafe

8945 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8945 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

(M) (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '82-84, SCGBA 1986

1939 → 1957

Café Gala

8795 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8795 Sunset Blvd

90069

Café Gala was opened in 1939 by Baroness Catherine d’ Erlinger, “a titled Englishwoman with bohemian tastes and the case to exercise them.” Like the “pansy clubs,” this club attracted the Hollywood’s smart set regardless of sexuality. Beverly Alber, a singer at the Gala, remembers it as a "marvelous gay supper club where straights came to see the entertainment." Cole Porter, Lena Horne, Christopher Isherwood, and Judy Garland were among its patrons. It was treated no differently than other clubs by the gossip columnists. It survived frequent crackdowns on the Sunset Strip, and was rarely raided.

“Not that it advertised itself as a gay bar or even had an exclusively gay patronage,” says David Hanna, “but a gay bar it essentially was.”

While the Gala’s bar area catered to gay men, a well-enforced dress code and other general rules of decorum were engineered by the Gala's proprietor and resident singer and proprietor Johnny Walsh: everyone had to face front, and physical contact beyond a handshake was verboten. Walsh himself was a homosexual, and the constant companion of Gala’s owner.

Café Gala “epitomizes both the social scene and the status of homosexuals within the industry of immediate post-Code Hollywood. With a veneer of ‘respectability’ – a façade that could not be overly identified as ‘queer’ or ‘deviant’ – both the Gala and the gays within the studio structure could thrive.”

It was the swankiest, gay-upholstered Venetian-themed club on the Coast…a “very chic” bar with a “startling view of the city lights twinkling below” … It has the obvious touch of a décor called “early homosexual.” [While its address was Sunset Blvd, it actually stood one building up on the hill on Horn Ave.]

Jimmy Dolan purchased the Gala in 1948, and Walsh stayed until 1951.

Attr — Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969 pp. 147-8; Open Secret: Gay Hollywood, 1928-2000 pp. 39; Gay L.A. pp. 47

1964 → 1973

Cinematheque 16

8816 1/2 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8816 1/2 Sunset Blvd

90069

C. T.

16mm theater in a storefront owned by exploitation film producer Robert Lippert. The theater screened psychedelic, experimental, and underground films that catered to the counter-culture centered on the Strip. By mid-1969 Cinematheque 16 had become a porno operation.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1974 → 1988

Studio One

652 N La Peer Dr, West Hollywood, CA 90069

652 N La Peer Dr

90069

"Studio One Disco Nightclub in West Hollywood was one of the most iconic discos in Los Angeles. Open from 1974-1993, it was one of the longest-lasting establishments of the disco era. Located at 652 LaPeer Drive in West Hollywood, it was open seven days a week from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. and touted itself “L.A.’s Biggest and Best!” The owner, Scott Forbes, had a clear vision for the Studio that made it the glamorous and exclusive place it was. Complete with erotic dancers, Cabaret, "Backlot" entertainment, theme parties, dining and theater, the Studio was a fixture of the Los Angeles gay scene. It was often visited by gay celebrities or celebrities with gay affiliations such as disco singer Sylvester, prominent gay politician Sheldon Andelson, and others. The club remains an important part of the historical world of gay Los Angeles."

For most gay men living outside West Hollywood, Studio One represented bigotry, racism and sexism. Scott Forbes, its owner, wanted to limit the number of gay men of color and women. His doormen used every racist excuse possible to keep black gay men out, requiring two or three pieces of photo ID from African Americans and none or one piece from white men. To limit the number of women, excuses were made up on the spot based on what they were wearing, like no open-toe shoes. Rather than being a beacon of pride, countless gay community protests were held there. For most conscious gay and lesbian people of that period, Studio One stood for racist discrimination and white male privilege.

The building has been approved to be demolished, despite efforts made to preserve the original building by establishing it as a historical cultural building.

Attr — one.usc.edu; Bob Damron '76-'80: (PT) (D); Bob Damron '81: * (YC) (Disco) (D) (E in 'Backlot') (R) (L.A.'s 'top' super bar) (Cabaret - several bars); Bob Damron '82: * (YC) (Disco) (D) (E); Bob Damron '84: (YC) (Disco (D) *

1993 → 2013

The Factory

652 N La Peer, West Hollywood, CA 90069

652 N La Peer

90069

The historical Factory Building, built in 1929 by Mitchell Camera, was home to the gay Studio One nightclub and cabaret Rose Tattoo, prior to its final incarnation as the gay nightclub The Factory. Another entrance on Robertson led to lesbian nightclub Ultra Suede, within the same building. Demolition of the historical site began in March 2020.

Attr — LA Conservancy

1984

La Petit Marmite

8828 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8828 Sunset Blvd

90069

(M) (French) (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1980 → 1989

International Male

9000 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

9000 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

(Clothing)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-84, West Hollywood Scene 1989

1967 → 1986

Propinquity

8915 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8915 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

This retail store for novelties together with a related mail order business was operated by John Geiger and his brother Dudley.

Attr — https://jgonwright.net/archives4a14.html

1984

La Masia

9077 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

9077 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

Bob Damron '84: (M) (PE) (Spanish) (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '84; Ferraris 94-95

1973

Vagabond

315 E Florence Ave, Inglewood, CA 90301

315 E Florence Ave

90301

D. L. M. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1940 → 1943

Chez Boheme

8950 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8950 Sunset Blvd

90069

The star attraction at Chez Boheme was Rae Bourbon, a female impersonator and one of the last big stars of the Prohibition era “Pansy Craze.” In June of 1942, the Navy took the unusual action of placing this, and 30 bars and nightclubs across the city off limits to sailors.

"Karyl Norman, who performed under the guise of various Hollywood actresses at La Boheme, also on Sunset Boulevard. The Hollywood Reporter spotted William Haines and Joan Crawford in the audience to see Norman’s takeoff on Crawford as Sade Thompson in late 1932. Variety called Norman “a true artiste”, and singled out his backup performer, La Verde, who did “a mean rumba and is plenty of ‘hot cha’ when it comes to appearance.”

1970 → 1975

Elmer's Bar

3913 W Olive Ave, Burbank, CA 91505

3913 W Olive Ave

91505

A. E. K. M.

Attr — Advocate July 1970; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Gay Guide '75

1971

Finnochio's of Hollywood

9105 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

9105 Sunset Blvd

90069

(S)

(ed. note: Possibly spelled incorrectly in source material? Possibly related to Finocchio's Club in San Francisco?)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1965 → 2013

The Palms

8572 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

8572 Santa Monica Blvd

90069

Bob Damron '81-82: (M) (R) (L- late); Bob Damron '84: (R) (L-only*)

Was the oldest continuously-running lesbian bar in Southern California. Open since the 1960s, the Palms has hosted celebrities including Jim Morrison, Tom Waits, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi and Melissa Etheridge, the LA Weekly reports.

Gay historian Lillian Faderman, who along with Stuart Timmons wrote the book “Gay L. A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics and Lipstick Lesbians,” said it was the most glamorous lesbian bar she’d ever seen.

“Everyone looked like a Hollywood starlet. Everyone was so glamorous,” Faderman said. “Many of the women were wearing blond wigs. It was such a contrast to the working class bars I knew.”

While the bar initially attracted gay and lesbian patrons, it wasn’t officially a lesbian bar until 1965, when Butch Gottlieb and Jack Froman (owners of the Four-Star bar, which ultimately became Micky’s) bought the property.

Featured space in Lillian Faderman's Curator Map.

Attr — Bob Damron '77-84; LA Weekly May 2013; "Historic lesbian bar The Palms set to close in West Hollywood," LA Times May 8 2013.

1968 → 1973

Viking

3819 Riverside Dr, Burbank, CA 91505

3819 Riverside Dr

91505

Gay Guide '71: also (C) after hours; Barfly West '73: M

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '68-73

1969 → 1975

Black Pipe

2440 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90034

2440 S La Cienega Blvd

90034

K

Los Angeles police raid a H.E.L.P. (Homophile Effort for Legal Protection) monthly fundraiser at the Black Pipe, a major leather bar. Among the 22 arrested: HELP president Larry Townsend. The police are surprised when the organization fights back. Some consider this the West Coast Stonewall.

Attr — Townsend, Larry, "The Black Pipe Bar Raid: The Inside Story," Vector Oct. 1972; Advocate, September, 1969; The gay guide, 1971; Action, 1972-73; Barfly [Western edition], 1973; The gay guide, 1975; Out For Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America pp.78

1969 → 1990

Corral Club Baths

3747 Cahuenga Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

3747 Cahuenga Blvd

91604

Gay Guide '71: (YC) (P) *; Barfly West '73: B. C. P. W. *; Bob Damron '69-83: (P) (YC) *

On January 10, 1988, the LAPD raided the Melrose Baths, arresting three patrons for “lewd conduct.” Between January 17th and 22nd, officers likewise raided the Corral Club, the Compound, and again the Melrose Baths. “Clearly, no one should think that these actions are isolated from the AIDS-hysterical decision recently made by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to give broader powers to the County Department of Health Services to close the bathhouses at their discretion,” commented the newsletter of the Los Angeles chapter of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. Such raids were the most explicit example of the state’s use of repressive methods to attempt to control the spread of AIDS.

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '69-83; De Orio, Scott, "Punishing Queer Sexuality in the Age of LGBT Rights" pp. 264

1973 → 1974

El Poquito

10842 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

10842 Ventura Blvd

91604

F. R.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973

Saloon

10848 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

10848 Ventura Blvd

91604

G. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1968 → 1972

Pat's Lantern

10848 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

10848 Ventura Blvd

91604

G.

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1965 → 1977

Valli Haus

11012 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11012 Ventura Blvd

91604

F. L. M. *; (in litigation 1977)

Also published as Valli House

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73

1970 → 1971

Purple Hag

11059 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11059 Ventura Blvd

91604

A. E. F. R. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1980 → 1981

Attitudes

11100 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11100 Ventura Blvd

91604

(R) (Liquor)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1983

Safari

11100 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11100 Ventura Blvd

91604

(R) (Liquor)

Attr — Bob Damron '83

1955 → 1974

Star Room

12707 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90061

12707 S Main St

90061

Located between Watts and Gardena in an unincorporated portion of Los Angeles County, this was a “cruising bar” that attracted a more pink-collar clientele (teachers, secretaries, nurses, etc). Opened in the mid 1950s, owner Jo Heston had to marry a man in order to buy the bar because laws at that time didn’t allow women to own bars. The laws also prevented Heston from pouring liquor, so the bar had male bartenders.

At the Star Room, a lesbian bar on the outskirts of Los Angeles, women could dance but not too close. The manager would scrutinize the dance floor periodically with flashlight in hand. There had to be enough distance between a couple so that a beam from the flashlight could pass between them. In that way the owner hoped to avoid charges of disorderly conduct should there be any undercover agents among the patrons.

Featured space in Lillian Faderman's Curator Map.

Attr — WehoVille; Faderman, Lillian, "Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America" (1991); Gay Guide '71

1984

Wagg's Bistro

4329 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91602

4329 Lankershim Blvd

91602

(M) (R) (Lunch)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1984

Wellington's

4354 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91602

4354 Lankershim Blvd

91602

Bob Damron '84: (R) (Looks promising)

Attr — Bob Damron '84; Ferrari's '95

1982 → 1983

Roundup

4354 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91602

4354 Lankershim Blvd

91602

Bob Damron '82: (W) (Should be a winner)

Attr — Bob Damron '82-83

1980 → 1981

El Zorro

4354 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91602

4354 Lankershim Blvd

91602

Bob Damron '81: (Mexican R)

Attr — Bob Damron '80-81

1973 → 1974

Rib & Claw

11138 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11138 Ventura Blvd

91604

A. F. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1984

Sister Suds

10762 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232

10762 Washington Blvd

90232

(L)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1971

Centurion Book Store

11377 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11377 Ventura Blvd

91604

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1973

Tullies

5031 Rosemead Blvd, Pico Rivera, CA 90660

5031 Rosemead Blvd

90660

D. E. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1968 → 2021

Oil Can Harry's

11502 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11502 Ventura Blvd

91604

Long-running Studio City-based nightclub renowned for its gay country-line, latin & salsa, and 70's & 80's disco dancing and dancing lessons. The venue has hosted or partnered with numerous LGBTQ organizations, such as: the Wranglers, LA Rodeo, LA Band of Brothers, Silverstreak Softball, Los Angeles Leather Coalition, Gay Men’s Choir, Christopher St. West/LA Pride, and Valley Pride.

"When Oil Can Harry's opened in Studio City in 1968, it was illegal in Los Angeles for two men or two women to dance together," said 2nd District Councilman Paul Krekorian. The bar had a famous spyhole in the entry door and an internal siren system that workers used to alert patrons to a police presence, allowing them to halt same-sex dancing or activity.

Oil Can Harry's was known for its large wooden dance floor, where LGBTQ+ patrons would line-dance and even receive free classes during the early hours of the evening. (No cocktails were allowed on the floor.) The upstairs lounge hosted karaoke. Over the years, its famous dancing patrons included RuPaul, k.d. lang, and Geena Davis.

In 1999, a scene from the movie Happy, Texas was filmed here, and featured regulars from the club as extras. The bar was also the setting of the Haim music video, "Little of Your Love."

The owners announced the nightclub's closure via the Oil Can Harry’s website (oilcanharrysla.com) on 4 Jan 2021:

“Happy New Year to all!

2021 has not brought great news to Oil Can Harry’s: The property sold in December, thanks to Monty [sic] [Overstreet] and Jon just needing to shut down another establishment. It was purchased on December 9th by a new buyer, who wants to have their own venue with jazz music.

So, at this time I have to vacate the property--nothing bad or ugly, just something I have to do.

I fought hard to keep it, but just had to give up... Not sure where it will lead down the road.

Thank you all for this beautiful gift that we shared for 52 years.

Please, no negative posts on social media! It only hurts. Only positive would help!

Any help would be wonderful... 🌈🌈🌈😥😥😥”

In April 2022, the Los Angeles City Council designated the building a historic-cultural monument in a 14-0 vote. Councilman Joe Buscaino was absent. Of the more than 1,200 Historic-Cultural Monuments in the City of Angels, Oil Can Harry's is only the third LGBTQ+ structure that has received the designation. The other two are the Black Cat and the Mattachine Steps.

Gay Guide '71: (P) (D) (YC) *; Barfly West '73: C. D. E. L. Y.

Bob Damron: (YC) (Disco) (D) (Closed Mon. & Tues.) (Liquor)

Attr — Advocate, Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '81-83

1974 → 1979

Valley Palms Motel

11514 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11514 Ventura Blvd

91604

H

Attr — Barfly West '73

1969 → 1970

Little Log Cabin

11522 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11522 Ventura Blvd

91604

1971 → 1975

Linda's Log Cabin

11522 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11522 Ventura Blvd

91604

D. G.

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '71-75

1971

Betty's Hi-Spot

4108 W Magnolia Blvd, Burbank, CA 91505

4108 W Magnolia Blvd

91505

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1972 → 1973

Sagittarius

4108 W Magnolia Blvd, Burbank, CA 91505

4108 W Magnolia Blvd

91505

A. D. G.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973

Lucky Spot

1254 W El Segundo Blvd, Gardena, CA 90247

1254 W El Segundo Blvd

90247

G

Attr — Barfly West '73

1972 → 1974

Flying Dutchman

923 N Victory Blvd, Burbank, CA 91502

923 N Victory Blvd

91502

A

Attr — Barfly West '73, Bob Damron '72, '74

1967 → 1971

Clown

1117 N Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91505

1117 N Hollywood Way

91505

Attr — Lavender Baedeker '67; Gay Guide '69-71

1964 → 1979

Hub

7864 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024

7864 Santa Monica Blvd

90024

Barfly West '73: L. Y. *

In 1967, a group called PRIDE (Personal Rights in Defense and Education) began holding Pride Night social gatherings at a West Hollywood bar, the Hub. After a violent police raid at another gay bar, Silver Lake’s Black Cat Tavern, PRIDE helped organize protests there—a full two years before the landmark Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village.

The Hub served the gay community in many ways; primarily as place to socialize openly and in relative safety, but also as a place to gather politically and organize gay-related activities, both political and recreational.

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-79; 20 July 1964, Citizens News

1971 → 1973

Middle Earth

7978 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024

7978 Santa Monica Blvd

90024

"Primarily a black dance hall that's good after hours. Funky music, naturally."

Gay Guide '71: (YC) (D) *; Barfly West: A. D. L. Y. *' Ciao

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73, Ciao '73

1970 → 1973

The Farm

7978 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024

7978 Santa Monica Blvd

90024

Gay Guide '71: (YC) (D); Barfly West '73: A. D. L. Y. *

"In September 1970 GLF organized a pre-planned “Touch-In” at “The Farm,” the most-popular gay bar [...] in West Hollywood, a mafia-owned dive. In the week before the Touch-In, both Morris Kight and I were warned by mafioso Ed Nash, the bar’s owner, that if we didn’t want to meet with any “accidents,” we should call it off. We didn’t call it off.

At 10 p.m. on a Friday night (Sept. 18, 1970), other GLFers and I, strategically placed around the packed bar, started shouting, “Reach out and touch your gay brother, show him affection, and don’t budge no matter what happens. If they arrest one of us, we all go to jail.”

The lights went on, the music stopped, and multiple police sirens wailed in the distance, coming closer and closer. Four sheriff’s deputies, with others waiting outside, silently, menacingly, like an army of occupation, which they were, walked through the bar slowly from front to back. Gay men with their arms around each other stood their ground without budging, continuing to show physical affection and glaring at the sheriff’s deputies. To break the silence, I started chanting, with everyone joining in over and over again, “Ho Ho, Ho Chi Minh, GLF is going to win.” The deputies walked out and drove away. The lights went off, the music resumed and the rest is gay history.

The next night GLF marched down Santa Monica Boulevard from Plummer Park to Robertson, with GLF’s “commie-jew-fag-bastard kazoo band” playing show tunes, posting pre-printed posters on the doors and inside every gay business establishment. The posters were headed with the words “This Bar Is Liberated.” Within months showing physical affection and dancing were happening for the first time in gay bars all over the city, ultimately allowing places like Studio One to open.

In my half-century of community organizing on behalf of gay people, there has never ever been a moment when I was prouder of my gay brothers than that night in 1970 at The Farm in West Hollywood. It was Gandhi’s ahimsa and King’s non-violent resistance at its finest." - Don Kilhefner, WEHOVille, August 5, 2016

Attr — The Voice #94 Feb 1970; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73

1971

Leather Club Baths

4653 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91602

4653 Lankershim Blvd

91602

(Baths)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1980 → 1984

1350 North

4653 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91602

4653 Lankershim Blvd

91602

(Baths)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-84; 28 March 1980, The Voice

1973

Stables II

1559 W El Segundo Blvd, Gardena, CA 90249

1559 W El Segundo Blvd

90249

D. F.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1968 → 1975

Everybody's

11608 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11608 Ventura Blvd

91604

Barfly '73: A. C. D. P. Y.

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73

1979 → 2000

Apache Territory

11608 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11608 Ventura Blvd

91604

“The Apache, also known for a while as Apache Territory, was smaller and more intimate than Oil Can Harry’s. It provided a more likely place to actually meet and talk with someone,” Adkins says.

“At Oil Can Harry’s, you had to go outside to the front steps to talk to someone, or smoke if that was your vice. But at Apache, there was a small patio leading to the entrance,” he says. “It was fenced so it wasn’t exposed to the street. At Oil Can Harry’s, you could count on being verbally harassed from a passing car, or worse yet, have something thrown at you. In its last days, Apache installed T.V. monitors playing adult movies and had go-go boys dancing. The two brothers who owned Apache expanded and opened a second bar in Hollywood, but in time both bars closed. Later, the Ventura Boulevard location became another gay bar, Everybody’s.” (Adkins, Richard 2021)

Bob Damron '81: (Most macho disco in the valley) (D) * (Disco) (Liquor)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-95; Data-Boy Super-Men, 1979-86; Richard Adkins / Hollywood Heritage

1983 → 1984

Inches

11616 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11616 Ventura Blvd

91604

84: (Some W, SM)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1965 → 1982

Klondike

11616 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11616 Ventura Blvd

91604

81-82: (Beer & Wine)

Attr — Bob Damron '65-82

1982

Chez Andre

11622 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11622 Ventura Blvd

91604

(M) (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1973

Ship N' Shore

15215 S Crenshaw Blvd, Inglewood, CA 90303

15215 S Crenshaw Blvd

90303

D. E. F. M. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1982

Leather Unlimited

11686 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11686 Ventura Blvd

91604

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1982

Cafe Benedict

11343 Moorpark St, North Hollywood, CA 91602

11343 Moorpark St

91602

(M) (R)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1968 → 1978

Black Knight

10932 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10932 Burbank Blvd

91601

Barfly West '73: L. M.

Attr — Magpie January '68, Barfly West '73, Data-Boy Super-Men '78

1970 → 1971

Courte Inn

11720 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11720 Ventura Blvd

91604

(R)

"The Courte Inn, right beside The Hayloft, turned out to be as advertised - a better-class restaurant and bar with very good food. It looks like it will become one of the best gay restaurants in Los Angeles, though in all fairness, I should say that this is not a difficult achievement at present." - Vector

Attr — Vector February 1970; Gay Guide '71

1981 → 2016

Frontier

10644 W Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10644 W Magnolia Blvd

91601

(Publication)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1980 → 1981

Books Unlimited

3125 W Burbank Blvd, Burbank, CA 91505

3125 W Burbank Blvd

91505

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1979 → 1981

King's Row

5614 Vineland Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5614 Vineland Ave

91601

Bob Damron '81: (Disco) (D) (AH) (PT)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1984 → 1990

Compound

5636 Vineland Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5636 Vineland Ave

91601

* (Baths)

On January 10, 1988, the LAPD raided the Melrose Baths, arresting three patrons for “lewd conduct.” Between January 17th and 22nd, officers likewise raided the Corral Club, the Compound, and again the Melrose Baths. “Clearly, no one should think that these actions are isolated from the AIDS-hysterical decision recently made by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to give broader powers to the County Department of Health Services to close the bathhouses at their discretion,” commented the newsletter of the Los Angeles chapter of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. Such raids were the most explicit example of the state’s use of repressive methods to attempt to control the spread of AIDS.

Attr — Bob Damron '84; De Orio, Scott, "Punishing Queer Sexuality in the Age of LGBT Rights" pp. 264

1982 → 1984

Job Site

5614 Vineland Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5614 Vineland Ave

91601

Bob Damron '84: (R) (Disco) (D) (PT) (Go go boys) *

Attr — Data Boy Dec '82; Bob Damron '84

1993 → 2020

North Hollywood Spa

5636 Vineland Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5636 Vineland Ave

91601

1970 → 1972

Happy Talk

10703 W Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10703 W Magnolia Blvd

91601

D. G.

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Bob Damron '70-72

1955 → 1982

Keith's

11801 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11801 Ventura Blvd

91604

Barfly West '73: F. L. M. *; Bob Damron '65-82: (R) * (Liquor)

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-82; 3 March 1955 Valley News

1965 → 1984

A Touch of Class

11801 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11801 Ventura Blvd

91604

“Keith’s Touch of Class was a gay restaurant with a cocktail lounge and rotating musical performers like Wayne Moore and Brenda Silas Moore. Wayne was a singer-songwriter who played all the gay piano bars, and Brenda was his ex-wife and cabaret performer,” Adkins says. “The Streamline Modern building with its green neon sign and glass brick façade was a welcoming place.”

Bob Damron '84: (R) (Liquor)

Attr — Bob Damron '84, Richard Adkins / Hollywood Heritage

1985 → 1995

Club 22

4882 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

4882 Lankershim Blvd

91601

1972 → 1984

Big Horn

4882 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

4882 Lankershim Blvd

91601

(L) (D) (Liquor)

Attr — Action, 1972; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '80-84

1971

Brook's Baths

10737 W Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10737 W Magnolia Blvd

91601

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1965 → 1984

Hayloft

11818 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11818 Ventura Blvd

91604

“The Hayloft was essentially a stand up bar with sawdust on the floor, but they did have rows of benches as they had a large movie screen and would show classic Hollywood movies,” Adkins says. “Its other advantage was that it was an after hours bar. If you didn’t meet anyone by 2 a.m. at any of the other places and didn’t go out for breakfast to DuPar’s, Charles’, or Tiny Naylor’s, but were still looking to meet someone, you found yourself after hours at the Hayloft.”

Bar famous for showing released films mixed in with older ones. "No one knew how they got copies of the new ones."

Gay Guide '71: (SM) * also (C) after hours; Barfly West '73: A. E. K. *; Bob Damron '65-84: (Some W, SM, YC) (PT) (Movies) (C - AH) *

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-83; Burdsal, Bill, "Memoirs of a Human Being," pp. 334; '81 Jan "The Voice"; Richard Adkins / Hollywood Heritage

1977 → 1983

Lodge

4923 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

4923 Lankershim Blvd

91601

(D) (PT) (Cruisy) * (Liquor)

Attr — Bob Damron '77-83

1972 → 1985

Serpent 8 Club

4109 W Burbank Blvd, Burbank, CA 91505

4109 W Burbank Blvd

91505

Barfly West '73: B. C. P. Y. *; Bob Damron '81: (P) * (Greatly expanded)

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '72-83

1980 → 1981

Bert's

11916 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11916 Ventura Blvd

91604

81: (Liquor) (E) (PT) (WE*)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1982 → 1983

Showcase Inn

11916 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11916 Ventura Blvd

91604

82: (R) (E) (Looks promising)

Attr — Bob Damron '82-83

1984

Tandem

11916 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11916 Ventura Blvd

91604

84: (Some SM) *

Attr — Bob Damron '84; Data-boy 354 1984

1970 → 1981

C'est La Vie

11920 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11920 Ventura Blvd

91604

also listed as C'Est La Vie - Baton Rouge

Gay Guide'71: (D) (S); Barfly West '73: C. D. E. F. L. M. *; Bob Damron: (S) ("Drags") (Liquor)

Attr — Lulu Awards 1970; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '71-81

1970 → 1989

Gallery Inn

11938 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11938 Ventura Blvd

91604

Barfly West '73: F. L. M. Y. *; Bob Damron '81-89: (R) (Liquor); Lulu Awards 1970

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '81-82; Bob Damron '84

1973 → 1974

TJ's

11940 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11940 Ventura Blvd

91604

A. D. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1981 → 1982

Baker St. (1981-82)

10437 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10437 Burbank Blvd

91601

Bob Damron '81-82: (L) (Disco) (D) *

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1984

In Touch East (1984)

10437 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10437 Burbank Blvd

91601

Bob Damron '84: (L) (YC) (Disco) (D)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1984

Cheers (1984)

10437 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10437 Burbank Blvd

91601

Bob Damron '84: (L) (YC) (Disco) (D)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1971 → 1975

The Hanged Man

10522 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10522 Burbank Blvd

91601

Now the Bullet Bar, this address has a long history and has gone by several names, including the Hanged Man and the Signal. For a while it was a strict uniform club called the Officers Club, and in that incarnation, you weren't allowed in the club in street clothes at all.

Attr — H.E.L.P. Newsletter '71, Bob Damron '72-75

1980 → 1983

Officer's Club

10522 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10522 Burbank Blvd

91601

(Uniforms) (Best late)

A strict uniform club -- you weren't allowed in the club in street clothes at all. Now the Bullet Bar, this address has a long gay history and has gone by several names, including the Hanged Man and the Signal.

Attr — Drummer Magazine, Issue 39 (1980); Bob Damron '82-83

1983 → 2020

The Bullet

10522 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10522 Burbank Blvd

91601

Now the Bullet Bar, this address has a long gay history and has gone by several names, including the Hanged Man and the Signal. For a while it was a strict uniform club called the Officers Club, and in that incarnation, you weren't allowed in the club in street clothes at all.

1978 → 1981

Signal

10522 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10522 Burbank Blvd

91601

(Some W, SM) (PT)

Now the Bullet Bar, this address has a long gay history and has gone by several names, including the Hanged Man and the Signal. For a while it was a strict uniform club called the Officers Club, and in that incarnation, you weren't allowed in the club in street clothes at all.

Attr — Bob Damron '78-81

1970 → 1973

Cougar

10501 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10501 Burbank Blvd

91601

G. M.

Attr — Bob Damron '70-71; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73

1979 → 1984

Mi Wey

11513 Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066

11513 Washington Blvd

90066

(L)

Women's bar. Formerly The Safari.

Attr — Lesbian Tide Sept '79; Bob Damron '84

1971 → 1974

Tony's

10618 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10618 Burbank Blvd

91601

E. L. M. *

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73

1984

Future Body

11704 Moorpark St, Studio City, CA 91604

11704 Moorpark St

91604

(Gym)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1973

Sahara

5118 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5118 Lankershim Blvd

91601

T

Attr — Barfly West '73

1982 → 1982

Dude

11052 W Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

11052 W Magnolia Blvd

91601

(P) ("Wild back room")

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1968 → 1971

Cabaret

10638 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10638 Burbank Blvd

91601

(R)

Attr — Gay Guide '69-71

1982

Studio City Barber Shop

12053 Ventura Pl, Studio City, CA 91604

12053 Ventura Pl

91604

Attr — Bob Damron '82, '84

1973

Headlite

5643 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5643 Cahuenga Blvd

91601

Barfly West '73: A. C. D. E. F. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1971

Gladiator

5643 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5643 Cahuenga Blvd

91601

Gay Guide '71: (SM)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1972 → 2020

Metropolitan Community Church

5730 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5730 Cahuenga Blvd

91601

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1984

The Alley, Red Hanky Express

5729 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5729 Cahuenga Blvd

91601

Bob Damron '84: The Alley (F & S), Red Hanky Express (Baths) (Some SM, FFA)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1973 → 1980

American Continental Baths

5729 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5729 Cahuenga Blvd

91601

Bob Damron '80: (Baths)

Attr — Action Magazine August 1973; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '80

1980 → 1982

Allen's Alley

5729 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5729 Cahuenga Blvd

91601

Bob Damron '81-82: (Baths)

Attr — The Voice July 18, 1980; Bob Damron '81-82

1968 → 1974

Regency Club

5729 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

5729 Cahuenga Blvd

91601

Barfly West '73: B. C. P.

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73

1973 → 1974

Caesar's

12178 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

12178 Ventura Blvd

91604

E. D. L.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1966 → 1976

Blue Angel West

12179 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

12179 Ventura Blvd

91604

Barfly West '73: A; Bob Damron '81-84: (L) (Disco) (D) (RT)

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '66-76

1979 → 1986

Dummy Up Club

12179 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

12179 Ventura Blvd

91604

Bob Damron: (L) (Disco) (D) (RT)

Attr — Bob Damron '79-83; SCGBA 1986

1981 → 1986

Renegade

10932 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10932 Burbank Blvd

91601

Bob Damron: (Liquor) (PT) (D)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-84; Data Boy '86

1973 → 1974

Forsooth the Dragon

10937 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10937 Burbank Blvd

91601

Barfly West '73: A. D. M. *

Attr — Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '73-74

1968 → 1972

Crystal Inn

11232 Chandler Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

11232 Chandler Blvd

91601

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1973

Playhouse

11403 W Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

11403 W Magnolia Blvd

91601

D. E. L. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → 1974

Neworld

12319 Ventura Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91604

12319 Ventura Blvd

91604

Barfly West '73: A. D. E.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1979 → 1980

Boots

12319 Ventura Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91604

12319 Ventura Blvd

91604

Attr — Bob Damron '79-80

1973 → 1975

Fox

11150 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

11150 Burbank Blvd

91601

D. F. G.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1970 → 1972

Pacesetters

11150 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

11150 Burbank Blvd

91601

D. F. G.

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1973

Continental Spa

12446 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

12446 Ventura Blvd

91604

B. C. P.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1972 → 1983

Bla Bla Cafe

12466 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

12466 Ventura Blvd

91604

(M) (R) (E)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1964 → 2003

Queen Mary

12449 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

12449 Ventura Blvd

91604

also listed as King's Alley, King's Den, King's Lounge

“The Queen Mary was a show bar featuring drag performers. They wore feather boas and sequined gowns, vamping for the audience and lip-syncing musical hits,. The club organizers employed the clever device of a sheer black curtain between the audience and the performers – a kind of in-person soft focus filter helping the illusionists who were channeling Liza Minelli, Mae West, Diana Ross, and others to create a more successful recreation. The bar had a separate entrance called the King’s Lounge for people reluctant to enter a bar with the Queen Mary name.” (Adkins, Richard 2021)

Gay Guide '71: (S) *; Barfly West '73: [King's Alley] L, [Queen Mary] C. E. F. L. M. *; Bob Damron: (M) (S) (Liquor) * (King's Den in rear)

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '66-83; Richard Adkins / Hollywood Heritage

1981 → today

The Boulevard

3199 East Foothill Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91107

3199 East Foothill Boulevard

91107

The Boulevard offers karaoke, a pool table, and drag shows.

Attr — TimeOut

1984

Corner Pocket

10542 Victory Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

10542 Victory Blvd

91606

(W) (PT)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1980 → 1982

Le Chop Shop

12434 Moorpark St, Studio City, CA 91604

12434 Moorpark St

91604

(Haircutters)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1971 → 1973

Vanity Box

12135 Riverside Dr, Valley Village, CA 91607

12135 Riverside Dr

91607

Gay Guide '71: (D) (HIP); Barfly West '73: D. E. M.

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '71-72

1973 → 1974

Oak Room Lounge

11518 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

11518 Burbank Blvd

91601

E. L.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1988 → 1994

BLK Publishing

5903 S Corning Ave, Los Angeles, 90056

5903 S Corning Ave

90056

BLK was a monthly American newsmagazine which targeted African-American LGBT readers. Sub-titled "The National Black Lesbian and Gay Newsmagazine," with the motto "where the news is colored on purpose," BLK (always capitalized) took its name from the standard abbreviation used in U.S. personal ads for "black."

Published in Los Angeles, the magazine was distributed free to local black establishments frequented by lesbians and gay men, but distribution rapidly expanded to nearly all LGBT venues in Greater Los Angeles. Its early coverage of the local black LGBT scene soon enlarged to a nationwide and international focus, and eventually to national and Canadian distribution.

Alan Bell, an African-American graphic designer, had published Gaysweek (considered NYC's first mainstream weekly lesbian and gay newspaper) when he lived in New York City during the late 1970s. After moving back to Los Angeles, he founded a black gay man's safer-sex club called Black Jack. While publishing his eight-page newsletter for the members of Black Jack, he realized the dearth of reliable information in print about African-American LGBTs and about the HIV crisis. He decided to expand the newsletter, and BLK was born.

Beginning as a 16-page black-and-white newsprint throwaway in 1988, it had grown to 40 pages with glossy color covers, paid circulation, and national product advertising by the time it ceased publication in mid-1994.

Although the first issue had a beefcake cover (a muscular black man clad only in the traditional Santa's hat and whiskers, shown with the magazine's coyly-placed logo), subsequent covers usually pictured a prominent African-American LGBT featured in the "BLK Interview" or photographically illustrated a theme of the month.

Among those interviewed were singer Patti LaBelle (August 1990); porn star Randy Cochran (March 1989); poet Audre Lorde (April 1989); Carl Bean, founder of the Minority AIDS Project and of the Unity Fellowship Church (July 1989), Black AIDS Institute founder Phill Wilson (October 1990); Amassi and BMX founder Cleo Manago (March 1990); documentary-maker Marlon Riggs (April 1990); and Marjorie Hill, CEO of Gay Men's Health Crisis (August 1990).

Attr — ONE Archives, Wikipedia

1968 → 1984

Skivey's Capri

6133 Vineland Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91606

6133 Vineland Ave

91606

M

Attr — Magpie '68; Bob Damron '80-84

1957 → 1971

Club Laurel

12319 Ventura Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91604

12319 Ventura Blvd

91604

The small, upscale club with a piano bar and booths and tables featured singer Beverly Shaw, a celebrity among the lesbian community. Shaw, who was described as having a sultry voice, often sat atop the piano to perform songs dressed in tailor-made suits wearing a bow tie. Patrons tended to dress up when they went to Club Laurel, which one review described as an “uptown club unlike anything in the way of a gay club we had ever seen.”

Shaw (1909-1990) was from Los Angeles, California. She began her career in San Francisco, California, singing torch songs at the lesbian bar Mona's 440 and the Chi-Chi Club. During World War II, she drove a taxi to support herself and sang as a headliner at Mona's at night.

Shaw moved back to Los Angeles in the early 1950s. She sang at the Flamingo Club (1027 N La Brea) for a few years before moving her act to Club Laurel, originally owned by the mother of Shaw's lover, Betty. Shaw turned Club Laurel into a popular upscale gay night spot catering to the film community, which ran for 14 years. She placed a photograph of herself in the front window of Club Laurel captioned "Miss Beverly Shaw, Sir!", later saying that she borrowed the 'sir' from a Groucho Marx interview with Tallulah Bankhead in which he called her sir. The club's matchbooks were similarly captioned.

In the late 1950s or early 1960s, Shaw produced an album titled "Songs Tailored to Your Taste." The album includes her signature song, "Honeysuckle Rose," and was released on her own label: Club Laurel Records.

Featured space in Lillian Faderman's Curator Map.

Attr — Wikipedia; Lillian Faderman interview, Queer Music Heritage; WehoVille, Gay Guide '71

1973

Levi Club

10715 Garvey Ave, El Monte, CA 91733

10715 Garvey Ave

91733

B. C. P.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1982 → 1984

Gateway

2526 S Barrington Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90064

2526 S Barrington Ave

90064

(Some L) (PT) (D)

Attr — Bob Damron '82, 84

1982

Ol' New Yorker

12430 Riverside Dr, Valley Village, CA 91607

12430 Riverside Dr

91607

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1966 → 1977

Magnolia Inn

12136 W Magnolia Blvd, Valley Village, CA 91607

12136 W Magnolia Blvd

91607

Attr — Bob Damron '66-77; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73

1978 → 1983

Mag

12136 W Magnolia Blvd, Valley Village, CA 91607

12136 W Magnolia Blvd

91607

Bob Damron '78-83: (W) (PT) (Cruisy) *

Attr — Bob Damron '78-83

1973

Club Alondra

126 E Alondra Blvd, Gardena, CA 90248

126 E Alondra Blvd

90248

D. E. F.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1981 → 1984

Apache West

2214 Stoner Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90064

2214 Stoner Ave

90064

* (Disco) (D)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1972 → 1982

Love Inn

10700 Vanowen St, North Hollywood, CA 91605

10700 Vanowen St

91605

Barfly West '73: D. F. G.; Bob Damron: (YC) (L) (Disco) (D) (Best Sundays) (Liquor)

Attr — Lesbian Tide '72; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '74-82

1973 → 1988

Roman Holiday Baths

12814 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066

12814 Venice Blvd

90066

Attr — Bob Damron '73-84;

1983 → 1984

Roger's Back Door

12821 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066

12821 Venice Blvd

90066

84: (PT) (E) (Movies)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1982

Sidekicks

12821 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066

12821 Venice Blvd

90066

82: (PT)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1973

El Capitan

13825 Hawthorne Blvd, Hawthorne, CA 90250

13825 Hawthorne Blvd

90250

Attr — Barfly West '73

1972 → 1974

Outer Limits

12458 Magnolia Blvd, Valley Village, CA 91607, USA

12458 Magnolia Blvd

USA

Attr — Action Magazine (April 1973)

1984

Roostertail

1302 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066

1302 W Washington Blvd

90066

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1981 → today

Jason's II

6408 Tujunga Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91606

6408 Tujunga Ave

91606

Book store

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1975 → 1978

The Sugar Shack

12458 Magnolia, Valley Village, CA, 91607

12458 Magnolia

91607

"The Sugar Shack had been a stripper/biker club. Before that it had been a gay bar called the Outer Limits. It had an upstairs with a big round fireplace. "More More More" and "Love to Love You Baby" always packed the floor. We also played a rock-and-roll set. We started playing "The Time Warp" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show there...the actual formation dance was born at the Shack."

"The Shack didn't have any alcohol and it was open till five in the morning."

(Chuck E. Starr, DJ, from We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk by Marc Spitz, Brendan Mullen, pp. 37-38, 2001)

"The Sugar Shack was a juice bar where you had to show ID to prove that you were under twenty one...The place was tiny and wood paneled, with a long bar down the right side as you walked in. There was an upstairs lounge area that had a working fireplace, clanging pinball machines, and couches were everyone eventually wound up writhing around with someone they’d just met.

The main attraction was the dance floor, which took up at least a third of the club. Racks of colorful lights whirled around overhead, along with a Disco ball, a siren that sounded frequently, and strobe lights. The notorious Chuck E Starr was the DJ playing Shack faves like Roxy Music’s “Do The Strand”, The Sweet’s “AC/DC” or “Fox On The Run” and “Planet Queen” by T. Rex. He also favored hits from LA’s “grown up” gay clubs, like The Andrea True Connection’s “More, More, More” and “Party Line” and Hot Chocolate’s “You Sexy Thing”. Ziggy Stardust look-alike Rick Ferris (aka Rick Bowie) would jump up and lead an off-handed, infinitely hot Hustle...But the big crowd pleaser was anything from The Rocky Horror Show – the entire dance floor would be filled with kids doing “The Time Warp” in Busby Berkeley precision, and “Cherry Bomb” by local gals and Shack regulars, The Runaways.

The main thing I remember about the dance floor...were the mirrored panels that surrounded it on three sides. They were covered in a thick band of kiss marks in every conceivable shade of lip-gloss because everybody would dance facing the mirrors and kiss their own reflections.

You’d get there early, get really wasted in the parking lot, then hang out with gay guys and make out with your girlfriends. I remember a lot of chicks wearing those chubby rabbit fur jackets...Money wasn’t important… everyone was running around screaming “GIRRRRL!” and “MISS THING!” and we’d all cram into the girl’s restroom to make out with each other.

There were a lot of bisexual girls" (Gehman, 2014)

"The dance floors of such Hollywood and North Hollywood clubs as the Outer Limits, Other Side, Paradise Ballroom, Sugar Shack, After Dark, Gino’s II, and, ultimately, Circus were where we communicated with our bodies – an essential, enduring part of our queer development and identity." (Rojas, James, 2016).

Attr — Pleasant Gehman: Confessions of a Post-Modern Showgirl (2014, accessed 2022), James Rojas: "From the Eastside to Hollywood: Chicano Queer Trailblazers in 1970s L.A." (KCET, 2016, accessed 2022), We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk By Marc Spitz, Brendan Mullen (2001)

1973 → 1976

Truck Stop

13257 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

13257 Ventura Blvd

91604

W. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973

Matador

13616 S Inglewood Ave, Hawthorne, CA 90250

13616 S Inglewood Ave

90250

M

Attr — Barfly West '73

1980 → 2000

Rawhide

10937 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10937 Burbank Blvd

91601

Bob Damron '81: (D) (PT) (Looks promising); Bob Damron '82: (PT) (Liquor) * (C W) (PX Boutique)

Attr — The Voice '80; Bob Damron '81-83

1972 → 1976

Woodshed

11634 Victory Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

11634 Victory Blvd

91606

F. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1995 → 2000

Gold 9

13625 Moorpark St., Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

13625 Moorpark St.

91423

Attr — Damron Guide '95, '00

1973

Buckboard

13400 W Washington Blvd, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

13400 W Washington Blvd

90292

D. L. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1961 → 1973

Joani Presents

6413 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

6413 Lankershim Blvd

91606

Gay Guide'71: (S) (G) *; Barfly West '73: D. E. G. L. *

This bar was owned by Joan Hannan, who was most famous for playing the drummer in the all-girl band in the 1959 Marilyn Monroe film “Some Like it Hot.” Attracting many classes of women, the bar was popular throughout the 1960s and 1970s, only closing when Hannan and her partner moved to Humboldt County.

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; WehoVille

1979 → 1981

Club Forty Niner

6411 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

6411 Lankershim Blvd

91606

(L) (R) (D) (On again, off again)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1965 → 1980

Attic

11717 1/2 Victory Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

11717 1/2 Victory Blvd

91606

M

also known as The Attic Tavern and Attic Inn

Attr — The Lavender Baedeker '64; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-80

1975 → 1984

M.B. Club

11725 Victory Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

11725 Victory Blvd

91606

(P) (Wild back room)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1976 → 1993

La Tura Motel

11745 Victory Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

11745 Victory Blvd

91606

(M) (H)

Attr — Bob Damron '76-83

1981 → 1982

Forge

13548 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

13548 Ventura Blvd

91423

(SM) (W)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1980 → 1981

One-On-One, Inc.

13340 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064

13340 W Olympic Blvd

90064

Referral & intro service

Attr — The Voice, 1980; Bob Damron '81

1965 → 1979

Capri

6131 Vineland Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91606

6131 Vineland Ave

91606

M

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73, Contact Gay Guide '74; Bob Damron '65-'79

1980 → 1983

Party Shop

13628 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

13628 Ventura Blvd

91423

(Gifts, cards, etc.)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1974 → 1976

Tigress

6630 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

6630 Lankershim Blvd

91606

D. E. G.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1972 → 1984

Canyon Room

13625 Moorpark St, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

13625 Moorpark St

91423

Also listed as Dave Waldor's New Canyon Room

Barfly West: D. F. L. *; Bob Damron: (R) (D) (Liquor)

Attr — Zipper '72; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '73-84

1973

Club

16805 S Western Ave, Gardena, CA 90247

16805 S Western Ave

90247

D. G.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1969 → 1974

Little Dipper

4351 Woodman Ave, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

4351 Woodman Ave

91423

Attr — Advocate August '69; Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '70-74

1980 → 1984

Valley Adult Books & Erotica Boutique

6749 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

6749 Lankershim Blvd

91606

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1982 → 1983

Casbah

13817 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

13817 Ventura Blvd

91423

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1965 → 1981

Office

13817 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

13817 Ventura Blvd

91423

Barfly West '73: D. M. *; Bob Damron: (D) (R) (Liquor) (Tired)

Attr — Gay Guide '71; Barfly West '73; Bob Damron '65-81

1980 → 1982

Nautilus Santa Monica

12061 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025

12061 Wilshire Blvd

90025

(Gym)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1971 → 1972

Apartment

4712 Woodman Ave, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

4712 Woodman Ave

91423

(D) *

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1972 → 1973

Hungry Eye

13952 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

13952 Ventura Blvd

91423

D

Attr — Barfly West '73

1970

Al's Playhouse

9306 Alondra Blvd, Bellflower, CA 90706

9306 Alondra Blvd

90706

M

Attr — 2 July 1970 Independent Long Beach, Barfly West '73

1971

Ali Baba's

11663 Sherman Way, North Hollywood, CA 91605

11663 Sherman Way

91605

(G) (D) (M)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1981 → 1984

Adult Book Store

7135 Foothill Blvd, Tujunga, CA 91042

7135 Foothill Blvd

91042

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1968 → 1971

Scotty's Tavern

132 Lincoln Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

132 Lincoln Blvd

90291

(G)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1973

Crystal Ball

1355 Washington Way, Venice, CA 90291

1355 Washington Way

90291

M

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973

Holly's

1219 Washington Way, Venice, CA 90291

1219 Washington Way

90291

D. G.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1979 → 2016

Roosterfish

1302 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

1302 Abbot Kinney Blvd

90291

The bar was opened by life and business partners Walter Schneider and Alex Alexander, who had previously started the first gay establishment in West Hollywood, the Gallery Room, as well as a discotheque called Up Disco. After a friend spotted the current location on Abbot Kinney, the pair bought it and opened its doors in 1979. They frequently visited Cabo San Lucas and, on one of their trips, decided to name the bar after a species of game fish.

Over the next three and a half decades, the Roosterfish remained a pillar of the Westside LGBT community, known for its cheap drinks and dive-bar atmosphere, complete with pool tables and barbecues on the weekend.

Roosterfish mural was painted by Puerto Rican Alexis Diaz (La Pandilla) in 2013.

Attr — LA Weekly, May 2018

1971

Scotty's II

2906 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405

2906 Lincoln Blvd

90405

(G)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1984

Starlite Roller Rink

7727 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91605

7727 Lankershim Blvd

91605

(Gay Wed. nites)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1972 → 2017

Oxwood Inn

13713 Oxnard St, Van Nuys, CA 91401

13713 Oxnard St

91401

(Many L) * (D) (PT) (Liquor)

Bought by Texas-born Betty “Tuck” Sutherland, it was the longest-running lesbian bar in the United States when it closed in 2017. It was home to the trans-focused club night Club Shine.

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82, 84

1973

Big Brother

1616 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90007

1616 W Washington Blvd

90007

D. G.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → 1974

Speak 39

1651 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1651 N Cahuenga Blvd

90028

L. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973

Cricket Club

10514 Long Beach Blvd, Lynwood, CA 90262

10514 Long Beach Blvd

90262

Attr — Barfly West '73

1980

Balled Eagle

1657 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

1657 N Western Ave

90027

(PT) (D)

Attr — Bob Damron '80

1984

Le Park

1123 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90038

1123 Vine St

90038

Le Park: (M) (R) (C) (RT)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1973 → 1976

Truck Stop

13257 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

13257 Ventura Blvd

91604

W. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → 1974

Caesar's

12178 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

12178 Ventura Blvd

91604

E. D. L.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1982

Studio City Barber Shop

12053 Ventura Pl, Studio City, CA 91604

12053 Ventura Pl

91604

Attr — Bob Damron '82, '84

1981

Chesterfield Hotel

1624 N Hudson Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1624 N Hudson Ave

90028

(M) (H)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1973

Broom Hilda's

16865 Pacific Coast Hwy, Huntington Beach, CA 92649

16865 Pacific Coast Hwy

92649

D.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1984

Roostertail

1302 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066

1302 W Washington Blvd

90066

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1984

In Touch East (1984)

10437 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10437 Burbank Blvd

91601

Bob Damron '84: (L) (YC) (Disco) (D)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1973

Crystal Ball

1355 Washington Way, Venice, CA 90291

1355 Washington Way

90291

M

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → 1974

Onion, Too

1540 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1540 N Cahuenga Blvd

90028

D. L. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1981 → 1982

Baker St. (1981-82)

10437 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10437 Burbank Blvd

91601

Bob Damron '81-82: (L) (Disco) (D) *

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1973

Squeeze Box

14412 Friar St, Van Nuys, CA 91401

14412 Friar St

91401

Attr — Barfly West '73

1979 → 1983

Benny's

1645 Wilcox Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1645 Wilcox Ave

90028

(Some OC) (RT)

Attr — Bob Damron '81-82

1971

Centurion Book Store

11377 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11377 Ventura Blvd

91604

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1974 → 1979

Valley Palms Motel

11514 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11514 Ventura Blvd

91604

H

Attr — Barfly West '73

1972 → 1983

Bla Bla Cafe

12466 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

12466 Ventura Blvd

91604

(M) (R) (E)

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1968 → 1971

Scotty's Tavern

132 Lincoln Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

132 Lincoln Blvd

90291

(G)

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1972 → 1976

Woodshed

11634 Victory Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

11634 Victory Blvd

91606

F. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1970 → 1971

Hold

165 W Channel Rd, Santa Monica, CA 90402

165 W Channel Rd

90402

*

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1970

Silver Coin

114 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90014

114 W 6th St

90014

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1973

Lucky Spot

1254 W El Segundo Blvd, Gardena, CA 90247

1254 W El Segundo Blvd

90247

G

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973

Playhouse

11403 W Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

11403 W Magnolia Blvd

91601

D. E. L. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973

Office

1640 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1640 Vine St

90028

L. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → 1974

El Poquito

10842 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

10842 Ventura Blvd

91604

F. R.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1972 → 1973

Galleon Room

1638 N Las Palmas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1638 N Las Palmas Ave

90028

D. E. F. L.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973

Continental Spa

12446 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

12446 Ventura Blvd

91604

B. C. P.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1984

Frolic II

1645 Wilcox Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1645 Wilcox Ave

90028

(Some OC) (RT)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1973 → 1974

Rib & Claw

11138 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11138 Ventura Blvd

91604

A. F. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1980 → 1981

Attitudes

11100 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11100 Ventura Blvd

91604

(R) (Liquor)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1982

Ol' New Yorker

12430 Riverside Dr, Valley Village, CA 91607

12430 Riverside Dr

91607

Attr — Bob Damron '82

1973

Club Alondra

126 E Alondra Blvd, Gardena, CA 90248

126 E Alondra Blvd

90248

D. E. F.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1981 → 2016

Frontier

10644 W Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10644 W Magnolia Blvd

91601

(Publication)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1973

Buckboard

13400 W Washington Blvd, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

13400 W Washington Blvd

90292

D. L. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1984

Sister Suds

10762 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232

10762 Washington Blvd

90232

(L)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1973 → 1974

Oak Room Lounge

11518 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

11518 Burbank Blvd

91601

E. L.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → 1974

Mirror Room

1600 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90017

1600 W 6th St

90017

F. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973

Saloon

10848 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

10848 Ventura Blvd

91604

G. M.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973

Stardust

1023 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

1023 N Western Ave

90029

M

Attr — Barfly West '73

1971

Brook's Baths

10737 W Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

10737 W Magnolia Blvd

91601

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1972 → 1973

Hungry Eye

13952 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

13952 Ventura Blvd

91423

D

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → 1977

Las Palmas Theatre

1642 N Las Palmas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028

1642 N Las Palmas Ave

90028

T

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973

Ship N' Shore

15215 S Crenshaw Blvd, Inglewood, CA 90303

15215 S Crenshaw Blvd

90303

D. E. F. M. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973

Club

16805 S Western Ave, Gardena, CA 90247

16805 S Western Ave

90247

D. G.

Attr — Barfly West '73

1969 → 1971

Executive Lounge

14520 Roscoe Blvd, Panorama City, CA 91402

14520 Roscoe Blvd

91402

Attr — Gay Guide '71

1983 → 1984

Roger's Back Door

12821 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066

12821 Venice Blvd

90066

84: (PT) (E) (Movies)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1973

Paddle Board II

1417 Pacific Coast Hwy, Wilmington, CA 90744

1417 Pacific Coast Hwy

90744

A. D. M. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1984

Corner Pocket

10542 Victory Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

10542 Victory Blvd

91606

(W) (PT)

Attr — Bob Damron '84

1975 → 1984

M.B. Club

11725 Victory Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606

11725 Victory Blvd

91606

(P) (Wild back room)

Attr — Bob Damron '81

1970 → 1971

Purple Hag

11059 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604

11059 Ventura Blvd

91604

A. E. F. R. *

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973

Matador

13616 S Inglewood Ave, Hawthorne, CA 90250

13616 S Inglewood Ave

90250

M

Attr — Barfly West '73

1973 → 1975

Fox

11150 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

11150 Burbank Blvd

91601

D. F. G.

Attr — Barfly West '73