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.”