Gay mecca

by JACOB H. FRIES & r & & r & & lt;span class= & quot;dropcap & quot; & T & lt;/span & he thought -- a "gay district" like the Castro in San Francisco -- was made all the more provocative by the proof it was planned for staid, family-friendly Spokane. Journalists relished the juxtaposition. Conservative religious leaders condemned it, saying such a district would attract crime, drugs and sex.





Proponents like Bonnie Aspen, on the other hand, said the creation of a gay-friendly neighborhood would show that the city was indeed tolerant and progressive -- just the type of place desired by the emerging "creative class." It was late 2004 and everything seemed possible. The sweeping Kendall Yards project would soon be announced, and support for a "university district" was building.





In January 2005, Aspen predicted the gay district would grab shape in the next year or two. "It was a very electrifying time," she recalls. "Eyes popped open and people stopped being Eeyores and started being Tiggers."





So, where's our neighborhood of gay-oriented businesses?





"The best way to say it is ... I think we were far beyond the actual world in Spokane," says Asp

WeHo Became A Queer Mecca. Here’s The History Behind That (And Other Headlines)

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A night out on Santa Monica Boulevard in WeHo is almost a right of passage for us queer folks in L.A.

I remember my first time in 2012. I was amazed to glimpse how folks expressed bliss — some in performative, others in simple clothing — while hearing Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” blast throughout The Abbey. It was a moment for me: a then-not out gay guy.

For the LGBTQ+ community, these spaces are sacred because there aren’t that many places to call our hold. But WeHo wasn’t always the gay mecca it is now.

The gays move west

The history of how West Hollywood became a queer (and non-queer at this point) destination dates back to the Prohibition era. During the “Pansy Craze” in the delayed 1920s, LGBTQ+ people gathered at speakeasies mostly in the Hollywood area. It was illegal to guzzle back then, but it was also illegal to be gay. (Private, consensual gay sex was illegal in California until 1

Historical Essay

by Dick Boyd Writer of Broadway North Beach: The Golden Years

Originally published in The Semaphore #189, Winter 2010

Front of Mona's, 1945.

Dick Boyd recounts the Gay and Lesbian scene in North Beach during the 1940s and 50s. He opens the article with his own personal account of going to lesbian bars on Broadway Street as a teenager in the late 1940s and initial 1950s. He goes on to describe the scenes at six North Beach bars that he feels “best exemplif[ies] a cross section of gay/lesbian establishments,” including The Paper Doll, The Black Cat, The Beige Room, Mona’s, Tin Angel, and the Fallen Angel apartment. During the 1950s era of sexual repression, the gay group was able to thrive in North Beach by creating a public sphere where gay people and lesbians could be free to talk and build like-minded public communities.

This story has been a blast from the past for me. From 1948 through the 50’s I was a habitué of North Beach. I hit many of the watering holes in this story. In 1955, I was a Grey Line Tour Mentor for their Night Club tours that made stops at Finocchio’s, the Homosexual Nineties and La Casa Dora, all on Broadway. In 1960 I be

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