LGBTQ+ Historical Sites in Los Angeles
This is a collection of historical sites in LA related to LGBTQ+ life and history. The information and sites were gathered by both Mika Baumgardner and Arlene Reynolds, and the map was created by Arlene Reynolds for the UCLA LGBTQ Resource Center's 25th Anniversary Tour Project.
Selected Resources
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Black Los Angeles: American Dreams and Racial Realities
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ISBN: 9780814737347Date: 2010-04-19An in-depth analysis of the historical and contemporary contours of black life in Los Angeles. Black Los Angeles is the culmination of a groundbreaking research project from the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA that presents an in-depth analysis of the historical and contemporary contours of black life in Los Angeles. Chapter titled ""Black and Gay in L.A.": The Relationships Black Lesbians and Gay Men have with their Racial and Religious Communities." -
Bohemian Los Angeles and the Making of Modern Politics
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ISBN: 9780520249257Date: 2007-01-15Bohemian Los Angeles brings to life a vibrant and all-but forgotten milieu of artists, leftists, and gay men and women whose story played out over the first half of the twentieth century and continues to shape the entire American landscape. Portraying life over a period of more than forty years in the hilly enclave of Edendale, near downtown Los Angeles, Daniel Hurewitz considers the work of painters and printmakers, looks inside the Communist Party's intimate cultural scene, and examines the social world of gay men. -
Brown and Gay in LA: The Lives of Immigrant Sons
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ISBN: 9781479824250Date: 2022-09-19Growing up in the shadow of Hollywood, the gay sons of immigrants featured in Brown and Gay in LA could not have felt further removed from a world where queerness was accepted and celebrated. For these men, the path to sexual freedom often involves chasing the dreams while resisting the expectations of their immigrant parents--and finding community in each other. Brown and Gay in LA is an homage to second-generation gay men and their radical redefinition of what it means to be gay, to be a man, to be a person of color, and, ultimately, what it means to be an American. -
Cruising the Archive: Queer Art and Culture in Los Angeles, 1945-1980
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ISBN: 9780615497242Date: 2011-10-01Cruising the Archive: Queer Art and Culture in Los Angeles, 1945-1980 explores the rich history of queer art, activism and culture in Los Angeles through artworks, documents, and archival items culled entirely from the collections at ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, the largest LGBTQ archive in the United States. -
Gay L. A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians
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ISBN: 9780465022885Date: 2006-10-03The exhortation to "Go West!" has always had a strong hold on the American imagination. But for the gays, lesbians, and transgendered people who have moved to L.A. over the past two centuries, the City of Angels has offered a special home -- which, in turn, gave rise to one of the most influential gay cultures in the world. -
L.A. Interchanges: A Brown & Queer Archival Memoir
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ISBN: 9781734118087Date: 2023-07-31Part working-class memoir and part documentary history, L.A. Interchanges follows Lydia Otero as they move from the homes of family members, dancefloors, work sites, and Los Angeles's organizing spaces in search of brown and queer belonging. Through photographs, archival documents, and compelling storytelling, Otero weaves a gripping, passionate narrative of personal becoming amid the political and cultural currents of 1980s Los Angeles. -
Lavender Los Angeles
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ISBN: 9780738574905Date: 2011-06-06Los Angeles has always been a city of possibilities and reinvention. A youthful and independent spirit permeates the culture and gives a sense of freedom found in few other places. This environment provided fertile ground for the growth of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community that had a major influence on LGBT life in the United States. -
The Life and Death of ACT Up/LA: Anti-AIDS Activism in Los Angeles from the 1980s to the 2000s
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ISBN: 9781107106314Date: 2017-05-11The Life and Death of ACT UP/LA explores the history of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, Los Angeles, part of the militant anti-AIDS movement of the 1980s and 1990s. ACT UP/LA battled government, medical, and institutional neglect of the AIDS epidemic, engaging in multi-targeted protest in Los Angeles and nationally. The book shows how appealing the direct action anti-AIDS activism was for people across the United States; as well as arguing the need to understand how the politics of place affect organizing, and how the particular features of the Los Angeles cityscape shaped possibilities for activists. -
Love Your Asian Body: AIDS Activism in Los Angeles
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ISBN: 9780295749327Date: 2022-02-15A community memoir, Love Your Asian Body connects the deeply personal with the uncompromisingly political in telling the stories of more than thirty Asian American AIDS activists. In those early years of the epidemic, these activists became caregivers, social workers, nurses, researchers, and advocates for those living with HIV. And for many, the AIDS epidemic sparked the beginning of their continued work to build multiracial coalitions and confront broader systemic inequities. Detailing the intertwined realities of race and sexuality in AIDS activism, Love Your Asian Body offers a vital portrait of a movement founded on joy. -
The Making of a Gay Asian Community: An Oral History of Pre-AIDS Los Angeles
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ISBN: 9780742511101Date: 2001-12-29In this unique oral history, gay Asian Americans talk frankly about their struggle for self-determination and independence. For the first time, in their own words, pioneers in the Los Angeles movement discuss the gay scene in Southern California and the development of a distinctly Asian American identity. -
Mapping Gay L.A.: The Intersection of Place and Politics
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ISBN: 1566398835Date: 2001-07-01In this book, Moira Kenney makes the case that Los Angeles better represents the spectrum of gay and lesbian community activism and culture than cities with a higher gay profile. Owing to its sprawling geography and fragmented politics, Los Angeles lacks a single enclave like the Castro in San Francisco or landmarks as prominent as the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, but it has a long and instructive history of community building. -
Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America
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ISBN: 9780231074896Date: 2012-02-21As Lillian Faderman writes, there are "no constants with regard to lesbianism," except that lesbians prefer women. In this groundbreaking book, she reclaims the history of lesbian life in twentieth-century America, tracing the evolution of lesbian identity and subcultures from early networks to more recent diverse lifestyles. -
Pre-Gay L.A.: A Social History of the Movement for Homosexual Rights
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ISBN: 9780252076411Date: 2009-04-16This book explores the origins and history of the modern American movement for homosexual rights, which originated in Los Angeles in the late 1940s and continues today. Part ethnography and part social history, it is a detailed account of the history of the movement as manifested through the emergence of four related organizations: Mattachine, ONE Incorporated, the Homosexual Information Center (HIC), and the Institute for the Study of Human Resources (ISHR), which began doing business as ONE Incorporated when the two organizations merged in 1995. -
Queers in Space: Communities, Public Places, Sites of Resistance
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ISBN: 9780941920445Date: 1997-01-01Cultural Studies. Gay and Lesbian Studies. Urban Planning. Exploring the interactions between queer identity, experience, and activism and a range of communal and public spaces, QUEERS IN SPACE: COMMUNITIES, PUBLIC PLACES, SITES OF RESISTANCE opens up a new direction in gay and lesbian studies. -
Transmovimientos: Latinx Queer Migrations, Bodies, and Spaces
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ISBN: 9781496225894Date: 2021-06-012022 International Latino Book Award Finalist for Best LGBTQ Studies Book. Within a trans-embodied framework, this anthology identifies transmovimientos as the creative force or social mechanism through which queer, trans, and gender nonconforming Latinx communities navigate their location and calibrate their consciousness.
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Explore More Special Collections and ArchivesFor more information on additional archives both in and outside of Los Angeles, please check out the Special Collections and Archives page of this guide.
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Oral HistoriesLinks to oral history portals and projects related to LGBTQ history.
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ACT UP/Los Angeles recordsACT UP is an international direct action advocacy group focused primarily on improving the access to and quality of AIDS healthcare services, as well as coalition building with a broad range of other activist communities. This collection contains ephemera and promotional materials from ACT UP Los Angeles.
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Connexxus/Centro de Mujeres collectionThe Connexxus/Centro de Mujeres Collection contains the administrative records of Connexxus / Centro de Mujeres, one of the first Los Angeles non-profit organizations that catered and provided services to lesbians.
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Degania Golove papers, 1981-1999 LSC.1984Degania Golove, born April 17, 1929, was a longtime volunteer and one-time coordinator of the June L. Mazer Archives. Throughout her life, she was consistently acknowledged for her research assistance on gay and lesbian history. She received a Women in Leadership Award from the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in acknowledgement of her community and activist work. Golove died in Los Angeles on July 17, 2015.
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Epstein (Marsha) PapersMarsha Epstein is a lifelong activist for LGBT rights, and an advocate for the inclusion of bisexual accounts as part of the history of the gay rights movement. This collection contains both personal and professional materials representing Marsha Epstein's life from her childhood to adulthood. Included are her research materials from many years of medical practice as well as personal correspondence, materials from various schools and ephemera from her Jewish, women's and bisexual activism throughout the Los Angeles area
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Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center recordsThe Los Angeles LGBT Center is a community services center serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community of Los Angeles. Its former name was the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center. The collection contains institutional documents as well as programming and event information from 1975-1992.
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Goldberg (Jackie) papersJackie Goldberg is an openly lesbian politician, teacher, and former member of the California State Assembly. This collection represents Jackie Goldberg's campaign for City Council in Los Angeles in 1993. Included are campaign materials as well as news coverage of the campaign and Goldberg herself.
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Hooker (Evelyn C.) papersHooker joined the psychology faculty at UCLA University Extension in 1939. In 1954, she received a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) for a comparative study of the pathology of homosexual and heterosexual males. In 1970, she retired from UCLA and began private practice as a psychotherapist. The collection consists of publications, manuscripts, correspondence, books, lectures and speeches, biographical materials, obituary and memorial tributes, diplomas and certificate, awards, appointment calendars, photographs, memorabilia, and the American Psychological Foundation 1991-93 annual report.
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Irene Wolt papers, 1942-2009 (bulk 1945-2009)Irene Bernice Wolt was a life-long activist and writer in the Los Angeles area who was involved in a diverse range of political, environmental, and social causes such as the anti-war war movement of the 1970s, redevelopment in Santa Monica, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights.
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June L. Mazer papers 1929-1988In 1970, Mazer moved to Los Angeles and soon became active in the lesbian activist community. After her death in 1987, the name of the West Coast Lesbian Collections was changed to the June L. Mazer Archives to commemorate her commitment to lesbian activism and historical preservation. The June L. Mazer papers include her personal writings, ephemera, as well as her publications and clippings.
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Kralj (Kim) papersKim Kralj is a community activist and art dealer based primarily in Los Angeles, California. The collection consists primarily of agendas, minutes, subject files, and general notes of action regarding West Hollywood's recognition and promotion of its gay and lesbian citizens, including information about the Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Committee on which Kralj served.
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Lesbian Love recordsB. Love was a radio personality who hosted shows on the listener-sponsored radio station KPFK, based out of North Hollywood, California. The content of the programs was based on lesbian lives and ranged from issues of spirituality to call-in shows and interviews. This collection consists of 36 audio reels containing interviews, poetry, outtakes, and other audio recordings from her radio program "Lesbian Love."
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Lesbian Nurses of Los Angeles records, 1985-1995The Lesbian Nurses of Los Angeles (LNLA) was formed in 1985 as a consciousness-raising group for registered nurses (RNs) who commonly shared one thing: "being a woman, being a feminist, and being a lesbian." The LNLA Records hold organizational documents, flyers, newsletters, news articles, community correspondences, and member mini-autobiographies, as well as group memorabilia.
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Martha Foster papers, 1925-1986Martha Foster was a lesbian poet and fiction writer who lived in Los Angeles, California. This collection includes correspondence, photographs and manuscripts.
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Mikels (Elaine) papersBorn in Los Angeles in 1921, Elaine Mikels spent her early life in California attending UCLA, UC Berkeley, and USC, later receiving a Master's in Social Work. During this time, Mikels' struggles with expressing and living out her lesbian identity began as she grappled with forming healthy relationships and finding queer community amid the conformist atmosphere of the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s.
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Monette (Paul) papersPaul Landry Monette (1945-1995) was a novelist and poet. He received a best biography nomination from the National Book Critics' Circle and won the National Book Award for nonfiction in 1992. The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, proofs, notes, screenplays, plays, daybooks, memorabilia, photographs, clippings, and printed material related to Monette's life and literary career. Also included in the collection are the papers of two of Monette's significant others, Roger Horwitz and Stephen Kolzak.
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Sandy Dwyer papers 1977-1991Sandy Dwyer is a lesbian activist, playwright and journalist living and working in Los Angeles, California. This collection represents materials used by and produced by Sandy Dwyer in the course of her life. The bulk are scripts and promotional materials.
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Sass Nielson papers 1974-1976 LSC.2162Sass Nielsen worked at Disney Studios in Burbank, California throughout the 1990s. Her advocacy work, growing out of the group Hollywood Supports (a nonprofit organization promoting awareness of AIDS and gay issues) concerned the extension of health benefits for same sex partners as well as organizing around lesbian and gay issues in the workplace.
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Sophia Corleone Papers 1973-1994 1988Sophia Corleone organized, along with co-coordinator Gail Suber, the Lesbian Writers Series of readings at A Different Light Bookstore in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. This collection contains materials relevant to the planning of the series as well as ephemera related to LGBT community organizations and events.
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Terri de la Peña Papers 1985-1996 LSC.1960erri de la Peña is a novelist, short story writer, and children's book author whose writings deal with complex issues of identity, homophobia, assimilation and resistance focusing on the lives of Chicana lesbians. This collection contains materials related to the creation, dissemination, publication and revision of both fictional and nonfictional works by Terri de la Peña.
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Waymire (Carol) collection of periodicals and ephemeraAs a socialist feminist, Waymire was active in the lesbian, gay and feminist activism in Los Angeles, and California more broadly. She was involved in the organizations and causes such as the LA Women's Forum, Lesbian Feminists of LA, and the movement against Proposition 6 in 1978.
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CalisphereOver one million photographs, documents, letters, artwork, diaries, oral histories, films, advertisements, musical recordings, and more from the collections digitized and contributed by all ten campuses of the University of California and other important libraries, archives, and museums throughout the state.
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Archives of Sexuality and Gender (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new windowDigitized primary sources on social, political, health, and legal issues concerning gender and sexuality, and impacting LGBTQ communities around the world. Includes newsletters and newspapers, government documents, manuscripts, pamphlets, and more. Contributing repositories include: Kinsey Institute, British Library, Lesbian Herstory, Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, National Library of Medicine, and more. UCLA provides access to Parts I and II (LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940), Part III (Sex and Sexuality, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century), Part IV (International Perspectives on LGBTQ Activism and Culture), and Part VI (Community and Identity in North America).
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History Commons: LGBTQ+ Social Justice & Culture This link opens in a new window
Captures and preserves activist voices from the 1980s to the present, with a special focus on content at risk of disappearing, particularly in oppressive countries. Covers blogs, magazines, videos, podcasts, tweets, zines, and other new media.
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Homophile Movement: Papers of Donald Stewart Lucas, 1941-1976 (Archives Unbound) This link opens in a new windowDocuments the professional activities of activist Donald S. Lucas. The majority of the collection dates from 1953 to 1969, and contains material relating to the early homosexual civil rights movement (the homophile movement) and the San Francisco manifestation of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. Includes the administrative and work files of the Mattachine Society, the Mattachine Review, Pan-Graphic Press, and the Central City Target Area of the San Francisco EOC.
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Independent Voices This link opens in a new window
Full text of more than 1000 open access alternative publications from the 1960s-1980s covering feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Latinos, LGBTQ+ activists, and more.
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LGBT Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Searchable archive of major periodicals devoted to LGBT+ interests, dating from the 1950s to more recent years. Includes many of the most influential, long-running 20th/21st-century magazines in this field, including The Advocate. UCLA subscribes to Collection 1 of this database.
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LGBT Studies in Video This link opens in a new window
Streaming video collection that includes documentaries, interviews, archival footage, and select feature films exploring LGBT history, gay culture and subcultures, civil rights, marriage equality, AIDS, transgender issues, and other topics.
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LGBT Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Online portal with full text books, periodicals, and archival materials documenting LGBT political, social and cultural movements from the 20th century to the present. The purchase of LGBT Thought and Culture was made possible through a generous gift from the David Bohnett Foundation.
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LGBTQ+ Life This link opens in a new window
Contains indexing and abstracts for LGBTQ-specific core periodicals, core books and reference works. In addition, other source-types such as grey literature, including newsletters, case studies, speeches, etc. are represented. Former database title: LGBT Life.
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Los Angeles Times This link opens in a new window
Full text (no ads or pictures) from 1985 to the present. For access to older issues, see ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times [1881-2016].
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Making of Modern Law: The American Civil Liberties Union Papers (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new windowThe records of the ACLU on free speech, citizenship, race, discrimination, immigration, labor, radicalism, and related topics support the study of American legal history and complement the modules in the Making of Modern Law series. Documents include newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, court files, memorandums, telegrams, minutes, and legal case records. UCLA provides access to Parts I and II: 1912-1990, and Southern Regional Office,
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Politics, Social Activism and Community Support: Selected Gay and Lesbian Periodicals and Newsletters (Archives Unbound) This link opens in a new windowThis collection of periodicals focuses on newsletters issued by gay and lesbian political and social activist organizations throughout the country and on periodicals devoted to gay and lesbian political and social activist agendas. It also includes serial literature exploring the challenges and complexities of building gay and lesbian communities.
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ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Sentinel This link opens in a new window
Major Black newspaper in Los Angeles, covering May 17, 1934 - 2010. For access to current issues see Ethnic NewsWatch.
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ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times This link opens in a new window
Full page and article images with searchable full text from the first issue in 1881 to 2016. For full text access to current issues, see Los Angeles Times [1985-present].
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TESSA: Los Angeles Public Library Photo CollectionMore than 60,000 images from the Los Angeles Central Library History Department's Photo Collection are available online. Images have been selected to represent the history of the growth of Los Angeles and California, Southern California life, and frequently requested subjects such as major events.
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UCLA Center for Oral History Research (COHR) This link opens in a new windowCOHR conducts in-depth, multi-session oral history interviews with individuals who have been a part of the history of Los Angeles and its many communities. Over 2000 interviews document a wide range of areas related to Southern California history, including the histories of Black, indigenous, people of color and immigrant communities, the arts, political activism, politics and government, and UCLA history. Transcripts available in Library Special Collections (YRL).
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UCLA Library Digital Collections This link opens in a new windowRare and unique digital materials developed by the UCLA Library to support education, research, service, and creative expression, including the AIDS Poster Collection, the Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive and more.
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Entangled Sidewalks: Queer Street Vendors in Los AngelesThis article is based on my own experiences in the field and the stories of queer Latina immigrant vendors collected from 2004 to 2014. I argue that through an onto-epistemological relational framework, we can further elucidate how entangled social worlds provide new ways of understanding the world we live in. I propose reading the materiality and embodied street vending practices as not separate from, but constitutive with, ideologies about sexuality, gender, and nationality that shape, restrict, and reproduce informal street vending practices in Latino barrios
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Finding Sequins in the Rubble: Stitching Together an Archive of Trans Latina Los AngelesThis essay is based on the fashion choices, negotiations, and embodied knowledge or “theories in the flesh” of Bamby Salcedo and other trans Latinas in Los Angeles. Their experiences and memories are instrumental in the development of “finding sequins in the rubble,” a theoretical framework for understanding trans and queer Chicana/o and Latina/o life in the city, and how they make sense of their lives, engaging in an ongoing process of self-fashioning that involves aesthetic and affective strategies, fashion, and style practices.
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Laura Aguilar and Gil Cuadros: Legacies of 1990s Los Angeles Chicanx Resistance through Illness and Queer Friendshiphis article explores the photography of Laura Aguilar through a research methodology that centers friendship and caretaking, a method that accentuates the centrality of queer community and love in her work and that makes visible a Chicanx AIDS consciousness, an awareness of the intersectional effects of AIDS within everyday Chicanx life and history.
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Queer Nightlife and Contemporary Art Networks: A Study of Artists at the BarThis article positions queer nightlife as a central vehicle in the lives and practices of queer Latinx artists working in Los Angeles over the past decade. It highlights how queer nightlife has provided a generative space for art making and community building in LA and considers how the usage of queer nightlife as a frame of study ruptures existing art historical and curatorial methodologies relative to Latinx art
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Ten dyke marches all over L.A.": a conversation with Judy Ornelas Sisneros"Ten dyke marches over L.A." captures highlights from an interview with the Los Angeles queer activist and photographer, Judy Ornelas Sisneros. Originally from Bakersfield, California, Sisneros grew up in a racially mixed working-class neighborhood; she made Los Angeles her permanent home in the late 1980s.
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OutWrite (ASUCLA, 2005-present) UCLA student LGBTQ paper, originally titled Ten Percent.
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Ten Percent (ASUCLA,1979-2004) UCLA student LGBTQ paper, which later changed title to OutWrite.
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ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new windowIndex to doctoral dissertations from 1637 to the present, with abstracts since 1980. A number of master's theses are also indexed, with abstracts since 1988. Many are available for download in pdf format. UCLA has access to all full text dissertations in the database. Non-UCLA users may use Dissertations Express to purchase digital or print copies of individual dissertations.
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eScholarship, University of California This link opens in a new window
UC's open access repository. Contains books, journals, working papers, conference publications, postprints, theses, and dissertations.
See also:
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The Celluloid Closet (dir. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, 1995)Assembles footage from over 120 films showing the changing face of cinema homosexuality from cruel stereotypes to covert love to the activist cinema of the 1990s. Many actors, writers and commentators provide anecdotes regarding the history of the role of gay men and lesbians on the silver screen.
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Changing Our Minds: The Story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker (dir. Richard Schmiechen, 1992)During the repressive 1950s, Dr. Evelyn Hooker undertook groundbreaking research that led to a radical discovery: homosexuals were not, by definition, "sick." Dr. Hooker's finding sent shock waves through the psychiatric community and culminated in a major victory for gay rights - in 1974 the weight of her studies, along with gay activism, forced the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its official manual of mental disorders. UCLA Library Special Collections houses Dr. Hooker's papers.
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Circus of Books (dir. Rachel Mason, 2019)For decades, a nice Jewish couple ran Circus of Books, a porn shop and epicenter for gay LA. Their director daughter documents their life and times.
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Get Used to It (1992-2012)Produced by the City of West Hollywood, Get Used to It (1992-2012) addressed national and local issues impacting the LGBTQ+ community. Thanks to a collaboration with the City of West Hollywood, the UCLA Film & Television Archive holds all 177 episodes and has made them available for free viewing online.
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In the Life: LGBT Research Portal (UCLA Film & Television Archive)Streaming video to episodes of In The Life, television’s longest running LGBT news magazine. Hosted by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
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Outfest UCLA Legacy Project (UCLA Film & Television Archive)In 2005, UCLA Film & Television Archive partnered with Outfest (founded at UCLA in 1982) to create the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project for LGBTQ Moving Image Preservation. It is the largest publicly accessible collection of LGBTQ films in the world. Some of the Legacy Project film holdings and public program recordings are available on the Archive's YouTube channel.
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Tangerine (dir. Sean Baker, 2015)Sin-Dee is back. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend was unfaithful during the days she was jailed, the sex worker and her friend, Alexandra, set out to get to the bottom of this. Their Christmas Eve odyssey leads them through subcultures of Los Angeles.
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Wildness (dir. Wu Tsang, 2012)WILDNESS is a resonant portrait of a Latino Los Angeles LGBT bar, the Silver Platter. WILDNESS integrates elements of fiction and documentary structures to vividly portray Tsang’s multi-layered relationship with the bar, one that explores her role as an artist and activist, and a member of a younger generation introducing itself into a gay scene that started before the Stonewall riots – the Silver Platter’s birth year is 1963.
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Silverlake life : the view from hereVideo diary of living with AIDS. ... Documents, with guts and with humor, the love and dedication of longtime companions Tom Joslin and Mark Massi. From the emotional challenge of living with a fatal illness to the frustration of maintaining daily routines once considered simple, ... a celebration of the strength of the human spirit and the power of love
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Studio One Forever.From 1974-1994, Studio One and its adjoining live music venue, The Backlot, became symbols of hope and community for gay men during tumultuous times. Amidst the rise of gay rights, disco's heyday, and the devastating AIDS crisis, the club offered sanctuary from rampant homophobia and police oppression. It was where legends like Chita Rivera and Eartha Kitt performed, and rising stars like Roseanne Barr and Rosie O'Donnell ignited their careers. Fast forward 26 years, and as West Hollywood faces the demolition of this iconic building, a community uproar emerges to preserve its history. Through personal accounts, STUDIO ONE FOREVER delves into Studio One's story against the backdrop of a progressing gay liberation clashing with 80s conservatism and the escalating AIDS nightmare. It's a testament to an era, immortalizing the club's legacy for future generations.
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Lisa Ben talks about The If Club lesbian bar, 1988 (USC ONE Archives)Excerpt from Chuck Rowland interviewing Donna Smith and Lisa Ben at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives. February 28, 1988.
Selected Places and Events
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A Tour of Los Angeles’s Sites of Queer and Trans History (UCLA LGBTQ Resource Center)LGBTQ Campus Resource Center’s History Tour Project, featuring an embedded map and information on historical sites throughout Los Angeles.
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Gay Downtown Los AngelesBlog post from LAPL (2016) on the place of Downtown Los Angeles in LGBTQ history.
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Mapping the Gay GuidesMapping the Gay Guides aims to understand often ignored queer geographies using the Damron Address Books, an early but longstanding travel guide aimed at gay men since the early 1960s. Map includes approximately 97 sites in Los Angeles. See also A Guide to Gay Los Angeles, 1965.
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Queer MapsAn explorable archive built to preserve and share the diverse history of LGBTQ spaces, organizations and happenings in Los Angeles from 1871 through today.
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Queer Terrains (ONE Archives, USC)An ongoing project that places and contextualizes materials from ONE Archives at the USC Libraries on an interactive map. Explore Los Angeles LGBTQ history. Bars, clubs, shops, and all types of meeting places have been mapped from over 50 different publications and archival sources.
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The Black Cat (ONE Archives at the USC Libraries)Photos and links to citations about the Black Cat Tavern, the site of the first documented LGBTQ civil rights demonstration.
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Flyer for Friends of the Black Cat Celebration of the 42nd Anniversary of the Black Cat ProtestFrom the LGBT Thought and Culture database, in Gay Bar Subject Files, 1900-2012, of ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives (Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood), ONE Subject Files Collection.
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A Forgotten “Riot”: Discovering the Black Cat Tavern Raid’s Place in Queer HistoryNash, Katelyn “Katie." Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History 12, no. 3 (Nov. 2022).
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OUT for Safe Schools: What caused the Black Cat Tavern Riots?Lesson plan for middle and high school students with a linked bibliography and reprinted primary sources.
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Photos of the Black Cat Tavern, Los AngelesFrom LGBT Thought and Culture database, Gay Bar Subject Files, 1900-2012, of ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives (Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood); photographed by Charles J. Fisher, fl. 2008 (2008),
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Silver Lake HIstory Collective: Oral Histories related to the Black Cat TavernHosted on Calisphere. Recorded interviews with Black Cat Tavern owner Alexei Romanoff and others about the history of the bar and the 1967 riot.
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Circus Disco (ONE Archives at the USC Libraries)Description and citations on Circus Disco, one of Los Angeles’s most famous and longest-running discos with a focus on Latinx and multiracial people.
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Circus Disco is Going on FiveLetter by Pat Roco detailing Circus Disco's 5th year open
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Introducing ... Felipe, bartender at Arena and Circus Disco.Publication announcing a new bartender at Circus Disco
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Located in the middle of Hollywood's film post-production district, Circus Disco..A short article detailing what the DJ setup at Circus Disco looked like.
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Circus of Books (dir. Rachel Mason, 2019)Only available streaming on Netflix. For decades, a nice Jewish couple ran Circus of Books, a porn shop and epicenter for gay LA. Their director daughter documents their life and times.
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These grandparents sold gay porn for decades and almost went to prison. Now, they are calling it quitsL.A. Times article detailing the 2019 closure of Circus of Books.
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Cooper Do-nuts (ONE Archives at the USC Libraries)Linked citations for Cooper Do-nuts (or Cooper's Do-nuts), the site of a protest in 1959 against LAPD harassment of LGBTQ clientele.
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Cooper Do-nuts: Our LegacyHome page for Cooper Do-nuts with some basic historical information.
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We Need to Talk About Cooper Do-NutsMulti-part post about Cooper Do-Nuts by Nathan Marsak, from Home of the Institute for Advanced Bunker Hill Studies.
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Jewel's Catch One (dir. C. Fitz, 2017)Documentary that celebrates the legacy of a legendary Los Angeles nightclub, Catch One, and the life-changing impact its owner, Jewel Thais-Williams, had on her community. For four decades, Jewel broke down racial and cultural barriers and built the oldest black-owned disco in America, creating one of the original safe spaces for LGBTQ, Black and Aids impacted communities.
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Jewel's Catch One 20th AnniversaryFlyer with list of events at Jewel's Catch one in honor of their 20th anniversary
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Jewel's Catch One Proudly Serving You For the Past Twenty YearsA pamphlet for a ball and benefit show for Rue's House; A residential shelter for women and children with HIV/AIDS
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Jewel's Catch One Disco: Diverse Activities for a Diverse Gay & Lesbian Community.A newspaper clipping detailing programming for the LGBTQ community surrounding halloween weekend.
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Celebrating Jewel Thais William's Catch's 40th AnniversaryA flyer advertising a 40th anniversary film screening event
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The 1983 Ms. Black Gay Los Angeles Pageant!Flyer and entry form for Ms. Black Gay Los Angeles Pageant at Jewel's Catch One
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Mr. Black Gay California Pageant!Flyer and entry form for Mr. Black Gay California Pageant at Jewel's Catch One
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EWEL THAIS-WILLIAMS, 1939 - 2025: Pioneer in queer L.A. club sceneAn obituary for Jewel Thais-Williams, and article detailing the history of her impact on the Los Angeles queer community
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COLUMN ONE; A place to call their own; Jewel's Catch One disco, a meeting place for gay blacks in Los Angeles since 1973, is closing its doorsThis article details the closing of Catch one on 2015 after decades of serving the Los Angeles Black and Queer community
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Silver Platter (Los Angeles Conservancy)Basic information on the Silver Platter's building history and historical significance to LGBTQ cultural life, particularly the trans Latina community.
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"Westlake’s 61-Year-Old Gay Bar Forced to Close, Set to Be Replaced With An Apartment Complex" (L.A. Taco, 7/10/2024)News article: The Silver Platter first opened in the early 60s and for decades has been known as a “safe haven” for the neighborhood's immigrant and queer communities. Six of the 55 units will be set aside for “extremely low-income” households, according to plans submitted to the city planning department.
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Wildness (dir. Wu Tsang, 2012)WILDNESS is a resonant portrait of a Latino Los Angeles LGBT bar, the Silver Platter. WILDNESS integrates elements of fiction and documentary structures to vividly portray Tsang’s multi-layered relationship with the bar, one that explores her role as an artist and activist, and a member of a younger generation introducing itself into a gay scene that started before the Stonewall riots – the Silver Platter’s birth year is 1963.
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"The Wildness' that Expanded a Scene: A Documentary Details the History of the Silver Platter Bar and its Old Party Night" (Los Angeles Times, 07/15/2012)Article on the impact of the documentary Wildness on the Silver Platter bar.