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There are a handful of new hotels springing up Downtown, but The Ace remains one of the most queer-friendly, with its Pride pool parties, socials, and its stunning programming at the 1927 Gothic-style Theatre at Ace Hotel, where performers like Sascha Velour, Bianca Del Rio, Katya Zamolodchikova, and many more have performed solo shows to sold out audiences. The lofty neighborhood even puts on it’s own Pride festival, DTLA Proud, every August. The neighborhood’s queer heart still beats strongly despite gentrification as many queer-owned businesses continue to thrive.ĭTLA has recently established itself as an up-and-coming queer neighborhood since a handful of queer-owned business and bars opened in 2015, but its queer history is long and storied, including some of the first LGBTQ+ riots in the country at Cooper Do-Nuts in 1959, as well as a collection of gay-friendly hangouts and cruising locales in Perishing Square called “The Run” prevalent from the 20s to the 60s. 1950), as well as a prevalent 80s leather scene. The neighborhood has long been an epicenter for queer culture-it was home to “America’s first celebrated drag performer,” Julian Eltinge, in the 1910s/20s, the Mattachine Society (said to be America’s first gay oranization, est. Though Stonewall is largely credited with inciting the gay rights movement, Los Angeles has a few historical LGBTQ+ uprisings that predate the Inn’s 1969 riots, including The Black Cat raids and protests in Silver Lake that took place in 1967.
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It’s no wonder “WeHo” has been a top LGBTQ+ welcoming destination since the 1970s and continues to draw travelers and new residents from around the world. Home to over twenty gay bars in walking distance, a plethora of queer-owned businesses, LA Pride Festival and Parade, Outfest, a Halloween Carnival, and over a third of residents identifiying as LGBTQ+, the City of West Hollywood is painted with rainbow street crossings year round. You’ll need more than a few lifetimes to experience it all, but here are a few standouts. While queer life is centered in West Hollywood, Silver Lake, and Downtown, it pulses throughout the city in beautiful, diverse, and creatives ways. My favorite aspect of Los Angeles’ queer life is its ability to accomodate a variety of subcultures and passions due to its enormous population and wide constellations of neighborhoods.