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A small, half-wall separated the two so that diners could see people at the bar and vice-versa. “The bar ran the length of the club on one side, while there were tables on the other side. “The Gallery Inn was a restaurant and pub with great continental food, and it was very popular,” Adkins says. 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.” “Its other advantage was that it was an after hours bar.
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“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. This flyer for The Hayloft was inspired by Grant Wood’s famous painting “American Gothic.” Photo: ONE Archives at US Libraries. “The Streamline Modern building with its green neon sign and glass brick façade was a welcoming place.” Wayne was a singer-songwriter who played all the gay piano bars, and Brenda was his ex-wife and cabaret performer,” Adkins says. “Keith’s Touch of Class was a gay restaurant with a cocktail lounge and rotating musical performers like Wayne Moore and Brenda Silas Moore. Later, the Ventura Boulevard location became another gay bar, Everybody’s.” The two brothers who owned Apache expanded and opened a second bar in Hollywood, but in time both bars closed. monitors playing adult movies and had go-go boys dancing. At Oil Can Harry’s, you could count on being verbally harassed from a passing car, or worse yet, have something thrown at you. “It was fenced so it wasn’t exposed to the street.
But at Apache, there was a small patio leading to the entrance,” he 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. It provided a more likely place to actually meet and talk with someone,” Adkins says. “The Apache, also known for a while as Apache Territory, was smaller and more intimate than Oil Can Harry’s. “ It was quite a nice little bar, albeit small, but with a friendly clientele.” “The Odyssey was a piano bar, but it’s not to be confused with the underage bar of the same name located off La Cienega Boulevard,” Adkins says. Oil Can Harry’s address was 11502 Ventura Blvd. Here, Adkins shares his gay memories about eight spaces that were located on Venture Boulevard. The Valley clubs attracted mixed crowds because there wasn’t the same racist or sexist attitude, Adkins says. Unlike some West Hollywood bars and clubs, Valley spaces didn’t enforce racist and sexist entry policies that required people of color and women to have multiple IDs. Up Stairs Lounge fire largest mass murder of gay people in US history “ ‘Over the hill’ was a common viewpoint of Valley gays,” Adkins says in an interview. West Hollywood bar patrons, however, looked down on The Valley bars, says Richard Adkins, a board member with the historic preservation organization Hollywood Heritage. San Fernando Valley LGBTQ bars were local watering holes where people from the neighborhood felt comfortable.
A process is underway to have the site designated a cultural-historic monument. When Oil Can Harry’s closed in January, the 52-year-old establishment was the oldest queer bar in Los Angeles County. Shaw also released an album titled “Songs Tailored to Your Taste.”ħ things you didn’t know about the historic gay club Oil Can Harry’s During her performances at the post club, Shaw, who was well known in the lesbian community, wore a suit with a bow tie and sat on top of the piano, while looking into the audience and singing torch songs in her sultry voice. Club Laurel was an upscale lesbian venue owned by singer Beverly Shaw, who was a nightclub pioneer and identified as a lesbian in the 1950s.Ĭlub Laurel opened in 1957 and was one of the earliest lesbian nightclubs in the San Fernando Valley.