Gay bar laguna beach ca
The rise and descend of Laguna Beach, a gay California hotspot
Standing on the beach steps with a verboten Zima bottle in hand, I looked up at the huge white building above, thumping with harmony, colored lights flashing from the windows, scared and praying I could fetch inside.
I was 18, I was terrified, and I wanted to go into my first lgbtq+ club, the Boom Boom Room in Laguna Beach, California, a seaside town that, before its rise to prominence via an MTV reality series and Bravo’s inaugural Real Housewives series, was known as a queer-friendly enclave in Orange County. It was an oasis for the LGBTQ residents of a county with the unfortunate tagline “Behind the orange curtain” due to its political conservatism.
I knew that AIDS/HIV affected the regulars inside the packed venue—as well as the city’s population—but not to what extent. I knew that, only two years before, a football player at a nearby high college had nearly lost a gay human to death on this beach, in one of several local hate crimes aimed at queer men. And I knew that the recently procured spurious driver’s license in my wallet looked nothing like me.
What I didn’t realize was that, a decade later, the city that was once known
What's the name of your home tiki lock or tiki space?
Joined: Sep 02, 2006
Posts: 67
I gotta go with plagiarizing Novato Grotto, as its too perfect a specify for the pool bar.....
Joined: Jul 19, 2009
Posts: 7122
On 2010-02-13 08:27, Pittsburgh pauly wrote:
"The Boom Boom Room", it just kinda stuck. It may not be that tiki, but it souinds "exotic" enough, and has some history. But now that the Standard in NY uses the name, I may need to re-name it.
The Boom Boom Room was a famous & skillfully known Gay Exclude in Laguna Beach, Calif.
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 2475
This is a photo of the velvet hanging in my home lounge
"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann
[ Edited by: uncle trav 2010-02-16 15:11 ]
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Joined: Jan 31, 2010
Posts: 461
On 2010-02-15 17:01, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
On 2010-02-13 08:27, Pittsburgh pauly wrote:
"The Boom Boom Room", it just kinda stuck. It may not be that tiki, but it souinds &qLGBTQ Nightlife Guide
There was a age when Laguna Beach had its staple gay bars, which were a much needed presence during their reign of the beach city, and its very feasible that in the future, more will make their way advocate to Laguna Beach, but until then, the city is filled with options galore.
The Seahorse
In 1926, a liquor store and a hardware store opened on the corner of Pearl Street and Pacific Coast Highway, and in 1946 it became its current namesake The Seahorse, which was actually Laguna Beach’s first gay lock. For many years, it operated as a secret watering hole for the local gay society until it was eventually turned back to retail as Laguna Auto Parts…and now it’s support to its original roots. The bar celebrates diversity and inclusion and is a bar for everyone, with a really extraordinary history for the LGBTQ people. It’s a great place to start the evening with content hour or even daytime drinks.
Rooftops Made For Sunsets
Surf & Sand Resort in South Laguna has two option; Splashes Bar and 15FiftyFive to enjoy the sunsets with the latter having couches and comfy chairs around a huge fireplace, to lounge in. Splashes hangs right over the sand an
It was bingo night at Main Street Bar & Cabaret, Laguna Beach’s last gay club. Techno tune chugged; strobe lights blinked. The game’s caller – a redhead drag queen named Endora – fussed softly over the prizes, like an ikebana master arranging her flowers. But half an hour past the scheduled start moment, patrons had yet to arrive. Endora sat at the bar and ordered a cocktail.
In walked Craig Cooley, the bar manager for more than a year. “Where is everybody?” he asked, collapsing on a stool next to Endora. As usual, he seemed out of breath. Little wonder.
Gay bars around the nation have been disappearing, a trend attributed to greater social acceptance of gays, changing economic forces and evolving technology. Laguna Beach, in particular, has had many obituaries written for its once-thriving gay scene. Iconic establishments closed. Skyrocketing real estate prices have kept adolescent gays out of the city and led a number of established lgbtq+ residents to cash out and move to other cities, such as Palm Springs.
Against such odds, Cooley has made it his mission to revive this tiny dive bar off Coast Highway. He removed the privacy blinds on the windows. Pulled up the carpet coated i