Out & About Tours for at least the VIP tour which is for the most part in an SUV, van, or bus depending on the size of the group that is to be shown various noteworthy LGBTQ sites in West Hollywood, Hollywood, Silverlake, & Downtown Los Angeles. The usual meeting place is at the Village of the Ed Gould Plaza, an extension of the LGBTQ Center of Los Angeles, is located on 1125 North Mc Cadden Place, Hollywood. However, for this time only, we were asked to go to the headquarters of the Lavender Effect on Sunset Boulevard which in some ways is the home base for Out & About Tours.
The tour starts at 11am, but we were asked to get there between 10:30-10:45am for a pre-tour "cocktail" where a Crement/sparkling wine, Freixenet, a Spanish Cava, was served as an eye opener. I accompanied it w/ peanut butter crackers since there is no lunch break, the tour ending around 2pm. This was a good time to get to know Andy of Lavender effect & Jim, our tour guide, both of whom were friendly, hospitable, fun loving which put us in a playful mood through out the tour.
Jim is originally from Southern New Jersey closer to Philadephia, and so has a rapid fire, witty, fast way of talking. Lots of juicy tidbits such as Hollywood Gay lore, talk about Studio One on La Peer which "selectively chose" club goers by having rules such as no open toe shoes (to filter out women) or 3 pieces of ID to keep out "minorities". So strange that Gays who were & are actively discriminated against, discriminated against others.
To the rescue, Jewel of Catch One & Circus Disco opened its doors to all. Hollywood was also home to Morris Kight, Gay activist, who among many things helped establish what was to become the LGBTQ Community Center in Hollywood as well as helping to start the Gay Parade which marched for the first time in 1970 on Hollywood Boulevard.
Tongva people of the Chumash Native Americans are the original inhabitants of Los Angeles, and they were a most enlightened group which allowed its people to actualize their potential whatever it may be. Diversity was encouraged & abetted so that the different strengths & talents of the Tongva could help the community grow & prosper.
Later w/ the Spanish conquest & introduction of Catholicism more restrictive & draconian rules destroyed the wise customs of the Tongva. The last nail on the coffin was the arrival of America with its antiquated Victorian "morality" whose anally retentive & repressive laws placed untold hardship on not just the LGBTQ community, but other minorities as well with the condescending attitude of "the white man's burden".
DTLA was probably the first location for Gay Euro based activity going probably as far back as the 19th Century. LAPD was well known to be aggressively anti-Gay & anti-Minority so much so that even Gay patrons giving each other a kiss on New Year's Eve could be reason for an arrest. Things had gotten so bad that there was a wide spread, peaceful protest against the LAPD in early 1966 when the Black Cat was raided almost 2 years before the more famous Stonewall Uprising . Although DTLA had seen a decline of Gay establishments in the last half of the 20th century, there has been a come back of sorts with 3 new Gay bars, Mattachine, Redline, Precinct.
Silverlake has always been a bohemian, avant garde district. Harry Hay, who was one of the founding members of the Mattachine Society which was "homophile", and sent out a publication that even proposed Gay Marriage as far back as the 1950's.
Jim, our tour guide extraordinaire, told fascinating non stop stories & facts throughout the 3 hour tour. I can not recommend Out & About Tours enough to those who want a grand survey of Gay History of Los Angeles to take the VIP Motor Tour or take the separate walking tours which apparently encompass Hollywood, West Hollywood, Silverlake, & DTLA. 5 Yelp stars.
Thanks, Jim. To obtain tickets thelavendereffect.org/tours/ read more
