San fernando valley gay bars

LOS ANGELES — Oil Can Harry&#;s, which closed last year, was designated a Historic-Cultural Monument by the Los Angeles City Council Wednesday for being one of the oldest gay bars in the San Fernando Valley.

The council approved the designation , with Councilman Joe Buscaino absent.

Oil Can Harry&#;s was opened in Studio Metropolis in by Bert Charot. It closed in January after the property&#;s owner sold it to a buyer planning to turn it into a jazz venue, according to

&#;The establishment of Oil Can Harry&#;s occurred against a backdrop of increased group resistance to homophobia within the gay civil rights movement in Los Angeles,&#; City Planning Assistant Mickie Torres-Gil told the Cultural Heritage Commission on Oct. 7.

&#;Despite initially being met with protests by its Studio City neighbors, Oil Can Harry&#;s quickly became a safe haven for the gay society. &#; It famously utilized a informant hole in the entry door and an internal siren system to attentive patrons to police presence, allowing them to halt gay dancing or activity.&#;

Torres-Gil added that during the AIDS epide

For me, one of the best places to observe my friends tends to be a bar. That’s how in Reseda, the neighborhood’s first and only gay bar, was born. Owner Stephen Miele recalls how his friend created the name using a play on words that fit the environment he wanted for his fresh bar. Simply put, he wanted to run a local watering hole where you could go and see your friends.

I went to on a Friday night, and people began to trickle in as it grew later. The bar was dark, moody, and musky. The welcoming vibe is by style and you feel it the minute you amble in. Miele has carefully curated a friendly atmosphere where queer people can feel safe in more ways than one. 

Below, procure a glimpse of our chat with Miele and how he came to own in Reseda, how he raised the exclude to support the Queer community, and how his bar has come endorse from a catastrophic break-in.

The Origins of in Reseda

Miele was born and raised in New York in , where he worked in the restaurant business for many years before entering law school. He ultimately moved to the Valley to continue his studies at Southwest Rule and pract

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“The Apache, also known for a while as Apache Territory, was smaller and more intimate than Oil Can Harry’s. It provided a more likely place to actually meet and talk with someone,” Adkins says.

“At Oil Can Harry’s, you had to depart outside to the front steps to talk to someone, or smoke if that was your vice. But at Apache, there was a small patio foremost to the entrance,” he says. “It was fenced so it wasn’t exposed to the street. At Oil Can Harry’s, you could count on being verbally harassed from a passing car, or worse yet, have something thrown at you. In its last days, Apache installed T.V. monitors playing adult movies and had go-go boys dancing. The two brothers who owned Apache expanded and opened a second exclude in Hollywood, but in period both bars closed. Later, the Ventura Boulevard location became another gay bar, Everybody’s.” (Adkins, Richard )

Bob Damron ' (Most macho disco in the valley) (D) * (Disco) (Liquor)

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Link: "San Fernando Valley has a secret history of gay bars"

ONE Archives at USC

When it comes to lgbtq+ nightlife options in Los Angeles, there’s lots to choose from—and not just in rainbow-dipped West Hollywood, home to countless same-sex attracted bars. To help you pick the best spots for dancing, boozing, flirting and cruising in Hollywood, Silver Lake and beyond, review out this list of our favorite queer bars and clubs in L.A.—there are even Pasadena, Venice and Valley options, for those sick of the party-hearty WeHo scene. Now get out there, tiger.

May Just in time for WeHo Pride, I’ve updated our guide to the city’s best gay bars. This list removes St. Felix, Stache and Redline, all of which include unfortunately closed, as adequately as the Ruby Fruit (which has recently been revamped to a neighborhood grill) and Revolver Video Bar. The newest addition is Kiso, a welcome entrant to Downtown’s gay nightlife scene.Time Out has also instituted a sitewide change in review policies. All food and consume venues included in guides now have star ratings, with five stars corresponding to “amazing,” four to “great”