In anticipation of West Hollywood’s 25th anniversary, the editors behind Love, West Hollywood give us some backstory on our own little gay corner of the world.

by Andrew Clarke

West Hollywood was incorporated as a city in the fall of 1984. Next year marks 25 years of cityhood—but, in one form or another, West Hollywood has existed for a very long time. Way back in 1896, the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and San Vicente (then Clark Street), in the heart of what’s come to be called “Boystown,” was purchased by Moses Sherman and Eli Clark as the headquarters for their Los Angeles-Pacific Railroad Company.

From its beginnings as a rough-and-tumble town, populated mainly by railway and agricultural workers, who were mostly males, the town eventually morphed into West Hollywood, a “badlands” below the glitzy Sunset Strip—also full of mostly males.

There are various signposts and markers along the Christopher Street West/Pride Parade route which serve to pinpoint clues to WeHo’s history. Interestingly, the real West Hollywood is less elusive than it may seem—though it helps to have a good imagination!

8 - Off Santa Monica Boulevard on Robertson stood the factory of the Mitchell Camera Company, established in 1929. Here motion picture cameras of the day were manufactured. In the late 1960s, this massive structure took on new life as the Factory, an early gay and/or mixed clientele disco, before changing hands again to became the gay dance club Studio One in the mid-1970s.

7 - Local coffee shops like the Greenery, which occupied the northwest corner of Robertson and Santa Monica Boulevard throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, were a safe haven for male TV and film stars who were uncomfortable frequenting gay establishments.

6 - The Por Favor—A restaurant/piano bar with a concealed side entrance (then standard for gay watering holes)—stood at the southeast corner of Santa Monica and Robertson. Frequently referred to in books on L.A.’s gay history, local Norma Triangle resident John Carlyle was a regular at the bar, often accompanied by Judy Garland. The Mother Lode successfully revamped this property in 1978, remaining triumphant with its visible entry on Santa Monica Boulevard.

5 - On Robertson Boulevard just south of Santa Monica was the upscale pottery and patio furniture shop, International Terracotta. Today this design emporium has achieved new fame as the Abbey.

4 - Ah Men, a longtime West Hollywood clothing store, stood until the late 1970s on the southwest corner of Santa Monica and San Vicente. Featured in the physique magazines of the 1950s and ’60s, Ah Men is remembered for its tight-fitting box design swimsuit with a double band running down the side, which was very popular with well-built males, gay and straight alike.

3 - The Pacific Electric Railway was located on the southeast corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and San Vicente. This site is now anchored by the Sheriff’s Station and the Pacific Design Center’s parking structure. Today this corner is also a gateway to the Pride Festival. Significantly, this spot was the nexus for West Hollywood’s Railroad company headquarters, the town’s most prominent commercial endeavor. The ubiquitous trolleys, popularly known as the “Red Cars,” made up to 18 round trips daily from downtown Hollywood to the beach in Santa Monica.

2 - The company store, known as the Shermart, was just adjacent to the headquarters for the trolleys and the PowerStation. This Shermart, the town’s only market, served as “gay central” and inspired Jerry’s Market in the 1944 film, Double Indemnity. The Shermart remained at this location until being demolished in the mid-1970s.

1 - The Four Star, a fixture on the bar scene, was established on Santa Monica Boulevard in 1961, just west of Larrabee. Often referred to as the “first gay bar” in West Hollywood, the Four Star had converted in the early ’60s from its previous incarnation as a working-class tavern. Micky’s stands on this spot today. For years now, this core area of “Old Sherman” has been known for its cluster of gay bars. Writer Dan Luckenbill states in Love, West Hollywood that this was due to the location (prior to 1984) being under the jurisdiction of the sheriff’s department, “rather than the notoriously homophobic LAPD.”

Q & A

by Andrew Clarke

Perfectly timed to coincide with Pride Week, Love, West Hollywood offers an intriguing mix of essays examining our city’s rich history, culture and dreams. Editors Chris Freeman and Jim Berg have truly struck a motherlode of tales guaranteed to bring smiles and sighs to longtime residents while illuminating the curiosity of those new to the area. Just prior to the book’s launch, Freeman and Berg — who previously teamed as editors of the Lambda award-winning book, The Isherwood Century — agreed to enlighten IN Los Angeles readers on the ins and outs of their spirited collection.

There’ve been similar books, Love, Bourbon Street about New Orleans and Love, Castro Street about San Francisco, both from Alyson Books. What makes this book different?

Freeman: We wanted it to reflect the beautiful mosaic that is West Hollywood. I hope it will serve as a companion piece to Stuart Timmons’ Gay L.A., (which covers local gay life from 1880-2005) and was the jumping-off point for this book. It’s our intention to tell the personal stories that accompany the history.

Torie Osborn’s foreword notes that, “We have been part of L.A.‘s vibrancy forever.” How did this inspire you in gathering these stories about West Hollywood?

Freeman: L.A. is a big, sprawling city, a collection of neighborhoods or independent cities. Our book isn’t just about one neighborhood but about how to have community in such an expansive place and among such a diverse range of people and identities.

Berg: We looked for a broad representation of stories about L.A. and sought to use both native L.A. writers as well as those who were not native to L.A.

Were there myths you wanted to dispel about West Hollywood?

Freeman: People think of West Hollywood as being pretty, posey and exclusive. And some of that’s accurate—to a certain extent. But we show—in stories like “8709,” about sexual trysts available at the notorious bathhouse and “l.a. incog-negro” by Daryl Roach, which shows another side of the trysts, along with Stuart Timmons’ “black opera gloves,” about finding an alternative to the disco scene in the 1970s—that WeHo can be inclusive as well.

You’ve got stories of other clubs that are uniquely West Hollywood.

Freeman: Terry Allison’s piece on the West Hollywood Aquatic swim team (“WH2O”) tells of a special kind of fraternity. It demonstrates the freedoms of a gay city, where those of us who maybe weren’t accepted on our high school teams can now create our own teams. Pat Alderete’s essay talks about her adventures with the lesbian football squads, the Pussy Willows and the Dandy Lions.

You’re both fairly new to Los Angeles. Can you tell us what brought you here?

Freeman: I’d been coming here for 10 or 12 years and had made some good friends. I made a permanent move to West Hollywood three years ago. Immediately I had the overwhelming feeling of being at home. I knew this is what I’d left Minneapolis for, to be able to live in our own two square miles of the world.

Berg: I first got a good dose of West Hollywood in the winter of 2003, while out here researching a book (Isherwood on Writing). During those months I spent a lot of time all along Santa Monica Boulevard from Doheny to Silver Lake. I really got to know gay Los Angeles in that time and am glad now to be able to live in Southern California.

Meet Freeman and Berg at A Different Light Bookstore, where they will be reading and signing copies of Love, West Hollywood on the eve of Pride Weekend, Friday, June 6, at 7:30 pm.