Pride Guide Issue

WHM 

WEST HOLLYWOOD MAGAZINE SPRING 2017 

ONE CITY ONE PRIDE 

DAYS OF EVENTS OPEN TO ALL AND APPEALING 

TO EVERYONE 

SOCAL PRIDE 

LONG BEACH 

SAN DIEGO 

WEST HOLLYWOOD 

A FATHER OF L.A. PRIDE 

He helped launch the parade in 

1970 and the festival four years later 

RESIST WITH LOVE 

The June 11 march returns to the 

original meaning of Pride

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You know 

you want to. 

visitWestHollywood.com

SOFITEL LOS ANGELES AT BEVERLY HILLS 

8555 BEVERLY BOULEVARD 

LOS ANGELES, CA 90048 

WWW.RIVIERA.COM

I am profoundly grateful for the #ResistMarch 

Organizing Committee. These incredibly dedicated 

humans with families, with jobs, and with other 

responsibilities, singularly focused on one mission, 

to unite our community and allies. #ResistMarch 

would be nothing without you. You are the soul of 

this movement. 

Brian Pendleton 

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE 

RJ Aguiar 

Mike Aguilera 

Fred Arens 

Jeremy Blacklow 

Craig Bowers 

Jordan Brown 

Melissa Carbone 

Craig Charles 

Diggz Cherry 

Marco Colantonio 

Jeff Consoletti 

Peter Cruz 

Lindsey Deaton 

Marna Deitch 

Dominick DeLeone 

Jason Duguay 

John Erickson 

Joel Fajardo 

Jaden Fields 

Chris Fraley 

Sue Freitag 

Robert Gamboa 

Vic Gerami 

John Gile 

Chad Goldman 

Jenn Gordon 

Brian Graden 

Justin Haasis 

Dan Halden 

Abdullah Hall 

Julie Holland 

Simon Halls 

Steve Houchin 

Ruaraidh Hunter 

Jess Jerrick 

Mike Juhasz 

Paul Katami 

Abbe Land 

Sue LaVaccare 

Danny Lockwood 

Nicole Lynn 

Stephen Macias 

Lulu Malaya 

Pedro Martinez 

James Duke Mason 

Michaela Mendelsohn 

Estevan Montemayor 

Jeff Olde 

Aithan Peterson 

Mark Poncher 

Hazel Jade Prejean 

Greg Propper 

Alyson Richards 

Shayne Thomas 

Angela Thompson 

Gary Turner 

Alan Uphold 

Allison Vankuiken 

Ronnie Veliz 

Rob Wilcox 

Rex E. Wilde 

Nancy Williams 

Jeanie You 

Greg Zabilski 

Jeff Zarillo 

Don Zuidema 

Meet our committee at Hollywood 

& Highland on Sunday, June 11th at 8 AM 

ResistMarch.org 

CREATED BY WWW.HAZELJADEDESIGNS.COM 

CREATED BY WWW.HAZELJADEDESIGNS.COM 

WHEN THEY COME 

FOR ONE OF US, 

THEY COME FOR ALL OF US. 

This year instead of parading, we’re marching together! 

All of us. Make history. Join the resistance today! 

Sunday, June 11th • Hollywood & Highland • 8AM 

ResistMarch.org

26 

28 

LONG BEACH 

PRIDE 

Long Beach Pride takes 

place May 20 and 21, 

with the theme this 

year being “Here’s to 

Life!/Viva la Vida!” 

SAN DIEGO PRIDE 

When it comes to the gayborhood, 

San Diego gives greater Los Angeles 

a run for its money. 

30 

ONE CITY 

ONE PRIDE 

WeHo celebrates 

LGBTQ art, dance, 

film, history, music 

and more. 

38 

44 

PAT ROCCO: 

A FATHER OF 

L.A. PRIDE 

He helped launch 

the parade in 1970 

and the festival four 

years later. 

RESIST, WITH LOVE 

Brian Pendleton uses his warm 

and friendly style to put together 

a protest that harkens back to the 

early days of Pride. 

50 

IN WEHO FOR 

PRIDE? 

Could there be a gayer 

place to celebrate Pride? 

Or to just have a gay ole 

good time? Where to Go 

(and Stay). 

52 

L.A. PRIDE 

How the Nation’s 

First Pride Parade 

Got Its Start and 

Where It Is Now.

WHM 

WEST HOLLYWOOD MAGAZINE 

THIS IS A TIME FOR 

US 

By Henry E. (Hank) Scott 

PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 

Henry E. (Hank) Scott 

henry@westhollywoodmag.net 

TO TAKE PRIDE IN AND DEFEND 

ALL ASPECTS OF WEST HOLLY- 

WOOD’S DIVERSITY 

Hank Scott is editor and 

publisher of WEHOville. 

com and West Hollywood 

Magazine. 

CREATIVE DIRECTOR 

Allana Johnson 

allana@yokcreative.com 

SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR 

Doug Stichler 

Doug@WeHoMediaCo.com 

Many people call West Hollywood an 

urban village, which calls out its density 

and traffic as well as its smalltown 

vibe. Another way to think of it 

is as a cosmopolitan village -- which 

puts an emphasis on WeHo’s remarkable 

diversity when it comes to age, 

sexual orientation, religion, ethnic 

Then there is Philippe Mora. The Australian 

film director who was born in 

Paris in 1949, lives in West Hollywood. 

He made his first film, “Back Alley”, at 

the age of 15. Mora spent time in London 

as an artist and has produced two 

dozen edgy and artistic films. 

that defines West Hollywood. There is 

no question that it will be the most important 

event in West Hollywood this 

year, an event where we stand together 

in opposition to efforts to take away 

basic human rights we have fought for 

(and that some of us have died for). 

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR 

Owen Ward 

Owen@WeHoMediaCo.com 

CONTRIBUTORS 

James Mills: Writer and editor 

Joseph Daniels: Joseph Daniels Photography 

Derek Wanker: Unikorn Photography 

Ignacio “Iggy” Lopez: Iggy Photography 

ADVERTISING 

(323) 454-7707 

advertising@westhollywoodmag.net 

background and nationality. 

It’s a city that is home to lots of gay 

men from the Midwest and Mexico 

who moved here for the freedom to be 

who they are. It is home to thousands 

of Jewish immigrants who fled Russian-speaking 

countries and the discrimination 

they endured there. It’s a 

city known for its young nightlife population 

and a city that is working hard 

to develop ways for older residents to 

stay in their homes as they age. 

All of this is by way of explaining 

why this Spring issue of West Hollywood 

Magazine is focused on the annual 

Pride events here and in other cities 

in Southern California. The Pride 

parade began 47 years ago as a way 

for gay and lesbian people to proclaim 

their pride in being who they are. An 

event that was at times controversial 

and marked by minor violence over 

the years, Pride has become a happy 

celebration of the growing acceptance 

of LGBT people in this country and es- 

Then, of course, we can party hardy to 

celebrate what we actually have accomplished, 

so long as we remain aware 

that the fight to preserve and extend our 

civil liberties is not yet over. 

FOLLOW US 

It’s a city that is home to creative peo- 

pecially West Hollywood. 

westhollywoodmag.net 

facebook.com/westhollywoodmag.net 

instagram @westhollywoodmagazine 

ple from around the world who find 

WeHo’s diversity and acceptance stimulating 

even if it isn’t directly relevant 

to their lives. 

This year, however, a major part of 

the Pride celebration in West Hollywood 

will be the Resist March, 

something that speaks to all of us and 

WHMC, 1138 Hacienda Place, No. 211, 

West Hollywood, CA 90069. 323.454.7707. 

Consider Vera Mijojlić, a resident of 

West Hollywood who was born in 

Sarajevo, Bosnia, to Serbian parents. 

Mijojlić worked as a journalist for the 

newsmagazine NIN and Belgrade’s 

daily Politika before moving here and 

in 2002 launching the South East Europe 

Film Festival to celebrate and 

showcase that region’s eclectic ensemble 

of cultures, histories, and peoples. 

not just our LGBT population. That 

march is a protest against threats by 

the Trump administration to scale 

back basic human rights for women, 

LGBT people, Muslims and immigrants 

and to radically reduce access by lowincome 

people to medical care. 

The Resist March is turning the annual 

L.A. Pride event into something that 

embraces all aspects of the diversity 

24 WHM SPRING 2017 

25

LB 

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO STAY ON YOUR VISIT, CONSIDER THESE 

GAY-FRIENDLY OPTIONS, ALL A SHORT DISTANCE FROM ALAMITOS BEACH AND THE PRIDE FESTIVITIES: 

HOTELS 

Courtyard Long Beach 

Downtown 

500 E. First St., 

Long Beach 90802 

(562) 435-8511 

www.marriott.com/hotels/ 

travel/lgbcy-courtyard-longbeach-downtown/ 

Hyatt Regency Long Beach 

200 S. Pine Ave, 


(562) 491-1234 

www.longbeach.hyatt.com/en/ 

hotel/home.html 

Hotel Maya 

700 Queensway Drive 


(562) 435-7676 

www.hotelmayalongbeach.com/ 

The Varden 

335 Pacific Ave.,Long Beach 

90802 

(562) 432-8950 

www.thevardenhotel.com/ 

The Westin Long Beach 

333 E. Ocean Blvd. 


(800) 937-8461 

westinlongbeachhotel.com/ 

BARS & CLUBS 

Club Ripples 

5101 E. Ocean Blvd. 


(562) 433-0357 

www.clubripples.com/ 

Executive Suite 

Artcraft Manor 

3428 Pacific Coast Hwy, 

Long Beach, CA 90804 

(562) 597-3884 

https://www.facebook.com 

/ExecutiveSuite 

Falcon 

1435 E. Broadway 


(562) 432-4146 

www.falconbar.com/ 

Mineshaft 



(562) 436-2433 

https://www.facebook.com/ 

mineshaftLB 

Piston’s Bar (closed, to be 

replaced by Eagle 562, with an 

entrance off the alley) 2020 E. 

Artesia Blvd. 


(562) 422-1928 

eagle562.com 

Paradise Piano Bar 

and Restaurant 



(562) 590-8773 

paradisepianobar.com 

The Brit 



(562) 432-9742 

www.thebritlb.com 

The Crest 

5935 Cherry Ave., 


(562) 423-6650 

www.thecrestlongbeach.com 

The Silver Fox 

411 Redondo Ave. 


(562) 493-6343 

www.silverfoxlongbeach.com 

COULD THERE BE MORE OF A CONTRAST? W H I L E 

THIS YEAR’S L.A. PRIDE PARADE IS BEING 

REPLACE BY THE RESIST MARCH PROTEST, 

THE LONG BEACH LESBIAN AND GAY PRIDE 

PARADE WILL HAVE LISA VANDERPUMP, 

T H E REALITY TV PERSONALITY A N D 

RESTAURATEUR, AS ITS CELEBRITY 

GRAND MARSHAL. 

Long Beach Pride 

takes place May 20 

and 21, with the theme 

this year being “Here’s 

to Life!/Viva la Vida!” 

The festival takes place largely 

in Marina Green Park, opening at 11 

a.m. and closing at 10 p.m. each day. It 

will feature a variety of music, with a 

Latin stage, a soul stage and a country 

music stage among others. Performers 

include names like Chaka Khan and 

Ty Herndon. Updates on festival performers 

and events can be found on 

line at www.longbeachpride.com. The 

actual parade begins at 10:30 a.m. on 

Ocean Boulevard at Lindero Avenue 

and proceeds along Ocean to Alamitos, 

where it ends at the festival grounds. 

Long Beach is thought by many to have 

one of the largest concentrations of 

gay people of any city in America. If 

you doubt that it is gay friendly consider 

that the mayor of Long Beach 

is Robert Garcia, the first openly gay 

man elected to that position. According 

to South Florida Gay News, it ranks 

third among all American cities in the 

growth of its LGBT population. That 

population is concentrated in neighborhoods 

such as Belmont Heights, 

Plaza / South of Conant and Eastside, 

all with relatively large lesbian populations, 

and Signal Hill. 

But when they’re not at home making 

dinner or watching TV, Long Beach’s 

LGBT folks are out having fun. To join 

them, you should head for what’s 

called the Broadway Corridor to the 

Alamitos Beach area. For the gay menthere’s 

Club Ripples, the Falcon and 

Mine shaft (where you’ll be as comfortable 

in a t-shirt and 

jeans than leather.) 

Out of the Alamitos neighborhood you 

won’t find Piston’s, a favorite of the 

leather crowd, which closed April 17. 

It will soon (if it hasn’t been already) 

be replaced by Eagle 562. An employee 

quoted in Q Voice News said: “It will 

be raunchy, cruisey and seedy. It will 

be a destination bar. It will be worth 

the drive from L.A., Orange County or 

San Diego.” 

And then there are the Crest, Dolphin 

Bar and Silver Fox. 

Lesbians will find themselves welcome 

at many of the gay bars. But with the 

closing of Hamburger Mary’s, its Doll 

House night is gone. 

The Alamitos Beach area has a different 

feel from West Hollywood’s Boystown. 

In Long Beach there’s a more 

comfortable mix of gay and straight 

people. The vibe on any given evening 

is more likely to be neighborly than 

“party time.” And you’re not likely to 

run into any guys in the restrooms 

lifting their shirts to make sure their 

six packs are still there. 

Sweetwater Saloon 

The Broadway Bar 

1201 E. Broadway. 




(562) 432-7044 

(562) 432-3646 

www.facebook.com/pages/ 

26 Sweetwater-Saloon 

27 

WHM SPRING 2017

SD 

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A PLACE 

TO SLEEP, CONSIDER THESE HILL- 

CREST AND HILLCREST-ADJACENT 

HOSTELRIES: 

HOTELS 

Hillcrest Inn Hotel 

3754 5th Ave., San Diego, CA 92103; 

(619) 796-9804; http://www.hillcrestinn.net/ 

Inn At The Park 

525 Spruce St , San Diego, CA 92103; 

(619) 291-0999; 

http://www.shellhospitality.com/Inn-at-the-Park 

Balboa Park Inn 

3402 Park Blvd., San Diego, CA 92103; 

(619) 298-0823; 

http://www.balboaparkinn.com/ 

WHEN YOU’RE READY TO PUT 

THAT BOOK DOWN AND DRINK 

SOMETHING DIFFERENT THAN 

COFFEE, HILLCREST OFFERS 

MANY OPTIONS. 

ITS GAY AND GAY-FRIENDLY BARS AND 

HANGOUTS INCLUDE: 

Urban Mo’s 

308 University Ave, San Diego, CA 92103; 

(619) 491-0400; http://www.urbanmos.com/ 

Rich’s San Diego 


(619) 295-2195; http://www.richssandiego.com/ 

Numbers 

3811 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92103; 

(619) 294-9005; http://www.numberssd.com/ 

Flicks 


(619) 297-2056; http://www.sdflicks.com/ 

The Brass Rail 

3796 5th Ave, San Diego, CA 92103; 

(619) 298-2233; http://www.thebrassrailsd.com/ 

The Loft 


(619) 296-6407 

http://www.theloftlounge.com/ 

Pecs 


(619) 296-0889; 

http://www.pecsbar.com/ 

Number One Fifth Avenue 


(619) 299-1911 

The Gossip Grill 

1440 University Ave, 

San Diego, CA 92103; 

(619) 260-8023; 

http://www.thegossipgrill.com/ 

Martinis Above Fourth 

3940 4th Ave., Suite 200, 

San Diego, CA 92103; 

(619) 400-4500; 

http://www.martinisabovefourth.com/ 

The Caliph 


(619) 298-9495; 

http://thecaliph.com/ 

Kitty Diamond 

3780 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92103; 

(619) 546-4642; 

http://kittydiamondsd.com/ 

Fiesta Cantina – San Diego 


(619) 298-2500; 

http://fiestacantina.net/ 

WHEN IT COMES TO THE GAYBORHOOD, SAN 

DIEGO GIVES GREATER LOS ANGELES A RUN 

FOR ITS MONEY. 

San Diego’s annual Pride event takes 

place July 14-16 this year. There’s a 

rally on July 14 at a location to be announced 

where the annual Spirit of 

Stonewall Awards are presented. The 

5K race begins at 9:30 a.m. the next 

day, July 15, on University Avenue at 

Centre Street. 

Then the biggest event, the parade, 

starts at 11 a.m. It begins at the Hillcrest 

Pride Flag at University Avenue and 

Normal Street, proceeds west on University 

Avenue, turns south on 6th 

Avenue, turns left onto Balboa Drive 

and ends at Laurel Street. 

But there’s more! On July 15 and 16 

there’s the annual music festival 

in Balboa Park. For an update 

on performers, check www. 

sdpride.org. 

While you’re in San Diego 

for Pride, you should do a little 

exploring. When it comes to 

the gayborhood, San Diego gives greater 

Los Angeles a run for its money. 

Its version of West Hollywood (and 

more particularly WeHo’s oh-so-gay 

westside) is Hillcrest. Hillcrest is just 

northwest of Balboa Park (in the old 

days a major gay cruising area) and 

a short drive north of downtown. 

There, along University Avenue and 

its intersections with 4th and 5th avenues, 

you’ll find many of the city’s gay 

bars and restaurants and shops. Not 

far away are two other LGBT popular 

neighborhoods -- University Heights 

and North Park. But Hillcrest is where 

the action is. 

If the gay nature of the neighborhood 

isn’t obvious to you as you walk down 

University Avenue, consider that a 

survey shows 43 percent of households 

in Hillcrest are occupied by gay 

and lesbian couples. It is a progressive 

enclave of some 36,000 people in a city 

known for its right-of-center leanings. 

The LGBT crowd began to populate 

Hillcrest in the 1970s and make its 

voice known. In 1974, when San Diego 

refused to grant a permit for a gay 

pride parade, 200 gay men and lesbians 

marched in protest through downtown 

(albeit some wearing paper bags 

over their heads.) They got that permit 

in 1975, and in 1986 Mayor Maureen 

O’Connor became the first elected official 

to march in the Pride parade. Now 

the July parade and festival are recognized 

as the city’s biggest public event. 

Businesses catering to gay customers 

began opening in the neighborhood 

as LGBT people moved in, looking for 

affordable housing and a safe environment, 

which they found in a neighborhood 

then largely populated by old 

people. The Brass Rail, San Diego’s oldest 

gay bar, was one of those businesses. 

It opened in 1958 as a restaurant on 

the corner of Sixth Avenue and B Street 

in downtown San Diego then moved 

to Hillcrest in 1963. In 1968 the Show 

Biz Supper Club (now closed) opened 

in Hillcrest, giving San Diego its first 

female impersonator venue. And in 

1984 The Flame supper club reopened 

as a lesbian bar. 

To give those more familiar with West 

Hollywood an idea of how Hillcrest 

differs, consider that it has two independent 

bookstores – Fifth Avenue 

Book and Bluestocking Books – and 

several independent coffee shops 

Babycakes and Caffe Vergnano 1882 

are among the better known. Some 

liken it to New York City’s East Village 

in the early 1990s. 


29


WEHO CELEBRATES LGBTQ ART, DANCE, FILM, 

HISTORY, MUSIC AND MORE 

The City of West Hollywood, through its One City One 

Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival, celebrates Pride this year 

with the theme “Go West”. 

Whether associated with Horace Greeley’s famous 

quote from the 1800’s (“Go West, young man, and grow 

up with the country”), the Village People’s anthem of 

hope and unity, or the Pet Shop Boys’ later cover of the 

song, Go West conjures images of a movement toward 

a promised land. 

For many LGBTQ people, this included the idea of a 

West Coast utopia, a dream of gay liberation, and the 

freedom to live lives openly in the West Coast meccas 

of San Francisco, Los Angeles and the emerging, influential 

young City of West Hollywood. Most recently, 

there has been a wave of artists and creatives moving 

here from New York. Over the years, people have 

moved West for many reasons, and for 2017 One City 

One Pride takes a look at what pride means to those 

who accepted the call to “Go West!” 

One City One Pride includes a large number of mostly 

free interactive, performing and visual arts events 

from May 22 (Harvey Milk Day) through the end of 

June Pride month. 

THE HIGHLIGHTS OF ONE CITY ONE PRIDE 

THIS YEAR ARE: 

• A full “Day of History” on June 3 with multiple 

screenings and a tour originally written by the 

late Stuart Timmons, co-author of “Gay LA” from 

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

• The #Resist March on June 11 (there will be a series 

of free One City One Pride artist-led protest sign 

making workshops in the weeks leading up to it). 

• The June 29 world premiere of “Jeanne,” a new documentary 

about the accomplishments of activist 

and author Jeanne Cordova. 

For more information please visit www.weho.org/ 

pride or follow One City One Pride at @WeHoArts. 


31

MAY 

JUNE 

BEGIN 

HARVEY MILK DAY 

AND ONE CITY ONE 

PRIDE KICKOFF 

Join the City of West Hollywood’s 

One City One Pride 

LGBTQ Arts Festival on Harvey 

Milk Day from 5 to 7 

p.m. There will be a happy 

hour (until 7 p.m.) and there 

will be artist-led protest sign 

workshop so you can be prepared 

for the #Resist march 

on June 11. RSVPs are not 

necessary, and supplies for 

making protest signs and 

pins are provided, just bring 

your anger, wit and creativity. 

Artists will be standing 

by to assist those who are creatively 

stymied. The Abbey 

Food & Bar, 692 N. Robertson 

Blvd. Free admission. 

29TH ANNUAL 

LAMBDA LITERARY 

AWARDS FINALISTS 

READING 

Join us for readings at 7 p.m. 

by the Los Angeles area 

finalists for the annual 

Lambda Literary Awards 

at the West Hollywood City- 

Council Chambers, 625 N. 

San Vicente Blvd. 

Free admission. 

JUNE 1 - JUNE 30: 

O N E A R C H I V E S L G B T Q 

HISTORY PANEL DISPLAYS 

The City of West Hollywood has sponsored two outdoor exhibitions 

of LGBTQ History Panels from ONE Archives. These will be 

displayed during the month of June on construction fencing surrounding 

West Hollywood Park as it undergoes renovation. The 

exhibitions are: 

“The History of the LGBTQ Civil Rights Movement”, which explores 

the inspiring journey of the rights movement from World 

War II to present day, starting from development of “gayborhoods” 

in the 1940’s, the Stonewall Riots and the beginning of organized 

protests in the 1960’s, the beginning of Pride and a cohesive 

national movement in the 1970’s, the AIDS crisis of the 

1980’s, the beginning of gay marriage in the 1990’s and the explosion 

of rights in the 2000’s. 

“Heroes of the LGBTQ Civil Rights Movement”, which highlights 

the remarkable LGBTQ pioneers who were front and center 

at the birth of the LGBTQ civil rights movement. They include 

Christine Jorgensen, one of the first to undergo gender reassignment 

surgery; Frank Kameny, who co-founded the Mattachine 

Society and helped organize some of the first public gay 

and lesbian protests in 1965; Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, who 

co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian organization 

in the U.S, and Bayard Rustin, one of the most important and 

influential civil rights activists of the 20th century who worked 

alongside Martin Luther King 

LGBTQ HISTORIC 

PLACES IN L.A. (HIS- 

TORY/FILM/PANEL) 

Join the Los Angeles Conservancy 

for a screening at 6:30 

p.m. of three short films spotlighting 

significant LGBTQ 

spaces including The Black 

Cat, The Woman’s Building 

and Great Hall/Long Hall. 

The screening will be at Great 

Hall, Plummer Park, 7377 

Santa Monica Blvd. Admission 

is $5. Proceeds will go 

towards funding future activities 

highlighting more of 

L.A.’s LGBTQ historic places. 

JUNE 2 - JUNE 30: “LESBI- 

ANS TO WATCH OUT FOR – 

‘90S L.A. ACTIVISM” 

This year marks the 24th 

anniversary of the National 

Dyke March in Washington 

D.C. and the 25th anniversary 

of the founding of 

the Lesbian Avengers. These 

two events inspired national 

activist efforts and a legacy 

of Dyke Marches across 

the country. From protest 

and street activism to grassroots 

community groups, ‘90s 

activism in LA and WeHo 

EXPLORING INTER- 

NATIONAL LGBT 

RIGHTS IN CHINA 

AND ABROAD (PANEL 

DISCUSSION) 

Join the City of West Hollywood’s 

Human Rights Speakers 

Series at 7 p.m. for a discussion 

on the growing 

difficulties activists, nonprofits 

and others face when 

trying to provide aid in countries 

with anti-LGBT policies. 

The discussion will take place 

at the West Hollywood City 

Council Chambers, 625 N. San 

Vicente Blvd. 

To RSVP for this free event 

go to https://wehohumanrights.eventbrite.com 

or call (323) 848-6823. 

reflected the energy of the 

decade. The exhibit begins 

with an opening reception 

from 7 to 9 p.m. on June 2 at 

Plummer Park, Long Hall, 

7377 Santa Monica Blvd. It 

features “The Lesbian Avengers: 

25th Anniversary” traveling 

exhibition, and tells the 

stories of L.A. queer women 

from groups like ACT UP LA, 

Queer Nation LA, Dyke March 

LA, the United Lesbians of 

African Heritage (ULOAH), 

Los Angeles Asian Pacific 

Islander Sisters (LAA- 

PIS), Lesbianas Unidas (LU) 

and other organizations. 



33

JUNE 

KEEP 

GOING 


DAY OF HISTORY 

As in years past, One City One 

Pride provides an entire day 

of history on the Saturday 

prior to Christopher Street 

West’s L.A. Pride Festival. 

Events include: 

11 A.M.: DRAG QUEEN STORY TIME 

Organized by RADAR productions, 

the same folks who 

first brought Drag Queen 

Storytime to San Francisco’s 

Public Library, join 

the City of West Hollywood 

through WeHo Arts and the 

West Hollywood Library 

for stories and crafts in the 

West Hollywood Library 

Community Meeting Room, 

625 N. San Vicente Blvd. 


JUNE 4-25: “THE COM- 

PLETE HISTORY OF 

DRAG IN A FEW MO- 

MO” (THEATRE) 

APT 3F presents a new play by 

David LeBarron. Backstage 

at a drag show, Auntie, an old 

diva, teaches a newbie her fabulous 

lineage, from ancient 

times to current affairs, a resilient 

race of glitter, tucking 

and throat throttling reality. 

It will take place at The Other 

Space Theatre, 916 N F o r m o - 

s a A v e More information is 

available at www.facebook.com/ 

events/440350399643368. 

Show dates and times are: 

• June 4, 3:30 p.m. 

• June 15, 8:30 p.m. 

• June 18, 7p.m. 

• June 24, 3:30 p.m. 

• June 25, 7p.m. 

11 A.M. TO 2 P.M.: STUART TIM- 

MONS’ LGBTQ HISTORY TOUR 

(HISTORY/PERFORMANCE ART) 

Stuart Timmons, co-author 

of “Gay LA” suffered a stroke 

before his West Hollywood 

LGBTQ History Tour was 

completed. Thanks to a team 

of helpers and a grant from 

the City of West Hollywood 

through One City One Pride, 

the tour will be restaged with 

a cast of colorful characters 

from different eras stationed 

along the route. The tour 

starts from the West Hollywood 

City Council Chambers, 

625. N. San Vicente. Also, before 

during or after the tour 

you can get supplies and help 

from artists to make your 

own protest sign for the June 

11 #Resist March. 

JUNE 4: “VOX FEMINA: WOMAN 

RISING, A TASTE OF SEASON 20” 

(MUSIC) 

This free concert at 3 p.m. 

combines repertoire from 

Vox Femina’s 20th anniversary 

season, a snapshot of the 

organization’s past, present 

and future. It will be at Congregation 

Kol Ami, 1200 N. La 

Brea Ave. 

JUNE 4: #LASTDANCE (THEATRE) 

It’s “Boys in the Band” with 

a little “Paris Is Burning” 

thrown in!. #LastDance will 

make audiences rethink what 

really is behind the wigs, 

makeup and heels and find 

out they are people just like 

them. The event takes place at 

7 p.m. at McCadden Place Theatre, 

1157 N. McCadden Pl, 

Los Angeles. Tickets are 

5 P.M.: “REEL IN THE CLOSET” 

(FILM/HISTORY) 

“Reel in the Closet” is a feature-length 

documentary 

that lets us connect with 

queer people from the past 

through the rare home movies 

that they left for us. 

Screened at the West Hollywood 


625 N. San Vicente Blvd. Free 

admission. 

required and more information 

can be found on facebook. 

com/events/810577775747334. 

Show dates are as follows: 

• June 4, 7 p.m. 

(press preview) 

• June 11 at 10:30 p.m. 

• June 18 at 1 p.m. 

• June 23 at 7:30 p.m. 

• June 24 t 8:30 p.m. 

OUTFEST WEHO SCREENING (FILM) 

The City of West Hollywood 

through WeHo Arts partners 

with Outfest for a monthly 

screening at 7:30 p.m. of a 

film to be determined at the 

West Hollywood City Council 

Chambers, 625 N. San 

Vicente Blvd 

In addition to the three events above on June 3, 

“LA: A Queer History” will be shown on a loop in 

the City Council Chambers, there will be a protest-sign 

making workshop, and ONE Archives 

LGBTQ History exhibits will be on view in West 

Hollywood Park. Also trans artist Yozmit will 

stage “(TOTEM)” the first part of a three-part 

performance artwork “Migration of the Monarchs” 

(details below). 

JUNE 3-24: “MIGRATION OF THE 

MONARCHS” (ART) 

Everything in life...transforms. “Migration 

of The Monarchs” is a three-part conceptual 

art project involving wearable art that transforms 

over the month. Burlesque and cabaret 

will merge with Victorian esthetics, Butoh, Kabuki, 

and “Pansori” (traditional Korean singing) 

to create an act of experiential research 

into the psyche of the performer during the 

Hollywood Fringe. Intentions and prayers 

in part one will be during the performance. 

• June 3, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: artist Yozmit will 

collect prayers and stitch a ribbon or bead 

onto a TOTEM as a symbol of exchange. 

• June 9, 7 to 9 p.m., WALK will be performed 

as live ambient art on Santa Monica Blvd. 

• June 10, 10 p.m.; June 18, 1pm, and June 24 at 

5:30 p.m. 

JUNE 8 -25: HOLLYWOOD FRINGE 

/ ONE CITY ONE PRIDE (THEATRE) 

The Hollywood Fringe Festival 

is an open and uncensored 

community-derived 

event. The Fringe’s eastern 

border is usually Gardner 

Street, but through a 

special collaboration with 

the City of West Hollywood, 

LGBTQ shows can take 

place throughout West Hollywood 

as part of One City 

One Pride. Visit www.hollywoodfringe.org/weho 

to find 

shows taking place in WeHo. 


35

JUNE DON’T 

STOP 

JUNE 9-16: LAAA “OUT 

THERE”. (VISUAL ART) 

“Out There” is an all-media 

exhibition at Los Angeles 

Art Association during 

One City One Pride 

which runs through June 

16. The opening reception 

on June 9 is 6 to 9 p.m. Gallery 

hours are 10 a.m. to 5 

p.m. daily except Monday 

through June 18. Gallery 825 

is 825 N. La Cienaga Blvd. 

Free admission. Exhibit details 

can be found at www. 

laaa.org/calender/2017/6/9/ 

out-there 

JUNE 14: RAINBOW 

KEY AWARDS 

Since 1993, the City of West 

Hollywood has presented 

Rainbow Key Awards to 

those who have done outstanding 

work for the gay 

and lesbian community as 

selected by the Lesbian and 

Gay Advisory Board from 

nominations submitted by 

the community. The 2017 

Rainbow Key honorees are: 

Cleve Jones (former aideto 

Harvey Milk, author of 

“When We Rise”; JQ International 

(LGBTQ/Jewish organization); 

Eric Paul Leue 

(Mr. LA Leather 2014); L.A. 

Gay & Lesbian Chamber of 

Commerce; Michaela Ivri 

Mendelsohn (transgender 

activist, public speaker and 

business leader); Jewel 

Thais-Williams (operator of 

Catch One, the now-legendary 

discothèque), and Ruth 

Tittle (16-year member of 

the Lesbian and Gay Advisory 

Board). The awards will 

be presented at 7 p.m. (with 

a reception at 6 p.m.), at the 


Chambers, 625 N. San Vicente 

Blvd. Free Admission. 

JUNE 9: DYKE MARCH 

The Dyke March kicks off 

from Sal Guariello Memorial 

Park at the intersection 

of Santa Monica Boulevard 

and Holloway at 7 p.m. Artists 

will be on hand and supplies 

will be available to create 

signs for the Dyke March 

or the June 11 #Resist March. 

JUNE 10 TO 11: 

L .A. PRIDE 

FESTIVAL 

The L.A. Pride Festival is 

organized by Christopher 

Street West (CSW) 

Visit www.lapride.org 

for a full line-up of entertainment 

and to purchase 

tickets ($20-$30). 

West Hollywood Park, 


JUNE 17: ALAP PRIDE 

PLAY READING FESTI- 

VAL (THEATRE)EVENT) 

Join ALAP (the Alliance of 

Los Angeles Playwrights) at 

2 p.m. for its annual reading 

of short plays. It will take 

place at Plummer Park Community 

Center, Rooms 1 and 

2, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd. 


JUNE 17: 7TH ANNUAL 

“CELEBRATING ALL 

LIFE AND CREATION” 

POW WOW (MULTI- 

DISCIPLINARY/COM- 

MUNITY EVENT) 

Join ALAP (the Alliance of 

Los Angeles Playwrights) at 2 

p.m. for its annual reading of 

short plays. It will take place 

at Plummer Park Community 

Center, Rooms 1 and 2, 7377 

Santa Monica Blvd. Free admission. 

#RESIST MARCH 

This year a march will take 

place from Hollywood, where 

L.A. Pride was born in 1970, 

to West Hollywood, where 

L.A. Pride grew up. The 

march will begin at 8 a.m. at 

Hollywood Boulevard and 

Highland and continue until 

1 p.m. when it will end near 

West Hollywood Park. Instead 

of a parade celebrating 

past progress, the LGBTQ+ 

community and its allies will 

march in solidarity with and 

on the same day as the National 

Equality March for 

Unity and Pride in Washington 

D.C. 

JUNE 17: 7TH ANNUAL 

“CELEBRATING ALL 

LIFE AND CREATION” 

POW WOW (MULTI- 

DISCIPLINARY/COM- 

MUNITY EVENT) 

Celebration Theatre will 

present its annual Chuck 

Rowland Award for contributions 

to LGBTQ theatre to 

Patricia Loughrey. Excerpts 

from three of her plays will 

be presented: “Dear Harvey: 

Stories of Harvey Milk”, “The 

Daddy Machine” and “The 

Inner Circle”. West Hollywood 


625 N. San Vicente Blvd. Free 

admission. 

JUNE 13 AND 14: 

“CALIFORNIA DREAMS” 

PRESENTED BY NEW 

STAGES 

Through story and song, “California 

Dreams” will explore 

the experiences of LGBTQ seniors 

as they made their own 

journeys west – literally, figuratively 

and symbolically toward 

liberation. This original 

production was created 

through a workshop process 

involving seniors at the L.A. 

LGBT Center. It will be presented 

at 7 p.m. at the Renberg 

Theatre, The Village at 

Ed Gould Plaza’s L.A. LGBT 

Center, 1125 N. McCadden 

Place., Los Angeles. Free admission. 

RSVP to (323) 860- 

5830 or by e-mail to 

seniors@lalgbtcenter.org. 

THE GO WEST SUNDAY FUNDAY 

MINI BALL 

Celebration Theatre will present its annual 

Chuck Rowland Award for contributions to 

LGBTQ theatre to Patricia Loughrey. Excerpts 

from three of her plays will be presented: “Dear 

Harvey: Stories of Harvey Milk”, “The Daddy 

Machine” and “The Inner Circle”. West Hollywood 

City Council Chambers, 625 N. San Vicente 

Blvd. Free admission. 

Join One City One Pride 

for the world premiere of 

“Jeanne,” a documentary 

on the life and accomplishments 

of activist and author 

Jeanne Cordova, directed by Gregorio Davila. 

The director and Jeanne’s partner, Lynn Harris 

Ballen, will participate in a post screening discussion. 

It will take place at 7:30 p.m. at West 

Hollywood City Council Chambers, 625 N. San 

Vicente Blvd. Free admission. 


37


39

“WE HAVEN’T WON ALL THE WARS YET. AND IT MIGHT TAKE YEARS, IF 

WE EVER DO IT,” ROCCO SAID. “NOW WE KNOW WE’VE GOT TRUMP TO 

DEAL WITH. THAT’S WAR NO. 2.” 

BY JAMES MILLS 

A FATHER OF L.A. PRIDE 

He helped launch the parade in 

1970 and the festival four years later. 

Gay pride is an individal experience 

as well as a communal 

experience. It’s about 

celebrating yourself and 

making it easier for others 

to accept themselves. It’s as 

important now as it was 47 

years ago when Los Angeles 

held its first gay pride parade. 

That’s the message 

longtime gay activist Pat 

Rocco wants everyone to understand. 

“Pride has been important 

from the very beginning 

when people, little by 

little, were realizing who 

they were was not such a 

bad thing at all and they 

would be able to come out 

to their parents, their jobs, 

their friends, etc.,” recalls 

the 86-year-old Rocco, who 

helped put together that 

very first Los Angeles Pride 

parade held on Hollywood 

Boulevard on June 28, 1970. 

“Little by little, by making 

yourself available to say, 

‘Here I am and I’m damn 

proud of it,’ you’re helping 

everybody else to say the 

same thing.” 

LGBT people may have made 

tremendous strides in the 

decades since then, but they 

must continue to celebrate 

LGBT Pride and fight for 

their rights. 

“We haven’t won all the 

wars yet. And it might take 

years, if we ever do it,” 

Rocco said. “Now we know 

we’ve got Trump to deal 

with. That’s war No. 2.” 

Rocco speaks from vast experience. 

While that first 

Pride parade was quite successful, 

the next two, in 1971 

and 1972, were badly handled, 

and the 1973 parade 

never happened because 

no one stepped up to organize 

it. So, in 1974, with the 

gay and lesbian community 

demanding a Pride parade, 

Rocco was voted in as 

the first official president of 

Christopher Street West, the 

nonprofit that puts on the 

yearly L.A. Pride event. 

Rocco not only organized the 

1974 parade, he also decided 

to hold a festival (originally 

called a carnival) in conjunction 

with it, an idea that 

seems natural now, but was 

viewed with skepticism then. 

“I brought the festival and 

the parade in together to 

make one unit,” said Rocco, 

who will be the subject of 

an upcoming documentary 

film. “People thought I was 

crazy. I said, ‘Look what’s 

happening. We’re having 

parades and after the parade 

everybody just goes home. 

Here you’ve got a captive 

audience and they want to 

do something, but there’s 

nothing that we’re providing 

for them to do.’ I said, 

‘Let’s put together something 

and we’ll call it a carnival.’ 

I got carnival rides, 

got a big lot. We got booths 

that were staffed only by 

gay and lesbian people, and 

they then interacted with 

all the people who come in 

there. It was a big success.” 

The secret to putting on a 

successful Pride festival and 

parade? Good organization 

and good people. 

“There needs to be a head 

person,” Rocco said. “When 

something goes wrong with 

the festival, it’s always because 

of the people in charge. 

It’s a trickle-down thing. If 

you’re great in being a leader, 

then your trickle-down 

people will follow you, and 

they will be leaders in the 

future.” It’s also important 

to continually communicate 

with the public. 

“Make sure you get the word 

out and make sure you constantly 

are getting the word 

out with all the people who 

are going to be involved,” 

Rocco said. “Make them understand 

that this is their 

festival. It is for them to be 

festive. That is why it is 

called a festival.” 

One of Rocco’s proudest moments 

came with an entirely 

different parade, the 1979 

Hollywood Christmas Parade. 

Rocco and other gay men 

planned to have a float (designed 

by gay men who did 

the Rose Bowl parade floats) 

with a sign reading, “Happy 

Holidays from the Southern 

California Gay Community 

and Friends.” 

However, the Christmas parade 

officials demanded the 

word “gay” be removed. 

Rocco refused, saying, “I will 

not compromise my gayness 

by not saying who I am, who 

we are.” Many meetings were 

held, and Rocco ultimately 

alerted the media about the 

controversy. At the last minute, 

parade officials relented, 

realizing they would garner 

worse publicity by not letting 

them in. 

The float got huge cheers 

from gay people and straight 

people alike when it passed 

along the parade route. 

Born in Brooklyn, Rocco and 

his family moved to Hollywood 

during World War 

II when his father got a construction 

job with the Defense 

Department. 

40 

WHM SPRING 2017 

41

AN ACCOMPLISHED SINGER, HE SPENT MUCH 

OF HIS EARLY ADULT YEARS TOURING WITH 

NIGHTCLUB AND MUSICAL ACTS, INCLUDING 

MARGE AND GOWER CHAMPION, AND LATER 

APPEARING AS ONE OF THE TOP TWENTY 

SINGERS ON TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD’S TELE- 

VISION VARIETY SHOW. 

Later, Rocco was manager of a group of 

movie revival houses. Along the way, 

he also wrote, directed, produced and 

edited a series of gay male erotic flicks. 

“The movies I made were not pornographic, 

but there was plenty of male 

nudity and there was plenty story 

wise too,” Rocco recalled. “I intimated 

that sex was being had, but you never 

saw it, you only imagined it. I didn’t 

want to show [sex] because then it became 

a porn film. At that time, there 

were no male porn films at all. When 

male porn films came along a few 

years later, that’s when I quit [making 

films].” 

With titles like Sex and the Single Gay, 

Ron and Chuck in Disneyland Discovery 

and Let There Be Boys, Rocco’s 

films (which are now housed at the 

UCLA Film and Television Archive) 

ranged from shorts to feature length 

and played to huge crowds at the Park 

Theater in MacArthur Park. The Los 

Angeles Times, Variety and The Hollywood 

Reporter gave them positive 

reviews, and Playboy magazine even 

wrote about them, calling Rocco, “The 

King of the Male Nudies.” 

In the 1970s, when Rocco saw families 

kicking their children out for being 

gay, he helped found Hudson House, 

which provided emergency shelter, 

food and clothing to gays and lesbians 

and later expanded to include job 

training. 

By the early 1980s, after years of juggling 

multiple projects, Rocco was exhausted. 

He and his partner, David 

Ghee, moved to Hawaii. Living in that 

tropical paradise helped him slow 

down, but Rocco could never stop completely. 

He’s stayed active with Pride 

organizations and theatres there over 

the years. 

Now, Rocco is looking to move back to 

the mainland. He’d love to return to 

Los Angeles, but he thinks that real estate 

prices are astronomical, so he and 

Ghee are going to the desert. 

“We’ve decided to go to the Palm- 

Springs area where they have a 

really fantastic gay community. It’s 

very organized and very nice,” Rocco 

said.“As soon as we find a house, we’ll 

be there.” 


43


45

“RESIST ISN’T ANGRY. RESIST ISN’T VIOLENT. RESIST IS PEACEFUL.RESIST IS 

WITH LOVE. RESIST IS WITH BONDING TOGETHER. WE’RE JUST RESISTING 

THE EFFORTS TO DIVIDE US.” 

BY JAMES MILLS 

RESIST, WITH LOVE 

Brian Pendleton uses his warm and friendly 

style to put together a protest that harkens 

back to the early days of Pride. 

Brian Pendleton glows as 

he talks about what ‘Resist’ 

means and why people 

should be a part of the giant 

Resist March on June 11 to 

stand up for LGBT rights as 

well as women’s rights, immigrants’ 

rights, healthcare 

rights and human rights. 

“Resist is the truest, most 

authentic thing that we’re 

doing,” says the 49-year-old, 

lanky, blond-haired Pendleton. 

“We are resisting. We 

are resisting those lawmakers 

that want to roll back 

our rights. We are resisting 

those people who are using 

rhetoric that is unkind. We 

are resisting the xenophobic 

and homophobic language 

that people are using. 

It would have been a lot easier 

to call this a Unity March, 

but we are resisting, and 

we are gathering to become 

a resistance against those 

who would do use harm.” 

His passion convinced officials 

with Christopher 

Street West, the nonprofit 

that puts on the annual L.A. 

Pride event, to cancel the 

parade portion of the Pride 

weekend this year and let 

him hold the protest march 

instead. News of the parade’s 

cancellation initially brought 

some, err, resistance, but 

Pendleton swayed many of 

his critics, even persuading 

some to join the cause. 

“Resist isn’t angry. Resist 

isn’t violent. Resist is peaceful. 

Resist is with love. Resist 

is with bonding together. 

We’re just resisting the efforts 

to divide us. Resisting 

homophobic, xenophobia. 

That’s what we’re doing,” 

says Pendleton, who inadvertently 

sparked the Resist 

March when he made a simple 

Facebook post that went 

viral. “Whenever the LGBTQ 

community comes together, 

we celebrate in our own special 

way. While there may 

be no parade floats on the 

road because we’ll have a lot 

of marchers and there won’t 

be a lot of room for vehicles, 

I say, please, please join us 

on June 11. Bring the happiness 

and celebratory nature 

that you want to Hollywood 

and Highland [where the 

march starts] and bring that 

with the march all the way 

into West Hollywood. 

“Be the change you want 

to see in the world. You are 

welcome to participate. 

You’re going to be standing 

next to a trans person who 

feels under threat, who just 

got beat up by a police officer. 

You’re going to be standing 

next to a person who has 

just been diagnosed with 

HIV and is worried about 

their care. Bring your happy 

self to Hollywood and give 

it to those people and let’s 

make this something unique 

and beautiful.” 

Putting together a Resist 

March is truly a grassroots 

effort that harks back to 

the origins of the Pride parade 

it is replacing. Pendleton 

is quick to point out that 

the first Pride parades in 

the early 1970s were more 

of a march than a parade as 

people walked in the streets 

to demand their rights, demand 

recognition and demand 

equality. 

Pendleton’s home in the 

Hollywood Hills has been 

transformed into offices for 

the Resist March. With a 

55-member volunteer committee 

working to put it together, 

the house can fill up 

as people come and go, working 

on various aspects of 

the mammoth undertaking. 

Pendleton’s days are spent 

on the phone or in meetings, 

asking people to donate 

their time and/or their 

money. Little by little, his efforts 

keep paying off, such 

as in early April when the 


agreed to cover almost $1 

million in public safety costs. 

Brian Pendleton possesses a 

Teflon-like ability ignore criticism 

according to longtime 

friend Alan Uphold, a communications 

consultant who 

also teaches public speaking. 

“The LGBTQ community 

tends to eat its own. We’re 

highly critical of our own 

and constantly fire the gun 

internally,” observes Uphold, 

who is serving as the Resist 

March’s community outreach 

co-chair. “Brian has this unbelievable 

ability to deflect 

the critics and then embrace 

those critics. He manages to 

spread the love and the joy 

and get everyone involved 

despite the criticism and 

their negativity. Somehow, 

he keeps a warm, friendly 

style and excites people at the 

same time.” 

Pendleton’s husband, marketing 

expert Chad Goldman, 

is in awe of his ability 

to motivate people, noting 

that he speaks with an equal 

mix of passion, enthusiasm, 

sincerity and heart. 

46 

WHM SPRING 2017 

47

PASSION, ENTHUSIASM, SINCERITY AND HEART. 

“PEOPLE RARELY 

SAY ‘NO’ TO HIM,” 

“He can help people get beyond their own 

expectations of themselves and help them 

get beyond whatever personal boundaries 

they have imposed on themselves.” 

“PEOPLE RARELY SAY ‘NO’ TO HIM,” 

SAYS GOLDMAN WHO SERVES AS 

CHAIR OF RESIST’S MARKETING 

COMMITTEE. “HE CAN HELP PEO- 

PLE GET BEYOND THEIR OWN EX- 

PECTATIONS OF THEMSELVES AND 

HELP THEM GET BEYOND WHATEV- 

ER PERSONAL BOUNDARIES THEY 

HAVE IMPOSED ON THEMSELVES.” 

While his exceptional skills 

as both a salesman and motivational 

speaker may come 

RESIST 

naturally, it took Pendleton a 

long time to discover he had 

them. Growing up in Canoga 

Park, the youngest of four 

children of a rocket-scientist 

father and headhunter 

mother, Pendleton was shy 

and self-conscious. In his 

early 20s, he moved to West 

Hollywood and quickly 

joined the gay party scene, 

indulging in many party 

drugs, ultimately becoming 

addicted to crystal methamphetamine. 

“[Crystal meth] solved my 

insecurities and social awkwardness. 

It gave me an unreal 

ability to focus that 

I’d never had before and it 

solved a lot of problems,” 

he says. “Before long, it also 

created a whole new set of 

problems. I was hopeless 

and desperate. The elevator 

had reached the basement. I 

knew I wanted more for myself, 

but I was in the grip of a 

drug that I could not stop. No 

amount of thinking or logic 

or praying would stop it.” 

One day, he accidentally 

walked in on a friend’s drug 

intervention being conducted 

by the friend’s brother 

and actress Carrie Fisher, 

who took Pendleton aside, 

hugged him, told him he was 

beautiful and that he should 

get sober. 

“I was in tears the whole 

way walking home,” he recalls. 

“I thought, ‘If anyone 

cared enough about me to 

come to my house and tell 

me I needed to go to rehab, I 

will say yes.’” 

A month later he got the miracle 

he desperately desired 

when his parents and some 

friends staged an intervention 

and begged him to go to 

rehab. Without hesitation, 

he agreed. 

“It was the love of family 

and friends and the [12-step 

recovery] program that rescued 

me,” Pendleton says. 

“Learning new ways to think 

saved my life. I’ve been sober 

for 20 years now.” 

Shortly after completing 

rehab, a friend asked that 

Pendleton sponsor him on 

the annual AIDS Ride, the 

600-mile, week-long charitable 

bike ride from San Francisco 

to Los Angeles. Writing 

that $50 check changed the 

course of Pendleton’s life. 

“Handing that check over 

made me feel like the most 

powerful and most valuable 

person in the world,” he recalls. 

“It had taken that moment 

and everything that 

lead up to that moment to 

show me that I could in some 

small way make a difference 

in people’s lives.” 

Within a few years, Pendleton 

was working for Pallotta 

TeamWorks, the for-profit 

fundraising organization, 

created by entrepreneur 

Dan Pallotta, that put together 

large scale charitable 

fundraising events like 

the AIDS Ride (now known 

as the AIDS LifeCyle). A computer 

whiz, Pendleton was 

hired to create the first ever 

online donation-processing 

program, which reduced the 

time it took to record donations 

from several months to 

several seconds. 

When he got the chance to 

move into the organization’s 

forefront and pitch for those 

charitable causes, he found 

he not only loved it, he excelled 

at it. After Pallotta 

TeamWorks closed in 2002, 

he formed his own company, 

CauseForce, to carry on similar 

event-style charitable 

fundraising. His first client 

was Toronto’s Princess Margaret 

Hospital, a cancer research 

center. He convinced 

them to put on a two-day 

breast cancer walk, which 

was projected to raise $8 

million, but ended up bringing 

in $12.7 million. Over 

the years, he raised millions 

more for other charities. 

Pendleton sold CauseForce 

in 2013 but stayed on as 

chief executive for several 

years. Upon his retirement 

last year, he had visions of 

vacations, sleeping late and 

watching Netflix. However, 

slowing down doesn’t seem 

to be part of his DNA as he’s 

been busier since his retirement 

than before it. 

Pendleton has always been 

an achiever. Chad Goldman 

(the two now are separated 

but remain best friends), 

notes that when Pendleton 

wanted to learn how to fly 

small airplanes, he completed 

his flight training and 

course work, which normally 

takes about two years, in a 

record six months. 

“He has a tenacious drive 

to learn new things,” says 

Goldman. “For someone who 

has a short attention span 

and doesn’t have the education 

a lot of us have [Pendleton 

never went to college], 

you wouldn’t expect him to 

have the ability to do that. 

When he gets something in 

his mind, there’s nothing 

that will stop him.” 

Pendleton notes that he will 

be “unemployed come June 

12” (the day after the Resist 

March). Whether the future 

holds becoming a motivational 

speaker like Tony Robbins 

or a politician like Barack 

Obama, only time will tell, 

although no one who knows 

him would be surprised if 

he chose politics given his innate 

talents. 

For now, Pendleton is just focused 

on resistance. 

“RESIST IS THE ZEITGEIST,” HE 

SAYS. “IT’S THE LANGUAGE OF 

THE MOMENT THAT OUR PEOPLE 

ARE COMING TOGETHER AND 

GATHERING TO SAY, ‘NO. NO. 

WE RESIST THAT IDEA, WE’RE 

BETTER THAN THAT. WE CARE 

ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS.’ IT’S 

NOT A RED MARCH, IT’S NOT A 

#LOVEWINS 

BLUE MARCH. IT’S A RED, WHITE 

AND BLUE MARCH . . . LET’S GATHER 

TOGETHER AND MOVE AS ONE 

BIG, LIVING, BREATHING HUMAN 

MONUMENT FOR OUR RIGHTS.” 

James Mills, the author 

of this story, is a freelance 

writer who was 

the editor of West Hollywood 

Patch and is a 

frequent contributor to 

WEHOville.com. 


49

WH 

A MAJOR TOURIST DESTINATION, WEST HOLLYWOOD HAS DOZENS OF 

HOTELS, RANGING IN PRICE FROM THE HOLLOWAY MOTEL TO THE 

SUNSET TOWER, A MAJOR CELEBRITY HANGOUT. AMONG THEM: 

Alta Cienega Motel 

1005 N. La Cienega Blvd. 

(323) 656-4100 

Andaz West Hollywood 

8401 Sunset Blvd. 

(323) 656-1234 

Best Western Sunset Plaza 


(323) 654-0750 

Chamberlain 

1000 Westmount Drive 

(310) 657-7400 

Charlie Hotel 

819 N. Sweetzer Ave. 

(323) 988-9000 

Grafton on Sunset 


(323) 654-4600 

Holloway Motel 

8465 Santa Monica Blvd 

(323) 654-2454 

Le Montrose Suite Hotel 

900 Hammond St. 

(310) 855-1115 

Le Parc Suite Hotel 

733 N. West Knoll Drive 

(310) 855-8888 

London West Hollywood 


(310) 854-1111 

Mondrian 


(323) 650-8999 

Palihouse West Hollywood 

8465 Holloway Drive 

(323) 327-9702 

Petit Ermitage 

8822 Cynthia St. 

(310) 854-1114 

Ramada Plaza Hotel & Suites 

8585 Santa Monica Blvd.(310) 

652-6400 

San Vicente Inn 

845 N. San Vicente Blvd 

(310) 854-6915 

Sunset Marquis Hotel & Villas 

1200 N. Alta Loma Rd. 

(310) 657-1333 

Sunset Tower Hotel 


(323) 654-7100 

The Standard Hotel 

8300 Sunset Blvd 

(323) 650-9090 

IN WEST HOLLYWOOD, A CITY THAT COV- 

ERS ONLY 1.9 SQUARE MILES, 40 PERCENT 

OF THE 35,000 RESIDENTS ARE GAY MEN 

(AS ARE THREE OF THE FIVE CITY COUN- 

CIL MEMBERS.) COULD THERE BE A GAYER 

PLACE TO CELEBRATE PRIDE? OR TO JUST 

HAVE A GAY OLE GOOD TIME? 

Most people come to Pride for the parade 

and the festival. This year, because 

of construction in West Hollywood 

Park, the footprint for the 

annual festival will be sharply reduced. 

However, it still will go on. 

Details of the Pride festival typically 

are announced at the last minute. 

One way to keep up to date on which 

entertainers will appear and when is 

to visit the L.A. Pride website, https:// 

www.lapride.org/. WEHOville 

(https://www.wehoville.com) also 

will post updates on Pride events. 

Santa Monica Boulevard, which runs 

the length of West Hollywood, parallel 

to Sunset Boulevard to the north and 

Melrose Avenue to the south, is West 

Hollywood’s Main Street and the site 

of the annual L.A. Pride Parade. This 

year the parade will be replaced by 

the Resist March. That march, a protest 

against intrusions on the rights 

of women, immigrants, minorities 

and LGBT people, will begin at 8 a.m. 

on June 11 at the intersection of Hollywood 

Boulevard and Highland. It will 

continue down La Brea Avenue to Santa 

Monica Boulevard, at which point it 

will enter West Hollywood and the 

marchers will proceed to La Peer Drive. 

In WeHo, Pride is not just that one weekend 

in June. The City of West Hollywood 

focuses on LGBT history and culture 

during Pride with its annual “One City 

One Pride,” series of dozens of events 

listed elsewhere in this magazine. Most 

have free admission. 

And then there’s the nightlife. While 

gay men (and a smattering of lesbians 

and transgender people) live in 

all areas of this compact town, the biggest 

concentration when it comes to 

nightlife is the west end of Santa Monica 

Boulevard. The area that stretches 

from San Vicente Boulevard to Robertson 

Boulevard is called Boystown 

because of its assortment of gay bars 

and restaurants. They range from the 

world famous The Abbey bar and restaurant 

on Robertson (where Elizabeth 

Taylor used to drop by for a 

drink) and its adjacent The Chapel, 

both of which have dance floors, to 

Motherlode, a classic dive bar. Next to 

Motherlode is PUMP, a restaurant and 

bar for those infatuated with reality TV 

and celebrity. And across Santa Monica 

Boulevard from PUMP is Rage, which 

offers a restaurant, a dance floor and 

themed events such as Latin Night and 

a drag show. 

Further east on the north side of Santa 

Monica you’ll find Bar 10, a casual 

dining spot with a focus on cocktails, 

and the Bayou, with a hint of New Orleans. 

Then there are the very popular 

Micky’s and Revolver, known for their 

go go boys. And there’s Flaming Saddles, 

the city’s only country/western 

gay bar. Trunks? Famous for its wonderfully 

cheap drinks. Fiesta Cantina 

is about both the drinks and the cheap 

and tasty Mexican food. If you want to 

refresh your palate, stop by Yogurt Stop 

near Micky’s, which has a wide variety 

of serve-yourself yogurt and toppings. 

Not everything gay is in Boystown. 

Further east there is Gold Coast, the 

dive bar on Santa Monica at North La 

Jolla, behind which is the area that 

was known for “cruising” in the days 

before gay men could use mobile 

phone apps like Grindr and Scruff to 

meet up. And a bit more east is Fubar, 

which is on Santa Monica Boulevard in 

Mid City. It is reminiscent of New York 

City’s old East Village scene. 

All along Santa Monica Boulevard 

you’ll find very gay restaurants such 

as Saint Felix, Cafe d’Etoile, La Boheme 

and Basix. Further east from Boystown 

there’s Marco’s on the corner of 

Kilkea and Santa Monica. There also 

are diners such as Joeys and Kitchen 

24 (which, as its name suggests, is open 

24 hours a day) that are farther east on 

Santa Monica. And there’s the Big Gay 

Starbucks, on Santa Monica Boulevard 

at Westmount Drive. At the BGS, it’s 

not about the coffee. It’s about the eye 

candy, and the chance to wink and flirt 

and perhaps actually meet. Being that 

it’s West Hollywood, all restaurants 

are gay friendly. Other more upscale 

restaurants on Santa Monica that are 

worth a look (and a reservation well 

in advance) are Laurel Hardware, Norma’s 

and Connie & Ted’s. 

50 SECTION WHM SPRING TITLE2017 

51

LA 

PRIDE

L. A. PRIDE 

H O W T H E 

N AT I O N ’ S F I R S T 

PRIDE PARADE GOT 

ITS START AND 

WHERE IT IS NOW 

THE HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES PRIDE 

The colorful annual L.A. Pride parade brings thousands of 

people to West Hollywood to watch floats full of go go boys 

(and politicians) and the marching bands and groups carrying 

banners proclaiming their pride in who they are. While 

New York City is seen by many to have fostered the gay rebellion 

with the Stonewall riots in June 1969, some don’t realize 

that the L.A. Pride parade was the first of its kind in the nation 

when it began in 1970. 

It was fast approaching one year since the Stonewall riots 

when Rev. Bob Humphries (United States Mission founder), 

Morris Kight (Gay Liberation Front founder), and Rev. Troy 

Perry (Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community 

Churches founder) gathered to plan a commemoration. They 

settled on the idea of a parade down Hollywood Boulevard. 

But homosexuality was still illegal in the state of California at 

the time, so securing a permit from the city was no easy task. 

Rev. Perry has recalled the Los Angeles Police Chief Edward 

M. Davis telling him, “As far as I’m concerned, granting a permit 

to a group of homosexuals to parade down Hollywood 

Boulevard would be the same as giving a permit to a group 

of thieves and robbers.” Grudgingly, the Police Commission 

granted the permit, though there were fees attached exceeding 

$1.5 million. After the American Civil Liberties Union 

stepped in, the commission dropped all its requirements but 

a $1,500 fee for police service. That, too, was dismissed when 

the California Superior Court ordered the police to provide 

protection as they would for any other group. 

All that negotiation left the team with only two days to throw 

together a parade before the June 28 anniversary. In other 

cities, the anniversary was 

marked with marches, rallies, 

and demonstrations, 

but in Los Angeles, the parade 

was a true display of 

pride, complete with a float 

from The Advocate magazine, 

loaded with men in 

swimsuits, and a conservative 

gay group clad in business 

suits. Immediately, 

there was talk of making it 

an annual event. It would become 

the model for Pride celebrations 

across the nation. 

1971-2009 

After controversial parade 

entries in 1971 and 1972, 

and internal disagreements, 

the parade went on hiatus 

in 1973. But it was back in 

1974, when pioneering gay 

filmmaker Pat Rocco came 

up with the idea for a festival 

to accompany the parade. 

The first festival was a 

carnival with rides, games, 

food, and information booths 

held in a Hollywood parking 

71 

“AS FAR AS I’M CONCERNED, GRANTING A PERMIT 

TO A GROUP OF HOMOSEXUALS TO PARADE 

DOWN HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD WOULD BE 

THE SAME AS GIVING A PERMIT TO A GROUP OF 

THIEVES AND ROBBERS.” POLICE CHIEF EDWARD M. DAVIS 

lot at Sunset and Cherokee. 

But continued LAPD hostility, 

as well as redevelopment 

in Hollywood, led Pride to 

move to what would become 

the city of West Hollywood 

in 1979. The parade and festival 

have found a welcoming 

home in WeHo ever since. 

1979 

Through the decades, L.A. 

Pride has offered an opportunity 

for the members of 

the LGBT community to celebrate 

who they are and what 

they’ve accomplished and 

also to bring attention to the 

work that’s ahead of them. In 

the 1970s, the focus was 

largely on sexual liberation. 

In the 1980s, the 

community was primarily 

concerned with 

the emerging HIV/AIDS 

epidemic. 

In the 1990s, Pride was a 

platform for social equality. 

Marriage equality has been 

a major issue in the 2000s. 

1990 


55

2010-2016 

AND BEYOND 

Things got off to an 

impres- 

sive start when, in 2010, L.A. 

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa 

opened the doors to the 

Getty House, the official mayor’s 

residence, for the firstever 

L.A. Pride Garden Party. 

Then, in 2011, he declared 

June as LGBT Heritage Month 

in the city of Los Angeles. 

That year, the Pride parade 

also included more than 350 

students from the Los Angeles 

Unified School District, 

the largest youth contingent 

ever. The decade has seen increasing 

diversity in Pride, 

with the addition of the Latino 

Carnival and events devoted 

to women and transgender 

people. 

The City of West Hollywood 

has always embraced Pride, 

given that 40% of its population 

consists of gay men and 

that it is officially committed 

to equal rights for all. The 

city’s commitment has expanded 

in recent years to include 

staging as many as 80 

events during the weeks before 

and after the June Pride 

festival, events that focus on 

art and culture and history 

in the LGBT community. 

2016 

Pride in 2016 was controversial, 

with new board members 

at Christopher Street 

West, its non-profit producer, 

deciding to recast the festival 

as a “music festival” aimed at 

Millennials, raise ticket prices 

sharply and cut back on 

events for transgender people 

and lesbians. CSW backed 

off somewhat in response to 

community opposition. 

Plans to replace this year’s 

L.A. Pride parade with the 

Resist March also have 

generated controversy. But 

in some ways the demonstration 

in support of the rights 

of women, immigrants, people 

of various races and lesbian, 

gay, bisexual and transgender 

people, harkens back 

to the first L.A. Pride parade 

in 1970. That parade was 

staged against the wishes of 

homophobic Los Angeles Police 

Chief Edward Davis. 

The Resist March, while some 

say it isn’t a protest against 

Donald Trump, clearly is a 

statement of opposition to 

changes his administration 

has made or proposed 

that participants believe 

will have a negative effect 

on their civil liberties in the 

same way that the attitude of 

the LAPD did in the 1970s. 


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