Lesbian Los Angeles – Once Upon a Journey

Lesbian Los Angeles - Once Upon a Journey

When a lesbian thinks of Los Angeles, probably the first thing that comes to mind is The L Word. Even though a lot of their hangouts spots, such as The Planet, were not real locations, some of them were definitely based on locations in the city. In this guide, I will tell you all about the best lesbian Los Angeles, bars, clubs, parties and other events you definitely don’t want to miss when you’re in LA. So you can live your own The L Word story!

Lesbian Los Angeles

Los Angeles has been gay for many, many years. Way before the colonists came and took the land, the indigenous peoples living on the land that is now Los Angeles were very accepting of same-sex relationships and the idea of multiple gender identities. However, this was all taken away when the land was invaded.

Although New York City is where modern gay rights began, Los Angeles has played its own part in history. In 1948, Lisa Ben, an anagram of lesbian, started the first-ever lesbian magazine from her boss’s office at RKO Studios. In 1966, Los Angeles started the country’s first pride organization and had its first gay parade. But it wasn’t after Stonewall that the LGBTQ+ culture really started taking off.

Full Story at Once Upon a Journey

Lesbian Los Angeles Travel Resources

Arroyo Vista Inn – South Pasadena Gay Friendly Bed & Breakfast

Arroyo Vista Inn - South Pasadena Gay Friendly Bed & Breakfast

The Arroyo Vista Inn is located in South Pasadena California and is less than 5 miles from Old Town Pasadena and less than 7 miles from Downtown Los Angeles. We are also a 15 minute walk from the South Pasadena Gold Line Station. The Inn is a historic ten room Craftsman home build in 1910 and converted to a bed and breakfast in 2006. The original home was designed by the renowned architect Lester Moore. Each room at the Inn has a queen or king bed and private bathroom with WIFI and Flat Screen Cable TV.

The Inn sits atop a hill overlooking the Arroyo Seco with great views of the San Gabriel mountains.

Your choice of rooms range from a mountain view room to a quiet hill facing room nestled under the Oak Trees. The Arroyo Vista Inn attracts visitors from around the world who enjoy our large 16 person dining table or beautiful outdoor patio.

We cater to both the vacationer or business traveler serving a continental breakfast during the week with hot dishes also served at the table. On the weekend, it is a sit down breakfast featuring at least two specialty items from our kitchen. Weekday breakfast is served from 7:00 am to 9:00 am and weekends are 8:00 am to 10:00 am.

See the Arroyo Vista Inn Expanded Listing on Purple Roofs Here

Greater Los Angeles Gay Friendly Bed and Breakfasts, Hotels, and Vacation Rentals

 

Queer WeHo Without a Car – Windy City Times

West Hollywood

Winter is the perferct time to visit Southern California. With temperatures in the high 60s to 70s ( and everything in bloom as it is the rainy season ), the area is a great respite from the dreary winter in most of the country.

Best of all, you can relax and rely on transit and walking to get around with your visit to West Hollywood, arguable America’s biggest gayborhood. They also have a shared bicycle system so bring your helmet if you plan to use it.

Getting there: I grabbed a Southwest sale fare of $79 from Indy to LAX. From LAX, grab the shuttle to Lot C and take the Big Blue Bus #3 to Santa Monica for $1.25 ( ask for a transfer ). In Santa Monica, transfer to the 704 Rapid Bus Line to West Hollywood. ( Yes, I paid $1.25 from LAX to WeHo. ) Exit at San Vincente street and walk three blocks east to your hotel.

By Bill Malcolm – Full Story at Windy City

West Hollywood (WeHo) Gay Travel Resources

Pandora Boxx on Gay Los Angeles – Gay Star News

Pandora Box

Pandora Boxx has been one of the stars to emerge from the cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race. A frequent flyer who jets around the world to perform, we recently caught up with Pandora to swap travel stories and talk wedding plans.

What would your travel tips be for someone visiting LA?

There’s so much to do in LA! Just plan enough time because traffic can be a bitch. Choose someplace either right near the places you want to visit, or someplace centrally located so it’s easier to get around.

If you love the gay scene, then the strip in West Hollywood has a bunch of gay bars all within walking distance. Downtown LA also has a great gay scene now. People should definitely check out my favourite bar in LA which is Precinct DTLA.
There’s so many choices for food here too, some of my favourites are Hugo’s, Rosa Mexicano – the fresh guacamole is the best, Quarters for Korean BBQ, and Tatsu Ramen.

There’s also so many brunches to choose from, but I’m a queen so I have to recommend checking out a drag queen brunch. A lot of my LA gal pals host a drag queen brunch, so make sure to check out where Jasmine Masters, Ongina, Mayhem Miller, Wendy Ho, Allusia Alusia, Misty Violet, and Vicky Vox will be. They know where the party is at!

By Gareth Johnson – Full Story at Gay Star News

Los Angeles Gay Travel Resources

Ten Things You Must Do in Los Angeles

Los Angeles

It may be called “The City of Angels” and most well-known for the deep saturation of ‘the industry,’ but in reality Los Angeles is home to incredible culture, cuisine, arts and nightlife, especially for the gay traveler. And as with most international destinations, there are simply some experiences that must appear on your Los Angeles itinerary, especially if you’re a first-time visitor.

Below we’ve taken the opportunity to share some of those experiences. Whether you’re an L.A. virgin or have visited a ton in the past — even if you’ve called Los Angeles home for more than a decade — the perfect L.A. affair will include several of these museums, meals and nights out on the town.

Exploring the City’s Rich Gay History

Sure, you may be in town for vacation, but your Los Angeles itinerary can still have you learning a thing or two while you play. Out and About Tours will take you through the city’s culturally rich gay history step-by-step, exposing fun, vital and hidden information about the LGBTQ community’s roots.

By Alexander Kacala – Full Story at The Hornet

Los Angeles Gay Travel Resources

WeHo Gay Nightlife – WeHoVille

WeHo Gay Nightlife

West Hollywood’s best dive bar? WeHo’s best sushi restaurant? Our city’s best barbershop, pet boarding place, Pilates studio? These are among the many categories we included on WEHOville’s Best Of ballot in August. The online voting turnout was great (and monitored by us geeks to make sure we weren’t being trolled — i.e. Putin didn’t vote, only you did).

We published the results in West Hollywood Magazine, our quarterly print publication, which was out last week and which you can find in news racks, restaurants and shops around the city.

Best of WeHo Night Life
Best Dive Bar

No. 1
Mother Lode
8944 Santa Monica Boulevard
West Hollywood
www.facebook.com/MotherLodeWestHollywood
(310) 659-9700

The word “mother lode” means something of great value. In West Hollywood, where good ole fashioned dive bars are scarce, Mother Lode is that.

Tucked between the very precious P.U.M.P., owned by reality TV celeb Lisa Vanderpump, and the forever-under-construction space where the restaurant Bottega Louie is opening (some day), is this bar that offers cheap drinks, a chance to play pool and some outdoor areas for smoking. The interior is, uh, rough. And dark. And very charming for those of us into that sort of venue.

And if you’re looking for an early drink, or a late one, Mother Lode is the place, with operating hours from 3 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Full Story at Wehoville

Greater Los Angeles Gay Travel Resources

Los Angeles Area Gems – Globetrotter Girls

Long Beach - Globetrotter Girls

While Los Angeles itself has plenty to offer, the city can be quite overwhelming, especially for people who aren’t used to cities of this magnitude. During the month I spent in the West Coast metropole last year, I became increasingly frustrated about the long drives and traffic several times – can it really take 90 minutes to cover an eight mile distance?

I found myself wishing for small town conveniences on various occasions (usually while stuck in a traffic jam on the 405), and that’s when I realized it may be a good idea to check out some nearby cities of a more manageable size to see what they have to offer. Luckily I had enough time to check out several cities right in Los Angeles county, some along the coast, some just outside the L.A. city limits. Each one was special and unique in their own way, and worth a visit for things that the others didn’t have.

If you visit L.A. and want to escape the ‘Big Smog’ for a day, here are five nearby cities that you should visit:

1 LONG BEACH

Long Beach is LA’s big neighbor to the south, California’s 7th largest city and second busiest container port in the U.S. The massive port has led people to believe that Long Beach is nothing more than a big industrial city, but I found out that the city itself is actually a fine escape from L.A., offering a downtown area that is walkable and, as its name suggests, a pretty long beach.

By Dani – Full Story at Globetrotter Girls

Greater Los Angeles Gay Travel Resources

TRAVELING IN OUR FABULOUS GAY WORLD: Hollywood Museum Salutes LGBTQ

Hollywood Museum

Hollywood MuseumWe have been to the Hollywood Museum a couple of times and now they are having a special exhibit featuring the LGBTQ community.  Steve Nycklemoe is the Director and Curator of the Museum and a VERY professional and friendly guy.  We enjoyed meeting him the last time we were there and he gave a private tour of the museum for us.

The Hollywood Museum is thrilled to announce its 2017 salute to the LGBTQ community’s contributions to the entertainment industry. The fourth annual “REAL to REEL: Portrayals and Perceptions of LGBTQs in Hollywood” exhibit, in partnership with Los Angeles CityCouncilmember Mitch O’Farrell(CD-13) and LA Pride, is an educational, entertaining and informative retrospective of LGBTQ images in film, TV, new digital platforms – featuring costumes, props, photos, and iconic imagery all telling the story of the milestones and influence that LGBTQ characters and plot lines have had in Hollywood from early stereotypes to modern-day representations.

Hollywood MuseumAdditionally, REAL to REEL celebrates LGBTQ Icons those individuals and couples who may be openly LGBTQ or not, and who support the LGBTQ community.

The Hollywood Museum’s REAL to REEL exhibition, which coincides with the annual Christopher Street West Pride activities, offers a historic perspective spanning 100 years from silent films to today’s films, TV shows, and digital platforms.

“The museum welcomes the opportunity to create and showcase this important exhibition, sharing with the public the artistic expression and extraordinary significance of the LGBTQ culture and its effect and impact on the world through the medium of entertainment,” says Donelle Dadigan, Founder and President of The Hollywood Museum located in the Historic Max Factor Building.

Hollywood MuseumThe exhibit revisits monumental LGBTQ moments in history with Rev. Troy Perry, including the Black Cat riots (1967), and on display – the infamous sign that once hung at the entrance of West Hollywood’s Barney’s Beanery. Exhibit highlights include costumes from Transparent, How to Get Away with Murder, The Walking Dead, Empire, Trans America, Sordid Lives, Cruising, Orange is the New Black, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Ray Donovan, Mad Men, Arrested Development, Cabaret,K-11, as well as Cyndi Lauper’s Grand Marshall Costume (Toronto’s Gay Pride parade, 2015.

Additional exhibit items include famous costumes from Hollywood’s leading designers – Mr. Blackwell, Bob Mackie,Ret Turner, Nolan Miller, Edith Head – to today’s Project Runway with Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum, as well as Days of Our Lives, The Bold and the Beautiful, Tyler Perry’s The Haves and Have Nots, Scandal, Two in a Half Men, True Blood, The Good Wife, and more. This year’s exhibit also includes, LGBTQ Iconsincluding Judy Garland, Betty Davis, Joan Crawford, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Liza Minnelli, Bette Midler, Ramon Navarro, Rudolf Valentino, Charles Laughton, Sam Harris, Bruce Vilanch, Sherman Hemsley, Gere Jewell, Jerry Herman, Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner and many more.

The Hollywood Museum gratefully acknowledges the following ABC, Amazon Studios, BBC America, CBS, Discovery Life, Focus Features HBO, Logo, NBC, Netflix, OWN, Showtime, TLC and 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, as well as organizations serving the LGBTQ community including ONE Archives, Christopher Street West, The Lavender Effect, and The Glaad Awards, amfAR and more.

ABOUT THE HOLLYWOOD MUSEUM IN THE HISTORIC MAX FACTOR BUILDING:

See 10,000 Authentic Show Business Treasures spanning more than 100 years of Hollywood history! Located next to the world famous Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Hollywood Museum in the Historic Max Factor Building houses the largest collection of entertainment memorabilia on display in the world. It is home to thousands of costumes, props, photographs, posters, celebrity automobiles and other treasures from some of the most iconic films and TV shows ever made!

See Hollywood legends – past, present, and in the making! The museum attracts thousands of fans from around the world and was recently named one of the top tourist attractions by LA Weekly and by Trip Advisor, and was voted one of the Top 10 Museums in LA by the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board. The Hollywood Museum is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

REGULAR HOURS: Wednesday – Sunday: 10:00am – 5:00pm (Exhibit: Fri, June 10th – Sun, Sept 4th)

TICKETS: $15 Adults: $12 Seniors (62+): $12 for students with ID and $5 Children under 5.

ADDRESS: 1660 N. Highland Ave. (at Hollywood Blvd.), Los Angeles, CA 90028 MUSEUM INFO:www.TheHollywoodMuseum.com or Tel: (323) 464-7776

FOLLOW THE MUSEUM:

WEBSITE: www.TheHollywoodMuseum.com   FACEBOOK: Facebook.com/TheHollywoodMuseum

Don and RayAlways remember to have fun when traveling, meet new people and talk to everyone!

TRAVELING IN OUR FABULOUS GAY WORLD is written by Donald Pile and Ray Williams, Award-winning, Celebrity travel columnists who write for gay publications from coast to coast (And now legally married).

Proud members of the IGLTA. You can email them at gaytravelers@aol.com and visit their website at http://gaytravelersataol.blogspot.com/

Las Vegas Gay Travel Resources

View From the Hollywood Hills – Globetrotter Girls

Hollywood Hills - Dani This week I finally made it up to the famous Hollywood sign – a hike that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. After two failed attempts (traffic, cloudy skies), I found myself scrambling up the rocks to a small hill above and behind the actual sign, which me and my hiking buddy reached after about an hour’s walk, just in time for a brilliant sunset. You can’t get to the sign by car, the only way to get up, close and personal with these giant white letters that have become an American icon, is on foot or by horse, and you can’t get in front of the letters, only above them. Funnily enough, the sign didn’t have any association with the movie industry when it was put up in 1923. Instead, it was supposed to promote local real estate during a time when the Hollywood Hills weren’t the prime real estate location that they are today. Back then it still read Hollywoodland. After years of deterioration, Hugh Hefner started a fundraiser to save the sign, and $250,000 were raised to restore the sign that had fallen into disrepair. It used to be a bit tricky to get up to the sign until a few years ago, unless you were a local and knew your way around. The Trust For Public Land, that is in charge of protecting the sign and the surrounding lands, has made it much easier now to find the right paths and not get lost in the relatively remote and rugged southern side of Mount Lee, on which the sign is located.

By Dani – Full Story at Globetrotter Girls

Greater Los Angeles Gay Travel Resources

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Gay L.A.

Gay L.A. Many Chicagoans choose to move to Los Angeles in California and it is easy to see why. There is plenty of sunshine and a moderate climate to enjoy in gay L.A. The grid layout of the city makes it easy to navigate but traffic needs to always be taken into consideration. Public transportation is continually in the works and ride sharing with Uber has turned into a popular option. People tend to be LGBT-friendly, thanks to a long history of political figures and activists. One National Gay & Lesbian Archives houses more than 2 million items in its archives celebrating that history. Early editions of Outlines, published by Windy City Times’ Tracy Baim, were found along with a multitude of others. The country’s first gay church, the Metropolitan Community Church, and first gay synagogue, Beth Chayim Chadashim, both began in gay L.A. Out & About Tours provides a walking tour to see many LGBT historical landmarks and learn about the pioneers of the gay community.

By Jerry Nunn – Full Story at the Windy City Times

Los Angeles Gay Travel Resources

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