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1. LA Gay Pride
Los Angeles - home to a red-hot lesbian scene that's caught on fire since the release of the unprecedented hit drama series The L Word. The number of clubs and events in the area has more than doubled - while tourists swarm to the city from across America and the world in hopes of meeting the show's stars. This Tokyo Wrestling special report focuses on Gay Pride celebrations from two of California's most iconic cities: the hottest of hip - Los Angeles, and the world's own queer Mecca - San Francisco.
West Hollywood, festival pride (photo: michelle hinch)
Los Angeles can be roughly divided into two contrasting geo-cultural pools. To the west is West Hollywood, distinguished by its glamorous taste and the concentration of ultra-chic designer boutiques and first-class hotels. This primo spot for savoring the flavor of a glitterati-style excursion is where the A-list celebs meet. To the East is Silver Lake - an area underpinned by its alternative and punk scenes, where skate, thrift and street-themed shops line the main strip. And just as West Hollywood has been known as the city's gay town, Silver Lake has come to be known as the local queer girl's (or grrrl's perhaps) town. In recent months that spark has set fire to the downtown area as well, making it LA's newest trendy spot. In June 2007, Tokyo Wrestling's own launch party was held here in the downtown area.
And by the virtue of this queer East-West dichotomy, there are two independent dyke marches that take place every year. The backing organizers of each march have laid out clearly different aims.
Gay Pride celebrations began in the US in 1970, while dyke marches did not become established as events until decades later in the 1990s.
Christopher Street West Association, the organization behind LA's Gay Pride parade, was formed in 1970 just one year after the Stonewall Rebellion, which took place on a street of the same name in New York City. LA's Gay Pride was born as a celebration of that rebellion, to honor the spirit of the women and men who set off Stonewall after no longer being able to tolerate repeated harassment at the hands of police.
In 1974 LA Gay Pride took new form as a three-day festival - and, over time, more and more straight couples and families with children came to take part. Today, Gay Pride features booths geared for teenagers and a children's area with day-care attendants. Every year roughly 260,000 persons converge in West Hollywood for the celebration, and it is estimated that 20,000 of them are non-LGBT. Yet, what is most impressive for Japanese participants is the fact that nothing about the atmosphere really sets the event apart from any other neighborhood festival, seeing as how individuals, couples, and families - straight and LGBT - from all walks of life participate along with the equally visible support of both city and corporate sponsors.
West Hollywood. Booths such as Butch/Femme clothes for dogs (photos: michelle hinch)
One other unique element is the fact that whereas it is usually free of charge to attend Pride celebrations anywhere else in the United States, in Los Angeles it costs $20 to enter the Gay Pride festival area. Complaints about the entry fee abound and, generally speaking, the gay girls in Silver Lake aren't happy with the overly commercial air of West Hollywood anyway. Thus, in recent years, Silver Lake has ripened as a breeding grounds for a panoramic display of new dyke events.
Dyke March in Silver Lake (photos: meredyth wilson)
In 1994 over 50,000 queer women assembled in Washington for what was the largest dyke march in US history - thus sparking women to take to the streets every year, in the same tradition, at the Los Angeles Dyke March. The LA Dyke March was held in West Hollywood until 2002, when the organizers made a decision to leave what they felt was the Boys' Town for Silver Lake in 2003. Their desire was "simply to heighten lesbian visibility and make Dyke March our own event apart from West Hollywood!"
Dyke March in Silver Lake (photos: meredyth wilson)
Pride festival in West Hollywood (photos: michelle hinch)
So now LA hosts two dyke marches - CSW's in West Hollywood and the Dyke March LA in Silver Lake. The former is on Friday night while the latter is during the early evening Saturday, and turnouts for each of them are distinctly different in atmosphere and taste. Since CSW's dyke march is part of their larger event, the whole affair is characterized by flamboyant colors and glamorous, blonde women dancing to thumping house, hip-hop, latin, and R&B beats. On the other hand, the independently-run Dyke March LA is infused with edgy-artist types moving to electro-punk and rock-n-roll. Both marches have Dykes on Bikes lead the way, but only in Silver Lake do Dykes on Bicycles show off their rides. Dyke March LA starts while the sun is still out and has an open and authentic celebratory feel to it, owing to its smaller crowds and less regulated atmosphere.
Dykes on Bikes leading the dyke march/West Hollywood (photos: michelle hinch)
The first after-party for this year's Gay Pride was held at the Eagle LA bar followed by, as covered in another one of our exclusive reports, the Tokyo Wrestling launch party, which wowed its crowds at the downtown art gallery MJ Higgins. Silver Lake dykes know how to rock Pride Week - by partying till morning after the dyke march. It would be a mistake miss a beat of the scene in Silver Lake as its sparks have only just now culled some wild flames.
Cute flyer of the Dykes On Bicycles
【LA gay pride CSW】
【West Hollywood Dyke March】
【Silver Lake Dyke March】
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