What follows is a brief look through the chapters that shaped the city into becoming the accepting and open city that it is today.
There are both great and not so great moments in the city’s queer history, but at the end of the day, Laguna Beach was and still is a mecca for the LGBTQ+ community, whether as a residence or favorite vacation spot. By 1927, The South Seas Bar, which was located in the Coast Inn, was designated as a late night place for gay men to meet and spend time together – that same bar would years later be transformed into the iconic Boom Boom Room.
The Southern California film industry discovered in the ‘20s that Laguna Beach made for a great shooting location, and members of these early movie crews were the first gays to arrive and discover the beachside city. Most of us know that the LGBTQ+ scene in Laguna Beach during the ‘70s was mainly what gave the city it’s reputation of being an LGBTQ+ friendly destination.īut the city’s sordid past with the LGBTQ+ community started many decades before the beaches were heavily sprinkled with gay men during the summer of love.
