Gay bar ponona

The Rathskeller took over the basement of the Mayfair Hotel, a red-brick gay across from the Fox Theater. One anecdote may illustrate why gay bars found a foothold in Pomona. The story goes that one night a bar of bikers was inside harassing six lesbians. The bartender was ponona to call anytime there was trouble.

She mentioned her project, which she completed before graduating inand I wanted to hear more. Kennedy in and later became a popular lesbian disco before being bought by a medical school, Western University of Health Sciences, for use as an educational center — and people wonder why I find Pomona fascinating.

It was a quiet evening, with a few patrons seated at the horseshoe-shaped bar and others shooting pool. It became the Hook Up in ponona The ivy-covered bar, founded inwas owned for two decades by Wally Page, a Chaffey High physiology teacher who operated the Mural House restaurant in Ontario. Pomona also has Cluba dance club downtown on Thomas Street that unlike the other bars, which are relatively low-key and locals-oriented, attracts young gays from throughout the region.

Gay bars are no longer as crucial as gays become accepted and a virtual community exists online, Martin said. Contrast that with the s, when gays met by cruising Garfield or Ganesha parks in Pomona or met at a rest stop in Fontana. After the Rathskeller opened and became a sensation, bars sprung up downtown and along Holt Avenue, Martin learned.

At one point in the s, there were seven. One was named the Tender Trap. Most of the bars were for men or for a mixed crowd. Police never raided them, patrons told Martin, and took a protective approach, as the Rathskeller anecdote illustrated. Unlike in L. Martin turned up that nugget through a computer search of city records.

But eyewitnesses shared stories, private photographs, fliers, handbills and other ephemera. Martin did further research in City Hall files for business licenses and other documentation. She was able to devote bar or two pages to each bar, no matter how shortlived, with its name, address, years of operation, a current photo of the exterior and some oral history, often with interior photos by patrons who were there.

Her own guide to gay world was Jim Akers, who owned Alibi East. Akers was the first person to offer his assistance and introduced her to friends. He died last year. Many of the other pictures are simply of friends hanging out together with drinks in hand.

Pomona LGBTQ City Guide

Martin wishes she had the money to publish her paper or at least make copies of it — she has only the one — for local archives and interested people. David Allen gives you the straight story Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact david.