Lucky

Los Angeles is about to commemorate a gay riot occurring there some ten years before Stonewall. Famed author John Rechy seems to be the main source for the event, which he said happened at Cooper Do-Nuts in 1959. Cooper was a chain of donut stores and this one was in a gay area known as the Run. "It has become such a benchmark of L.G.B.T.Q. resistance that on Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council is set to approve the installation of a street sign commemorating a Cooper Do-nuts shop as part of what it calls “the ongoing work to make Los Angeles a more inclusive place.” Does it matter that there’s little evidence the Cooper Do-nuts riot happened? The NY Times covers the story: Local newspapers and TV stations didn’t cover any clash, which may not be surprising, given how little the mainstream media reported on gay life in those days. But the city had a vigorous tabloid press that would likely have pounced on such a fracas. Mr. Rechy, the primary source for the story, has talked about witnessing an uprising at a Cooper Do-nuts since at least 2003. News outlets, including The New York Times, have repeated his account. Nathan Marsak, the author of several books on the history of downtown Los Angeles, isn’t convinced. In a series of blog posts starting in 2021, he has marshaled old photos and city records to assert that there was no Cooper Do-nuts on the 500 block of South Main Street in May 1959 — the time and place Mr. Rechy has given for the fight. (Mr. Rechy also once wrote that it happened in 1958.) Mr. Rechy now says that the rebellion didn’t take place at a Cooper Do-nuts. In 2021, he told the Los Angeles blog The LAnd: “There was no riot at Cooper’s. It was actually another donut shop, but at that time, people called every donut shop in the city ‘Cooper’s’ because there were so many.” In an email last week, Mr. Rechy wrote that the “no-name coffee shop” where he saw the riot was on the same stretch of South Main Street where he has long said the confrontation happened. Mr. Rechy, who at 92 just completed his 18th book, added that he was weary of the “baffling hostility that has persisted” around his account, calling it “undeserved, incorrect, malicious, infuriating and, yes, saddening.” Even if an uprising happened, no one still contends that it happened at a Cooper Do-nuts. But the city plans to honor the company anyway, as “a safe haven for all members of the queer community regardless of gender presentation,” according to the motion before the council. The motion, which refers to tales of a Cooper Do-nuts riot as a “claim,” singles out the former site of a Cooper shop, at the corner of Second and South Main Streets, which would be named “Cooper Do-nuts/Nancy Valverde Square” in honor of Nancy Valverde, a lesbian and L.G.B.T.Q. activist. The proposal has its detractors. Mr. Marsak, the historian, said that while he is all for commemorating gay history, he is skeptical of contentions, especially those from the Evans family, that Cooper Do-nuts was hospitable to the L.G.B.T.Q. community in Eisenhower-era Los Angeles. The full story: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/05/dining/gay-riot-los-angeles-doughnut-shop.html

But not right-wing politics!

Because it's right!

@Charlie, what are these "pink pages" to which you refer? Where can I find The Advocate? It has rentboy ads?

@Enronnja and I will not be fighting over guys. It's nice that men have different tastes!

Happy birthday @pitman!!!

I enjoyed Small Mercies. Lehane is a great writer.

It is not a media article about a murder. It's about a killing. That doesn't necessarily mean murder and we are wondering what we will learn if more facts come out.

Oh, I thought you were speaking from personal experience. No top would want to lose an inch!

As MLB Pride Nights drive conversation, are the Angels doing enough? THEATHLETIC.COM Team's plans appear to be low-key, troubling community activists. But Anaheim's mayor invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

The very cute Rob Refsnyder got a contract extension from the Red Sox. I am happy for him! Rob Refsnyder signs one-year extension with Red Sox WWW.MLB.COM BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox on Saturday signed outfielder Rob Refsnyder to a one-year contract extension through the 2024 season, with a club option for...

Granted, the guy was arrested for a killing, but who knows what really happened when there are no other witnesses. The deceased could have overdosed or the sex just got too kinky The arrested would have been pretty stupid to kill the guy knowing he was on video at check-in.

Given how long the parade is in NYC and SF, I prefer to walk the length of it rather than watch a few miles of church-going gays. Let's face it, I'm there for the shirtless guys.

Sorry for your loss.

So we can agree that there are many differing opinions on Cherry Grove and The Pines.

I wish they did.

California has already spent 17 billion on the homeless and it solved nothing.

I once stayed there. The two beds were so large that you literally could not walk around the room. I brought a Gaiety dancer back with me one night. There was a noticeable age difference. As we got to the crowded elevators he started reviewing the play we had just seen. Except that we had not seen a play.

Don't shoot the messenger! I read about this in Edmund White's latest novel. He must have wanted to make his readers squirm!

Do you have buried penis syndrome? A fitness guru claims that fat envelops the penis and losing 30 pounds can give you an extra inch down there. Looking at him, I think he knows his stuff! Here's the story: https://nypost.com/2023/05/31/im-a-diet-coach-this-is-the-ultimate-motivation-for-chubby-guys-to-get-fit/

Confidence, by Rafael Frumkin is an entertaining novel about young con men who meet in a juvenile facility and go on to create a massive scam. Ezra is the brains behind it, and he is in love with Orson, who is the charming and handsome public face of it. Naturally some people are wise to the scam, which has become hugely popular. As Orson becomes more famous, he pulls away from Ezra and starts dating...a woman! Orson's fate also changes as the popularity of the scam increases. I liked the novel.

I have not. I had never even heard of it until I read about characters doing it in Edmund White's new novel. So a male sits on the toilet, shitting while he gets a blow job at the same time. Once he shoots from both ends, the person giving the blow job then licks his ass clean. That person can be either a male or a female. In the scenario in the novel, the guy who got licked then licks the lips of the person who just cleaned his ass. Impressive, no? And where did that name come from? Blumpkin. Who thought to name this behavior blumpkin? The character in the novel thinks that since it has a name it was a common thing, that other people did it. Still curious? Read more: https://thegoldwater.com/news/19832-What-Is-A-Blumpkin-And-How-Do-You-Do-It Can't picture it?

If you are in or past the donut hole, why are you paying a co-pay of $400 for a med? My Ozempic, for example, cost me $10 for a two month supply.

Gay friendly? I don't visit doctors to make friends with them!

I ate White Castle "hamburgers" when I was a kid. How foolish I was.