Source:
http://news.advocate.com/post/15571734525/gayest-cities-in-america-2012
15. Denver
Denver is simultaneously outdoorsy and a rapidly growing metropolis, and its attitude is exceptionally laid-back and gay-friendly. (Screw the antigay zealots in nearby Colorado Springs.) A day spent skiing, fishing, hunting, or camping with the fit locals can lead to an evening dining, clubbing, or camping of another sort. Much of the sporting and social scene is devoted to the ladies of Denver; witness the Capitol Hill neighborhood, girl-watching at There Urban Whiskey Bar (ThereDenver.com), a nosh at Racine’s (RacinesRestaurant.com), and dancing at Charlie’s (CharliesDenver.com).
14. Long Beach, Calif.
How gay is Long Beach? Its pride celebration is one of the country’s biggest, and the Long Beach Pride float seems to make its way to every other Pride event within 500 miles! There are a ton of gay and lesbian bars, restaurants, a big boat suitably named the Queen Mary (QueenMary.com; it’s also haunted, and a hotel). The sunny, welcoming city provides a more relaxed alternative to nearby Los Angeles.
13. Austin
No amount of backwoodsiness from previous and current statehouse residents George W. Bush or Rick Perry can taint the cosmopolitan, countercultural, and friendly nature of this capital city. Bands, barhopping, and barbecue feature prominently here, for queers and others. The lesbian-owned Hotel San José (SanJoseHotel.com) is a minimalist oasis; no fewer than 16 bars offer libations for LGBTs; and Splash Days (au naturel sunbathing and parties over Labor Day), the Austin City Limits Music Festival (late September), and March’s South by Southwest (SXSW) film and music festival keep Austin suitably weird — and gay.
12. Portland, Ore.
Bisexual Sleater-Kinney alum Carrie Brownstein has fun on Portlandia (“Put a bird on it!”) playing with the rep of the city’s hipster, hyper-locavore, hyper-literate, boycott-ready, feminist, fleece-clad denizens. But there’s other fun to be had here too. Visit the arty Pearl and Alberta districts; stay at the Ace Hotel; read at the country’s largest indie bookstore, Powell’s; drink at the Silverado (SilveradoPDX.com) and Red Cap Garage/Boxxes (Boxxes.com); tune in to Out Loud (KBOO.fm/OutLoud), and party at Crush (CrushBar.com), popular with men and women. Oh, then there’s all that nature stuff!
11. Little Rock, Ark.
The River Market District is the main gay area, and many businesses that don’t advertise as specifically LGBT are friendly and open. The compact city has Backstreet (1021 Jessie Rd.) and U.B.U. (TheAquarium.bizland.com) for the over-18 crowd, and those of legal drinking age can check out SixTen Center Street Bar, TraX, Miss Kitty’s/Saloon (all three at TraxNLR.com). But not all LGBT life happens in a bar: According to GayChurch.org, nine of the city’s churches advertise as LGBT-friendly. Amen!
10. Grand Rapids, Mich.
The heart of western Michigan LGBT life is in Grand Rapids, with dancing, drinking, and bingo at the Apartment (ApartmentLounge.net), which has been in operation for over three decades; karaoke at Diversions video bar (DiversionsNightclub.com), and drag shows and go-go boys at Rumors (RumorsNightclub.net). The city boasts one of the Midwest’s best LGBT country line-dancing scenes, with the Grand River Renegades (GrandRiverRenegades.com) offering anyone a dance card on Sundays at Rumors.
9. Atlanta
We won’t fault you for trying to forget Real Housewife Kim Zolciak’s dip into the lesbian pool — but don’t blame Atlanta if everyone there wants to sample the fun LGBTs have all over town. Lesbian businesses thrive in East Atlanta, and gay clubs go off in Mechanicsville. People coming to Atlanta like to party, and the GayTL delivers with Black Gay Pride in September and Atlanta Pride in October, and the black gay clubs’ second-busiest weekend of the year surrounds the observance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday in January. Holla!
8. Knoxville, Tenn.
The state’s legislature has been an unmitigated disaster for our rights, making a law to prevent cities from adopting LGBT-inclusive antidiscrimination ordinances (although, happily, the ridiculous “don’t say ‘gay’” bill is dead for now). Nevertheless, Knoxville has defiantly produced a robust gay scene, including the University of Tennessee’s Commission for LGBT People; a welcoming spot for queer, trans, and other marginalized teens at Spectrum Café (SpectrumCafe.org); gay-affirming churches; and thriving nightlife.
7. St. Paul and Minneapolis
It’s technically two cities, but oh, what fun there is to be had here. The region is a draw for upper Midwestern LGBTs, and Minneapolis topped this list in 2011 for so many reasons. These two cities can’t get enough of each other: There’s the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus (TCGMC.org), Twin Cities Pride (the 40th annual is June 23-24), and even Quorum: The Twin Cities GLBT and Allied Business Community. Sheesh, just get domestic-partnered already!
6. Ann Arbor, Mich.
You don’t have to be big to have it going on, as this sixth largest city in Michigan does. The area has one of the few clubs in Michigan catering to dykes: Stiletto’s (technically in nearby Inkster) draws in every lesbian in Detroit. But talk about a taste for drama! Just ask U. of M.’s first out student body prez, Chris Armstrong, the target of a smear campaign by nutso assistant attorney general Andrew Shirvell. We raised a glass at Aut Bar (AutBar.com) when the kook got the boot.
5. Seattle
When Forbes named Seattle the most miserable sports city in the nation, many of us felt a twinge of empathy. No matter; there’s heaps of other stuff to keep us busy, including tons of locavore and cosmopolitan cuisine, funky bars in a robust LGBT scene, Dan Savage, and hookups — or at least the search for them. TheStir.com noted that Seattle ranks among the top cities for residents who list “casual sex” as the type of relationship they’re seeking.
4. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Booting spring breakers from its shores may have not boosted Jagermeister sales, but it sure has classed up the joint. Add to that a mass exodus from Miami, where a real estate boom priced out many gay clubs (then the boom busted), and you have the recipe for a rising homo mecca in South Florida. The area is teeming with gay bars and restaurants, and a ton of guesthouses and spas that run the gamut from mild to spicy. Lesbians are finally starting to move to Fort Lauderdale too, though most girl bars, like New Moon (NewMoonBar.com), are in nearby Wilton Manors.
3. Cambridge, Mass.
The home of Harvard University likes a smarty-pants, including the nation’s first African-American lesbian mayor, E. Denise Simmons. Though her reign ended in 2009, she is currently in her sixth term on the City Council, which enacted antidiscrimination protections for transgender people in 1997. The town’s Paradise bar (ParadiseCambridge.com) is billed as New England’s only gay club with hot male dancers six nights a week — hey, everyone needs a night off — and the town is right next to a little hamlet named Boston, where allegedly LGBT stuff sometimes happens too.
2. Orlando, Fla.
Besides hosting Gay Days at Disney World, where 50,000 LGBT folks and their kids dressed in red T-shirts invade the theme park the first Saturday in June (and spend $100 million in town), Orlando has more gay softball teams than you can shake a Louisville Slugger at. And residents just got domestic-partnership protections. For non-Mickeyphiles, there’s oodles of homo content each year at the annual Orlando International Fringe Theater Festival (OrlandoFringe.org).
1. Salt Lake City
While those unfamiliar with the Beehive State are likely to conjure images of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, far-less-oppressive-than-it-used-to-be Salt Lake City has earned its queer cred. There are more than a half-dozen hot spots for men and women, including the eco-friendly nightclub Jam (JamSLC.com), though the sustainable bamboo flooring is perhaps less of a draw than the packed dance floor. The Coffee Garden (878 South 900 East) is a gathering spot for those looking for a caffeine fix, the Sundance Film Festival brings LGBT film buffs to screenings downtown, and lesbian-owned Meditrina (MeditrinaSLC.com) is a true wine bar — yes, you can get a drink in this town.
Showing posts with label Long Beach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Long Beach. Show all posts
Monday, January 30, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Steve Martin's Orange County
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1942721.php
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Take a tour of comedian Steve Martin's Orange County
The comedian and writer grew up in Garden Grove, worked at Disneyland as a kid and cut his teeth as a performer at Knott's.
By PETER LARSEN
The Orange County Register
If we are shaped by the places we go and people we know in our childhoods, then Steve Martin is an absolute product of Orange County in the '50s and '60s.
From the well-known outlines of the actor-comedian-writer's life we already knew that Martin grew up in Garden Grove, worked at Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm as a teen, and launched his career as a comic in the long-gone folk clubs here some 40 years ago.
But with the recent arrival of "Born Standing Up" (Scribner, $25), Martin's memoir of the first half of his life, the details of his years here – the significant places on the map of his life – are revealed in the star's own words and memories.
So with a stack of Post-its and a close eye for local color, we embarked on a journey through Martin's back pages, looking to piece together this travel guide to the star's life in the O.C.
GARDEN GROVE BOUND
Born in Waco, Texas, Martin moved to Los Angeles when he was 5, partly because his father, Glenn, wanted to get into show business. When that plan quickly fizzled, Glenn Martin moved into real estate, and when Martin was 10, the family bought a brand-new house for $16,000 in Garden Grove.
"This area of Orange County gleamed with newness, and the move enabled me to place my small hand on Opportunity's doorknob."
DISNEYLAND DEBUTS
Not long after Martin moved to Garden Grove, Disneyland opened its doors. A friend told him they were hiring kids to sell guidebooks, and Martin sped to the theme park on his bicycle and got the job.
"Disneyland, and the idea of it, seemed so glorious that I believed it should be in some faraway, impossible-to-visit Shangri-la, not two miles from the house where I was about to grow up."
THE GOLDEN HORSESHOE REVUE
After selling his guidebooks, Martin would roam Disneyland, hanging out in the magic shop, with the trick roper and especially at the Golden Horseshoe in Frontierland– which remains today. He memorized all of comic Wally Boag's routines, and at least subconsciously noticed his knack for making balloon animals while telling jokes.
"My fantasy was that one day Wally would be sick with the flu, and a desperate stage manager would come out and ask the audience if there was an adolescent boy who could possibly fill in."
MERLIN'S MAGIC SHOP
At Merlin's Magic Shop in Fantasyland– now the Castle Heraldry Shoppe – Martin likewise studied magician Jim Barlow's routine, and when he was 15 was hired to work there with Barlow. The shop sold gags like the arrow-through-head and nose glasses – both of which Martin incorporated years later in his stand-up act. Standing behind the counter, Martin did tricks and learned to work a crowd.
"I tried my first jokes – all lifted from Jim's patter – and had my first audience that wasn't friends or family."
HIGH SCHOOL DAYS
Martin attended Rancho Alamitos High School until 1962, when changes in school district boundaries transferred him to Garden Grove High School, a change he decided to use to make over his image – at least his image of himself.
"I was happy to discard my old personality and adopt a new one defined by the word of the day, 'nonconformist.' Of course, the difference between my old personality and my new personality was probably imperceptible, so I was lucky to have all-new classmates who would not remember my old conformist ways."
ON TO COLLEGE
After graduating from Garden Grove High School, Martin enrolled at Santa Ana Junior College, taking classes in theater and English poetry. Soon after he heard that Knott's Berry Farm was looking for entertainers and decided to take a shot.
"One afternoon I successfully auditioned with my thin magic act at a small theater on the grounds, making this the second happiest day of my life so far."
THE BIRD CAGE THEATRE
The Bird Cage Theatre, in the Ghost Town at Knott's Berry Farm, presented old-fashioned melodramas (it's still in use, too, though only on Christmas and Halloween). And it was there that Martin performed between the ages of 18 and 22. But mostly he was starting to learn his craft – even if he wasn't getting rich doing so.
"I was being paid two dollars a show, twenty-five shows a week. Even in 1963, the rate was considered low."
THE GOLDEN BEAR
With Kathy Westmoreland, a high school friend and fellow Bird Cage performer, Martin developed a hillbilly comedy routine, which they worked on at Knott's before taking it down to the Golden Bear folk club in Huntington Beach, where once and future stars such as Jackson Browne (another O.C. boy) and John Mayall would play. It was, Martin writes, a much tougher audience.
"My belief in the inevitability of our success charged me up before, during, and after the show, and it was not until days later when I acknowledged to myself that our debut in the tougher world of real show business had been met with only a polite response."
MAKING THE ROUNDS
After transferring to Long Beach State College– now Cal State Long Beach – and while still working at the Bird Cage, Martin slowly morphed his magic act into a comedy routine he took out to perform in the folk clubs of Orange County. His regular stops included the Prison of Socrates on Balboa Island (now a B.J.'s pizzeria), the Mecca in Buena Park (now Aloha Family Billiards), the Paradox in Tustin (part of the Jamestown Village shopping center), and Rouge et Noir in Seal Beach,
"I now had my first job outside Knott's Berry Farm (after being hired at the Prison of Socrates), which presented a particular difficulty. It was one thing to do five minutes at the Bird Cage … but it was another thing to do twenty minutes for paying customers."
GARDEN GROVE IN L.A.
As his comedy career slowly developed throughout the '60s, Martin eventually landed a job writing for "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" and moved to Laurel Canyon in Hollywood. Even there, though, he benefited from old ties to Garden Grove, reconnecting with Bill McEuen– the older brother of high school friend and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band member John McEuen– who became Martin's manager for most of his stand-up career.
"He had banged his way out nowhere, too, living just a few miles from me in Garden Grove and growing up under the thumb of a critical father. He had long hair before it was fashionable and kept it not only after it was unfashionable but forever."
FAME BACK AT HOME
Martin worked the comedy circuit in small clubs around the nation and eventually on TV talk shows, finally working his way up to "The Tonight Show" and Johnny Carson in the early '70s. By the mid-'70s, his career was ready to explode, thanks to exposure on the then-new "Saturday Night Live" and hit comedy albums "Let's Get Small" and "A Wild and Crazy Guy." Back in Orange County – where his parents lived in Laguna Beach for the last three decades of their lives – Glenn and Mary Martin reacted differently to their son's new fame: his mother delighted by; his father, with whom the book details his difficult relationship, less.
"After my first appearance on 'Saturday Night Live,' (my father) wrote a bad review of me in his newsletter for the Newport Beach Association of Realtors, of which he was president: 'His performance did nothing to further his career.' Later, shamefaced, my father told me that his best friend had come into his office holding the newsletter, placed it on his desk, and shaken his head sternly, indicating a wordless 'This is wrong.'"
SAYING GOODBYES
Martin quit his stand-up career for the movies in the early '80s – partly from the isolation of the huge fame he'd found, partly because he felt he'd reached the end of what he could do in comedy. And while his father didn't care much for his debut movie, "The Jerk" – "He's no Charlie Chaplin," was all Glenn said after seeing it – they did eventually reconcile and finally express their love for each other by his death in 1997.
By 2002, Mary Martin was in failing health at her home in Laguna Beach, and after saying goodbye to his dying mother, he left the house, driving home to Los Angeles but then finding himself drawn back to Knott's and the Bird Cage. Slipping into the park through a back gate, he made his way to the now-little-used theater, remembering the secret way to enter without a key. And standing there on the darkened stage, Martin says, he thought back over the previous four decades, reflecting on a life shaped mostly by his earlier experiences in Orange County.
"Driving home along the Santa Ana Freeway … I asked myself what it was that had made this place capable of inducing in me such a powerful nostalgic shock. The answer floated clearly into my consciousness as though I had asked the question of a Magic 8-Ball: I wanted to be there again, if only for a day, indulging in high spirits and high jinks, before I turned professional, before comedy became serious."
Contact the writer: 714-796-7787 or plarsen@ocregister.com
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Take a tour of comedian Steve Martin's Orange County
The comedian and writer grew up in Garden Grove, worked at Disneyland as a kid and cut his teeth as a performer at Knott's.
By PETER LARSEN
The Orange County Register
If we are shaped by the places we go and people we know in our childhoods, then Steve Martin is an absolute product of Orange County in the '50s and '60s.
From the well-known outlines of the actor-comedian-writer's life we already knew that Martin grew up in Garden Grove, worked at Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm as a teen, and launched his career as a comic in the long-gone folk clubs here some 40 years ago.
But with the recent arrival of "Born Standing Up" (Scribner, $25), Martin's memoir of the first half of his life, the details of his years here – the significant places on the map of his life – are revealed in the star's own words and memories.
So with a stack of Post-its and a close eye for local color, we embarked on a journey through Martin's back pages, looking to piece together this travel guide to the star's life in the O.C.
GARDEN GROVE BOUND
Born in Waco, Texas, Martin moved to Los Angeles when he was 5, partly because his father, Glenn, wanted to get into show business. When that plan quickly fizzled, Glenn Martin moved into real estate, and when Martin was 10, the family bought a brand-new house for $16,000 in Garden Grove.
"This area of Orange County gleamed with newness, and the move enabled me to place my small hand on Opportunity's doorknob."
DISNEYLAND DEBUTS
Not long after Martin moved to Garden Grove, Disneyland opened its doors. A friend told him they were hiring kids to sell guidebooks, and Martin sped to the theme park on his bicycle and got the job.
"Disneyland, and the idea of it, seemed so glorious that I believed it should be in some faraway, impossible-to-visit Shangri-la, not two miles from the house where I was about to grow up."
THE GOLDEN HORSESHOE REVUE
After selling his guidebooks, Martin would roam Disneyland, hanging out in the magic shop, with the trick roper and especially at the Golden Horseshoe in Frontierland– which remains today. He memorized all of comic Wally Boag's routines, and at least subconsciously noticed his knack for making balloon animals while telling jokes.
"My fantasy was that one day Wally would be sick with the flu, and a desperate stage manager would come out and ask the audience if there was an adolescent boy who could possibly fill in."
MERLIN'S MAGIC SHOP
At Merlin's Magic Shop in Fantasyland– now the Castle Heraldry Shoppe – Martin likewise studied magician Jim Barlow's routine, and when he was 15 was hired to work there with Barlow. The shop sold gags like the arrow-through-head and nose glasses – both of which Martin incorporated years later in his stand-up act. Standing behind the counter, Martin did tricks and learned to work a crowd.
"I tried my first jokes – all lifted from Jim's patter – and had my first audience that wasn't friends or family."
HIGH SCHOOL DAYS
Martin attended Rancho Alamitos High School until 1962, when changes in school district boundaries transferred him to Garden Grove High School, a change he decided to use to make over his image – at least his image of himself.
"I was happy to discard my old personality and adopt a new one defined by the word of the day, 'nonconformist.' Of course, the difference between my old personality and my new personality was probably imperceptible, so I was lucky to have all-new classmates who would not remember my old conformist ways."
ON TO COLLEGE
After graduating from Garden Grove High School, Martin enrolled at Santa Ana Junior College, taking classes in theater and English poetry. Soon after he heard that Knott's Berry Farm was looking for entertainers and decided to take a shot.
"One afternoon I successfully auditioned with my thin magic act at a small theater on the grounds, making this the second happiest day of my life so far."
THE BIRD CAGE THEATRE
The Bird Cage Theatre, in the Ghost Town at Knott's Berry Farm, presented old-fashioned melodramas (it's still in use, too, though only on Christmas and Halloween). And it was there that Martin performed between the ages of 18 and 22. But mostly he was starting to learn his craft – even if he wasn't getting rich doing so.
"I was being paid two dollars a show, twenty-five shows a week. Even in 1963, the rate was considered low."
THE GOLDEN BEAR
With Kathy Westmoreland, a high school friend and fellow Bird Cage performer, Martin developed a hillbilly comedy routine, which they worked on at Knott's before taking it down to the Golden Bear folk club in Huntington Beach, where once and future stars such as Jackson Browne (another O.C. boy) and John Mayall would play. It was, Martin writes, a much tougher audience.
"My belief in the inevitability of our success charged me up before, during, and after the show, and it was not until days later when I acknowledged to myself that our debut in the tougher world of real show business had been met with only a polite response."
MAKING THE ROUNDS
After transferring to Long Beach State College– now Cal State Long Beach – and while still working at the Bird Cage, Martin slowly morphed his magic act into a comedy routine he took out to perform in the folk clubs of Orange County. His regular stops included the Prison of Socrates on Balboa Island (now a B.J.'s pizzeria), the Mecca in Buena Park (now Aloha Family Billiards), the Paradox in Tustin (part of the Jamestown Village shopping center), and Rouge et Noir in Seal Beach,
"I now had my first job outside Knott's Berry Farm (after being hired at the Prison of Socrates), which presented a particular difficulty. It was one thing to do five minutes at the Bird Cage … but it was another thing to do twenty minutes for paying customers."
GARDEN GROVE IN L.A.
As his comedy career slowly developed throughout the '60s, Martin eventually landed a job writing for "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" and moved to Laurel Canyon in Hollywood. Even there, though, he benefited from old ties to Garden Grove, reconnecting with Bill McEuen– the older brother of high school friend and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band member John McEuen– who became Martin's manager for most of his stand-up career.
"He had banged his way out nowhere, too, living just a few miles from me in Garden Grove and growing up under the thumb of a critical father. He had long hair before it was fashionable and kept it not only after it was unfashionable but forever."
FAME BACK AT HOME
Martin worked the comedy circuit in small clubs around the nation and eventually on TV talk shows, finally working his way up to "The Tonight Show" and Johnny Carson in the early '70s. By the mid-'70s, his career was ready to explode, thanks to exposure on the then-new "Saturday Night Live" and hit comedy albums "Let's Get Small" and "A Wild and Crazy Guy." Back in Orange County – where his parents lived in Laguna Beach for the last three decades of their lives – Glenn and Mary Martin reacted differently to their son's new fame: his mother delighted by; his father, with whom the book details his difficult relationship, less.
"After my first appearance on 'Saturday Night Live,' (my father) wrote a bad review of me in his newsletter for the Newport Beach Association of Realtors, of which he was president: 'His performance did nothing to further his career.' Later, shamefaced, my father told me that his best friend had come into his office holding the newsletter, placed it on his desk, and shaken his head sternly, indicating a wordless 'This is wrong.'"
SAYING GOODBYES
Martin quit his stand-up career for the movies in the early '80s – partly from the isolation of the huge fame he'd found, partly because he felt he'd reached the end of what he could do in comedy. And while his father didn't care much for his debut movie, "The Jerk" – "He's no Charlie Chaplin," was all Glenn said after seeing it – they did eventually reconcile and finally express their love for each other by his death in 1997.
By 2002, Mary Martin was in failing health at her home in Laguna Beach, and after saying goodbye to his dying mother, he left the house, driving home to Los Angeles but then finding himself drawn back to Knott's and the Bird Cage. Slipping into the park through a back gate, he made his way to the now-little-used theater, remembering the secret way to enter without a key. And standing there on the darkened stage, Martin says, he thought back over the previous four decades, reflecting on a life shaped mostly by his earlier experiences in Orange County.
"Driving home along the Santa Ana Freeway … I asked myself what it was that had made this place capable of inducing in me such a powerful nostalgic shock. The answer floated clearly into my consciousness as though I had asked the question of a Magic 8-Ball: I wanted to be there again, if only for a day, indulging in high spirits and high jinks, before I turned professional, before comedy became serious."
Contact the writer: 714-796-7787 or plarsen@ocregister.com
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