...., C:> = ==~ 0 -<:. October 20, 2008 c-J -l Planning & Land Use Management Committee N C/o The Office of the City Clerk 200 N. Spring Street, Room 395 Los Angeles, CA 90012

Re: CF# 08-2689, CHC 2008-2708-HCM The Black Cat Bar, 3909 Sunset Boulevard

Dear Councilmembers,

I'm writing on behalf of the Friends of the Black Cat. There is widespread support for the designation of this site both in Silver Lake and within the LGBT community. And I understand that the application is scheduled to be heard before your committee on October 28th.

At the Cultural Heritage Commission meeting on September 18th, the property owner and his representative made statements suggesting that only the front far;ade and sign are historically significant. At the same meeting, Lambert Giesinger of the OHR indicated that any such discussion is premature - and would properly occur only if the site is designated a Monument, and an application is subsequently received for a development project.

We understand that the property owner and his representative have submitted correspondence to back up their above statement. This is being submitted to your Committee and to the file to make the point that much more of the site should be considered as historically significant. The Attachment goes in depth on this, but briefly:

- The interior of the bar is largely unchanged from the morning of the raid on New Year's Day 1967. We assert that events within the bar-the exchange of New Year's kisses and the subsequent violent seizure and arrest of bar patrons and employees - were historically significant. As such the setting for these events is also significant. These acts were crucial links in the chain of events that led to the appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court and to the unprecedented protest outside the bar on the night of February 11 , 1967. - Primary source material indicates that the bar's parking lot (the eastern portion of the site along Hyperion Avenue), largely unchanged since 1967, was the location of the main protest held on the night of February 11, 1967.

Thank you for your consideration,

Sincerely, C

The following is offered to document the historical significance of both the interior of the bar and the parking lot located on the eastern portion of the bar site along Hyperion Avenue.

The Interior of the Bar General Layout. Per Building Permit No. LA 78487 (to convert a portion of the former Safeway Market to a beer bar), dated 9/28/64, the bar is described as 20' x 100'. This is close to the width of the bar (21 ') noted on the most recent building permits. This suggests that the bar was not divided into a narrower space and is very close in physical dimensions to what existed at the time ofthe raid in 1967. Perhaps because the site is irregularly shaped the length of the building noted on building permits has been stated as anywhere from 100' to 150'. And the width between 15' and 21'. In any case, it's apparent that the bar has always consisted of a long open box-like space.

In Courting Justice, Murdoch and Price note that, "Inside, the rather ordinary tavern was one long room with a handful of tables, a jukebox and a pool table." (Their account of the Black Cat raid and the associated arrests, convictions and cert petition to the U.S. Supreme Court was based on the authors' interviews with 4 individuals and a review of court documents and papers). (CJ 143)

This was the space where just after midnight, New Year's morning 1967, Charles Talley and another man "kissed on the mouth for three to five seconds." And where Benny Baker, wearing a white dress, had kissed three men for two to five seconds. (CJ.144) These and other kisses prompted the vice officers already in the room to arrest Talley, Baker and ten other men for the felony offense of lewd conduct. (T2 6) Those convicted of this crime were forced to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives. Talley and Baker chose to appeal their convictions all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Where their attorney, Herbert Selwyn, argued for the first time before the Court solely on the basis that homosexuals have the right to equal protection under the law. (CJ 146)

The Ceiling The ceiling of the bar currently features an open pipework grid which does:not appear to date from 1967. No information has been uncovered regarding the original ceiling design.

The Floor: This is the floor that a bartender was dragged onto during the raid, toppling a patron. The floor a second employee fell onto after being clubbed from behind and kneed. Where, "A stout man in a red wig ... tried to look inconspicuous. He woke on his ·stomach on the floor." With an officer kneeling on his back. (T2 5)

Building Permit LA 93812, was issued 4/29/65 for the Black Gat's double faced plastic electric sign. In Box 11 of the permit form, the material of construction for the floor is noted as "Cone." (The earlier permit for the conversion of the market space to a bar does not request such information.) Building Permit LA 19250 was issued 2127/81 for replacing the paneling and resurfacing the stand up bar structure. In Box 12 on this permit form, the floor is noted as being "cement." So to this day, "Le Barcito" does business on the original concrete floor of the bar.

The Front Wall: The bar featured a glass front faQade in 1967 (see photo in the application), which has been covered over with plywood.

Attachment, PLUM 10/28/08, CF#08-2698, The Black Cat Bar, 3909 Sunset Blvd, 1 The Side Walls: The original plaster walls of the bar are still present under a thin paper covering and a thin layer of wooden wainscoting.

The Rear of the Bar: The Tangents article notes that the short order cook was seized early in the raid, and an officer attempted to take him out the back door. This indicates a cooking area existed which has since been removed. The attempt to take the cook out the back door suggests that the cooking area was to the rear of the bar. (T2 5) Alexei Romanoff, owner of the New Faces bar (the other business raided the same night as the Black Cat) until mid 1966, notes that it was typical for bars at the time to incorporate small kitchens and to serve simple meals. This was the case at New Faces Bar in 1966. (Romanoff).

The Mezzanine: The rearmost section of the bar is currently occupied by a mezzanine above with restroom facilities and a pool table area below. There is still a rear exit. Building Permit LA80704 dated 1/19/84 (when the occupancy was changed from a sit down to a stand up bar with dancing) notes an existing mezzanine. So it is possible that the mezzanine existed at the time of the raid. In fact, it seems unlikely that a mezzanine constructed without a building permit between 1967 and 1984 in a would have been allowed to remain without having been required to be legalized in 1984 (rather than noted as "existing"). Especially given that the 1984 building permit was pulled to comply with a City order.

Dance Floor: A raised dance floor was added under Building Permit LA80704 dated 1/19/84. This is on the east side of the main room of the bar.

The Stand-Up Bar Structure: Jim Highland notes in Tangents, "A bartender was seized by the shoulders, dragged bodily across the bar amid splintering glass and hustled outside where uniformed police waited. A second bartender tried to run, was caught and yanked across the bar, toppling a patron who fell with him to the floor." (T2 5)

And per Jim Kepner in "Concern," "Officer Duehring testified that he saw the bartenders kissing one another just after midnight. After the bartenders and several witnesses said Duehring, with some help from Butler, had jerked or shoved two of the bartenders over the bar onto the floor. .. " (C5 2)

Building permit No. LA 19250 was issued 2/27/81 to "replace paneling on bar & resurface it." As noted below, the different bar businesses at this location have never been targeted towards a high end clientele. And the bar had a history of being under police surveillance. This makes it likely that the bar structure currently used by Le Barcito is the same bar used by the Black Cat. First, the bars at this location are unlikely to have spent large sums on remodeling. And secondly- if they had, then the change would likely have been recorded by a permit. The permit that is on record is for repaneling and resurfacing the original bar structure.

Integrity and Significance of the Interior: The interior of the Black Cat remain largely unchanged from 1967. The main space is still a large open box. The room where New Year's kisses were exchanged and so many were seized, arrested and read their rights. (C5 2) The mezzanine still occupies the upper rear. Bar patrons continue to walk across the same concrete floor onto which so many were pushed or fell. The changes that have been made - the ceiling piping, the wall finishes, the dance floor and the plywood

Attachment, PLUM 10/28/08, CF#08-2698, The Black Cat Bar, 3909 Sunset Blvd, 2 covering at the front of the bar; could be relatively simply removed. It's also likely that stand up bar structure currently in use is the original. The same bar over which the bartenders were dragged during the raid.

The bar is described in Courting Justice as an "ordinary tavern" and in 1968 Jim Highland noted that the buildings housing such bars were generally "shabby." (CJ 143, T2 4) Not much has changed with that respect. The bar continues to serve a working class gay clientele, now Hispanic. Does the interior of the bar continue to tell the story of the raid after all these years? Yes it does.

A Note on the the Signficance of the Bar The choice of where to hold the protest on February 11th was a simple one. Outside the bar where most of the arrests had occurred on New Year's morning. This unprece­ dented demonstration cannot be separated from the violent raid on New Year's Day.

Given the violence associated with the seizures and arrests in the bar on New Year's Day and what had occurred during the demonstrations on the Sunset Strip in November 1966 (see application material), there was apprehension on the part of the protest organizers. Alexei Romanoff notes that one reason for the delay between the arrests and the February protest was fear among the organizers of a possible physical confrontation with the police. (Romanoff)

But there was also a large amount of anger within the gay and lesbian community. Enough to overcome fear, both of violence and also of exposure. In a groundbreaking "CBS Reports" episode, "The Homosexuals" broadcast on March 7, 1967, Mike Wallace noted that homosexuals were "the most despised minority in the United States." (GMet 162) Warren Adkins, from the Washington, DC, chapter of Mattachine, appeared on the program as "." The day after the episode aired he was fired from his job as a sales manager at a Washington hotel. (GMet 162-163)

Evelyn Hooker was a UClA psychologist who studied homosexual men in Los Angeles during the 1950s and 1960s. Her studies were groundbreaking, and played a crucial role in the 1973 American Psychiatric Association decision to remove from its list of mental diseases. (GlA 125)

She identified the bar as the central institution of the homosexual subculture of the time. In a world where it was a necessary for most to conceal their homosexuality, gay and lesbian people split their lives into two worlds -the work world and a homosexual world focused on leisure time and recreational activities. (Hooker 94)

The bar was a place where "the protective mask of the day may be dropped." (Hooker 98) A place to meet strangers and a gathering place for friends. (Hooker 95) And a semi-protected place where bar staff acted as watchpersons, warning against the possible presence of vice squad officers. (Hooker 99)

The bar was where a homosexual person "came out," taking the step of publicly identifying him/herself as homosexual. (Hooker 99) A place to learn the jargon and how to recognize potential threats. And the bar was a place to reduce feelings of personal guilt for failing to conform to sexual norms. (Hooker 100)

Attachment, PLUM 10/28/08, CF#08-2698, The Black Cat Bar, 3909 Sunset Blvd, 3 Examining the historic significance of what took place at the Black Cli!t- both on New Year's morning and on February 11th- the role of the bar in the homosexual subculture of the time cannot be overlooked. The bar was a public sanctuary for its patrons. For two years, an informal "truce" had existed between the police and gay bars in Los Angeles (see application material). This was broken on New Year's Eve with vice officers basically lying in wait for the patrons of the Black Cat to exchange traditional New Year's kisses. The events within the bar, including the anger they provoked in the gay and lesbian community, cannot be minimized. What happened outside the Black Cat on February 11th is strongly and intrinsically linked to what happened inside the bar 51 on January 1 •

The Exterior of the Bar The Sign Building Permit No. LA93812 was issued 4/29/65, for a double face plastic electric sign for a beer bar. Comparing the photo from 1967 with the current photo, it appears that the original sign is still in place (see application material). The small trapezoidal bottom section of the sign (reading "BEER" in 1967) has been removed. And the plastic facing now indicates the bar's current occupant, Le Barcito. The smiling cat at the top of the current sign is either original or a copy of the original.

Front Facade: As noted above, the glass front wall of the bar has been covered over with plywood. The remainder of the fac;ade remains unchanged, other than new coats of paint.

Integrity of the Exterior Front Facade: The exterior front fagade is largely unchanged. It continues to tell the story of the raid and the protest.

The Parking Lot The Black Cat's parking lot was located on the east side of the building, along Hyperion Avenue. It is largely unchanged from 1967. Some of the wall signs for the laundromat installed under Building Permit No. LA29001, dated 1/21/63, have been removed. But architectural details remain, including vintage light fixtures, art deco pilasters and an art deco-moderne parapet.

Per Jim Highland, at least one of those arrested during the New Year's raid was taken to a patrol car in the parking lot. (T2 5) And three sources at the ONE Archives indicate that the parking lot was the main site of the protest on the night of February 11, 1967:

Per the PRIDE Newsletter, "Briefly, approximately 500 people showed up at the Silverlake demonstration on the 11th. From 9 PM to 10:30 PM, 35 people carried signs in and around the parking lot and at the Black Cat." (P2.5 1)

Per a declaration from the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Heritage Society, undated and signed by Jim Kepner, "Forty people marched in the picket line, and two hundred of us (and fifty incredibly heavily armed police) participated in the rally in the lot east of the bar." (NGA)

And "ONE Confidential" described a panel discussion held March 5, 1967 devoted to the raid and protest at the Black Cat. Panelists included Jim Kepner, David Waldor and Jim Highland:

" ... Besides the large one much to the west on (sic) Sunset Strip and the three others

Attachment, PLUM 10/28/08, CF#08-2698, The Black Cat Bar, 3909 Sunset Blvd, 4 called by the Right of Assembly and Movement Committee, there was an all gay demonstration on Sunset Boulevard at the parking lot adjacent to the Black Cat bar. Four hundred people watched and listened for one and a half hours as 30 placards were paraded, and four speakers spiritedly urged to come forth and demand their rights." (ONE 10)

Integrity and Significance of the Parking Lot: The parking lot remains basically unchanged from the time of the raid and the protest at the Black Cat. As the site of the protest on the 1 night of February 11 h, 1967, it is a historically significant site. And the eastern fagade of the building housing the Black Cat, which lies at the western edge of the parking lot, is integral to its setting.

SOURCES:

Books: CJ: Murdoch, Joyce and Price, Deb, Courting Justice. Gay Men and Lesbians v. The Supreme Court, Basic Books, New York, 2001.

GLA: Faderman, Lillian and Timmons, Stuart, Gay L.A.. A Historv of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics & Lipstick Lesbians, Basic Books, New York, 2006.

GMet: Kaiser, Charles, The Gay Metropolis, Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 1997.

Hooker: Hooker, Evelyn, "Male Homosexuals and Their 'Worlds," from Sexual Inversion, Marmor, Judd (Editor), Basic Books, New York, 1965.

Interview: Romanoff, Interview with Alexei Romanoff, who owned the New Faces Bar until mid-1966, September 20, 2008.

Newsletters and Alternative Magazines (Available at ONE Archives)

C5: Kepner, Jim, "Protest Police Brutality!" Concern, Issue 5, February 1967, p. 5.

NGA: "The Bushwhacker Declared Historic Site," Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Heritage Society, undated, signed by Jim Kepner as curator of the National Gay Archives.)

ONE: Staff, "The Case of the Black Cat Raid," "ONE Confidential," Vol. 12, no. 4, April1967, pp. 5-10.

P2.5: Staff, Untitled, "PRIDE Newsletter," Vol. 2, no. 2-1/2, page 1, February 27, 1967.

T2: Highland, Jim, "RAID!", "Tangents Magazine," January 1968, pp. 4-7.

Attachment, PLUM 10/28/08, CF#08-2698, The Black Cat Bar, 3909 Sunset Blvd, 5