The years were long and the fight was tough, but in 1991, Palm Springs saw its first gay bar, Streetbar, located boldly on the city’s main (and very public) Arenas Strip. As decades rolled on, Cary Grant, Rock Hudson, and Liberace frequented the area, bringing in a new age of high-class, desert-dwelling queerness.īut despite the subculture of influential high rollers, having an openly gay business-even in the sprawling desert- wasn’t yet possible.Įventually, gay bars opened up in the shadows of nearby still-unincorporated Cathedral City- the only place they were allowed to operate, because Cathedral City was considered a town of vice. Greta Garbo helped popularize Palm Springs when she used its seclusion to vacation with her rumored lover, writer Mercedes de Acosta. A long time ago, when being queer was more or less illegal in California and Hollywood was turning out some of the greatest stars that ever lived, Palm Springs became the location of a discreet but vibrant gay scene among Hollywood celebrities, who needed to escape the city’s prying eyes while remaining within 100 miles of Los Angeles as a condition of their studio contracts.
