On Saturday night some friends invited me to join them at The Spotlight Room in Hollywood because on Monday it would be CLOSING FOR GOOD! Of course I joined them for the send off, it's practically a historic landmark. Spotlight opened in 1963 and was the first gay bar in Los Angeles. At the time it served as a venue for young hustlers to meet their benefactors, but also as a meeting place for people down on their luck and down in the dumps. All the reviews online poke fun at the neglected decor, but speak warmly about the friendly attitudes, and cheap drinks. (It's the exact opposite review that I would give most of the bars that have opened since my generation came of age.) Dig deeper and you will find many recounts by patrons who came to The Spotlight in the 60's, 70's, and 80's having recently moved to LA, needing a helping hand, and actually finding it there.
The best description that I found of The Spotlight Room was in a comment posted on losanjealous.com about a trip there in 2006 (I've edited it for length): "Anyone that’s been dragged into one of these Cahuenga Corridor bars with 3 letter names (you know who I mean XES and LAX…!) only to find uninspired pole dancing... and wilmer valderamma running amok…anyone who’s ordered a beer and a well vodka and tonic and had the barkeep tell you, you owe him $26.00... will be happy to know there’s a bar where the drinks are still ridiculously cheap, the jukebox is bizarre and the entire place is friendly. When you step outside to have a smoke, you can watch all the nonsense going on in Lohanville… Backup dancers, Johnny Hollywoods and it-girls still clomp up and down the street going to the hot club du jour while you smoke with fellow Spotlight patrons who will lean against the wall and watch the spectacle with you. At the end of the night, you’ll have change from your $20, offers to go to church, someone’s myspace page addy and a new understanding of why they have to lock the women’s room here. Completely fun and enlightening!"
I myself frequented The Spotlight Room in 2001 to 2003 when I took several courses at the satellite campus that my college had around the corner. I can vouch for the cheap drinks, dreary decor, and warm welcome that every other review mentions. One early evening on a Wednesday I walked over there with my friend John and we were greeted by a transsexual who offered us each a bowl of chili. Low and behold, Wednesday is chili night at The Spotlight room! The chili was by no means gourmet, but the gesture was deeply sincere.
The fact that the oldest gay bar in LA can close with so little circumstance says something about how far things have come in terms of gay people being accepted into society at large. Or maybe it just says that with the advent of the internet closeted gay men can seek out sex on the down low from home instead of skulking around in seedy bars. Rumor has it that the building the bar is in was bought by a developer who will be turning it into a boutique hotel, which was inevitable for that location; the whole area is being wrestled out of its blighted old glory filth. As with any change, I'm resistant and clinging to things past, but at the same time trying to keep an open mind and be optimistic. I'm sorry to see such an old establishment drift off into the night, but I suppose without change our lives would be dull. On Saturday I raised a Pabst Blue Ribbon to an old drinking buddy and said my farewells. If you are as nostalgic as I am, you might want to drop by today and do the same.
