(picture above is from www.pridesideout.com)

The Long Beach's Gay Community has been slowly fixing up the Gay Village on Broadway... This group is here to support all efforts to make ths area a GAY DESTINATION. Money can be made; Fun can be had!

The Long Beach Gay Village has been known lovingly or not lovingly as the "Gay Ghetto" and it stretches down on Broadway from Junipiero to Alamitos. It has nice furniture shops, bars, a few restaurants, hair salons, and rundown empty stores with some nice and some not nice residential buildings and small homes. What a place it could be if only we take further action in the area and make it a Gay Mecca!


Sourced from Wikopedia: "A gay village (sometimes called a gay ghetto, gay enclave, and increasingly gayborhood) is usually an urban geographic location with generally recognized boundaries where a large number of gay and lesbian people, as well as bisexuals and transsexuals live. They usually contain a number of gay-oriented establishments, such as gay bars or pubs, nightclubs, bathhouses, restaurants, bookstores, and other businesses.

Such areas may represent a gay-friendly oasis in an otherwise hostile city, or may simply have a high concentration of gay residents and/or businesses. As with many urban 'groups', gay and lesbian spaces or villages are a manifestation both of their necessity for a tolerant space as well as choice. Much as other urbanized groups, lesbians and gay men have managed to utilize their spaces as a way to reflect gay cultural value and serve the special needs of individuals in relation to society at large. In cities that have the necessary critical mass to support such a community, the gay 'ghetto' provides a normalization of space that is essential to the culture’s ability to be supported and practiced in a safe environment."

*Businesses worth visiting on Broadway whether Gay Owned or just Gay Friendly are:
ILO Clothing, Falcon, Paradise, La Paraciola, Cafe Piccolo, Hot Java, JW Goodson Hair Salon, David Galindo Gallery, Surya Gallerie