Long Beach’s “gayborhood” could soon become a historic gayborhood as the City of Long Beach embarks on a visioning plan to create a cultural district on the Broadway corridor.
On Tuesday, June 21, the Long Beach City Council unanimously directed the city manager to study the feasibility of creating an LGBTQ+ cultural district. The district would encompass the Broadway corridor and potentially surrounding neighborhoods like Alamitos Beach, Bluff Park and Bluff Heights and the East Village.
The strip of Broadway from Alamitos to Junipero Avenues has long been a hub for the city’s LGBTQ+ community. Adorned with four rainbow crosswalks, the street is home to some of the city’s most prominent gay bars, such as Sweetwater Saloon, The Falcon and the Broadway Cocktail Lounge.
“When you think about Long Beach and the heart of the broader gay community, that really is the Broadway corridor,” said Long Beach’s first openly-gay mayor Robert Garcia. “Our LGBTQ+ community has developed, has grown, has come out and has invested all along this corridor for many, many decades.”
Both Councilmembers Mary Zendejas and Rex Richardson said they’d always assumed the area was already a historical district because it’s so well-known.
“Landmarking is an important process that recognizes local culture, local diversity, local history, but it’s also smart economic development policy,” Richardson said, noting that designating cultural or historical districts can add value to businesses and attract new interest in the area.
Garcia directed city staff to work with historians, neighbors, LGBTQ+ business owners and nonprofit organizations to create a vision for the corridor—from economic development to infrastructure improvements to historical markers.
“The LGBTQ Center is here ready to support this item and work with the city to make sure that this cultural district becomes a reality,” said John Newell, president of the Long Beach LGBTQ Center board of directors. “This is a perfect way for us to recognize pride.”
