Black Cat Tavern

At midnight on January 1, 1967, as the room sang in the new year, plainclothes LAPD officers moved through the crowd, beat patrons, and arrested fourteen men. Six were charged with lewd conduct for kissing. Six weeks later, on February 11, hundreds picketed the sidewalk out front with signs against entrapment, the first public demonstration for gay rights in Southern California and two years ahead of Stonewall. In 2023 this became the first California landmark registered for LGBTQ history.

What the plaque says

At midnight on January 1, 1967, undercover LAPD officers raided the Black Cat Tavern in Silver Lake. 14 men were beaten, dragged outside, and arrested. Six men were charged with lewd conduct for same-sex kissing. Outrage over the raid spurred two new California gay rights groups to organize hundreds of protestors to demonstrate against police entrapment and arbitrary arrest. The peaceful demonstration that took place outside the Black Cat Tavern on February 11, 1967 was Southern California's first public protest for gay rights. Events like the Black Cat Tavern protest, and earlier demonstrations at Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco, were critical milestones in California's LGBTQ+ history, opening the floodgates for new civil rights strategies within the LGBTQ+ community that led to the repeal of discriminatory laws in California. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 1063. Plaque placed by the California Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with The Black Cat, the California Landmark Foundation, and the Bill Beaver Project, October 1, 2023.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Colorado Street Bridge — 7.6 mi
  Beaux-Arts concrete arches curving 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, opened in 1913 and later a link in Route 66.
• Mission San Gabriel Arcangel — 9.9 mi
  The fourth Alta California mission, built on Tongva land with Tongva labor, rebuilt after arson and now telling that story straight.
• Santa Monica Pier — 14 mi
  Where the Mother Road runs out of continent, and where the End of the Trail sign gives the drive somewhere to finish.

More markers nearby

• Ennis House — 1.8 mi
• Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center — 2.6 mi
• First Jewish Site in Los Angeles — 2.7 mi
• Portolá Trail Campsite (1) — 3.3 mi