Parties raged, people skinny-dipped at Will Rogers State Park and its gay-friendly patch of sand known as Ginger Rogers Beach, and many cocktails were had at bars and restaurants within walking distance.
The beach-adjacent enclave filled with winding roads and steep canyon walls was somewhat secluded from the Hollywood studio machine, and it became a safe haven for the bohemian elite. Long before the Stonewall Riots in New York, or the raids and protests at the Black Cat Tavern in Silver Lake, when West Hollywood wasn’t known as Boy’s Town yet, Santa Monica Canyon was one of the few pockets of openly gay life around Los Angeles.
