Anaheim: Mapping the Gay Guides

Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center presents Mapping the Gay Guides.  While on his frequent business trips around the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Bob Damron wanted to find queer friendly establishments that accepted other men like him. As a gay man, Damron sought friends, companions, and safety at friendly businesses in the various cities he visited. He began jotting down the names of the spots he frequented, sometimes loaning out his notebooks to fellow gay friends to take with them on their own journeys. His prolific lists became the basis of the gay travel guide he began publishing in 1964 titled Bob Damron’s Address Books.

As an ongoing research and archival project at California State University Fullerton with support from the National Endowment of Humanities, Mapping the Gay Guides brings Damron’s guidebooks to life.