Highlights from the Monterey County LGBTQ History Collection

Pride Celebrations

Pride celebrations have been a part of Monterey County for decades. The collection, given existing limits on the materials, mostly documents those between the early 1990s and the mid-2000’s.

Many of the Pride events of the early 1990s were held in parks, with picnics, vendors, table for community organizations, entertainment (including drag performances) and speeches from community organizers and local leaders. The Monterey Peninsula Pride Celebration in June of 1994, for example, was held in Pacific Grove at the Little House in the Park.[1] In 1995, instead of an outdoor event, organizers put together a “Gay Pride Homecoming” at The After Dark bar and club. Held on the same day as Santa Cruz Pride, events included a barbecue, rally and dance. Over 400 people attended [2].

For 1996, a new organization, the Monterey Pride Association, took the helm for planning the celebration. [3] Pride 1996, with a theme of “Conquering Invisibility,” included a march down Lighthouse Avenue in New Monterey on June 8 and a barbecue and festival held at Windows on the Bay in Monterey on June 9. The two day celebration drew 1,000 attendees [4]

Pride 1997 continued the two day series of events in early June. With another march down Lighthouse and a festival the next day at Monterey Bay Park (renamed then from Windows on the Bay). As The Paper reported, both the Lighthouse Bar and Grill and the After Dark opened after the march for attendees to celebrate in community. Over 1,200 locals and visitors attended [5]. By 1998, Pride events in Monterey expanded. Billed as a “Monterey Pride Weekend,” several events marked the occasion, including a Pride Festival at the Monterey Senior Center at Dickman and Lighthouse in New Monterey. Organized by a new non-profit organization, Pride of Monterey County (PriMoCo), the event marked a maturation of this organizing.[6]

There were several other celebrations in the early 2000’s held in Laguna Grande Park in Seaside, followed by several at the Monterey County Fairgrounds [7]. By the end of 2000’s, there was a lull in Pride celebrations on the Peninsula, which did not re-emerge until 2017. However, a new wave began to take root in the Salinas Valley, including a well attended march through downtown Salinas followed by an after party in 2008.

As the collection illustrates, the LGBTQ community in Monterey County celebrated Pride in many ways--including picnics, dances, festivals, marches and other events. This collection gives some sense of where the very visible and well attended Pride celebrations held today--in both Monterey and Salinas--actually started.

Image sources

“Pride ‘96,” The Paper, Volume 3, Number 1, July-August 1996, Monterey County LGBTQ History Collection, Archives and Special Collections, California State University Monterey Bay, https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/thepaper/12/.

Photos from Monterey Pride, ca 1997. John XXIII AIDS Ministries Photographs and Other Material, Monterey County LGBTQ History Collection, Archives and Special Collections, California State University Monterey Bay, https://csumb.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/22.

“Gay Pride ‘97,” The Paper, Volume 4, Number 1, May-June, 1997, Monterey County LGBTQ History Collection, Archives and Special Collections, California State University Monterey Bay, https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/thepaper/16/

Flier for Monterey Pride 2000, Pride of Monterey Country, Box 2, Matt Friday and Bruce Carlson Papers, MS-006, Monterey County LGBTQ History Collection, Archives and Special Collections, California State University Monterey Bay.

Photo from Salinas Pride, 2008. Courtesy of Craig Wenzl (unprocessed item), Monterey County LGBTQ History Collection, Archives and Special Collections, California State University Monterey Bay,

References

[1] Community Calendar, The Paper, Volume 1, Number 1, June 1994, Monterey County LGBTQ History Collection, Archives and Special Collections, California State University Monterey Bay, https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/thepaper/2/.

[2] Cover, The Paper, Volume 2, Number 1, June-July, 1995, https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/thepaper/7/; “Be Proud Monterey,” The Paper, Volume 2, Number 2, August-October, 1995, https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/thepaper/8/, Monterey County LGBTQ History Collection, Archives and Special Collections, California State University Monterey Bay.

[3] “Monterey Pride Association Starts Planning for ‘96,” The Paper, Volume 2, Number 3, September-October, 1995, Monterey County LGBTQ History Collection, Archives and Special Collections, California State University Monterey Bay, https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/thepaper/9/.

[4] “Pride ‘96,” The Paper, Volume 3, Number 1, July-August, 1996, Monterey County LGBTQ History Collection, Archives and Special Collections, California State University Monterey Bay, https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/thepaper/12/.

[5] “Gay Pride ‘97,” The Paper, Volume 4, Number 1, May-June, 1997; https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/thepaper/16/; “1997 Pride March and Festival,” The Paper, Volume 4, Number 2, July-August, 1997, https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/thepaper/15/. Monterey County LGBTQ History Collection, Archives and Special Collections, California State University Monterey Bay.

[6] “Pridefestical98,” The Paper, Volume 5, Number 1, May-June, 1998, Monterey County LGBTQ History Collection, Archives and Special Collections, California State University Monterey Bay, https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/thepaper/20/.

[7] Monterey Pride, June 16th, 2001, Manifesto, Volume 4, Issue 12, October 2000, https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/manifesto/8/; Monterey Pride at the Monterey County Fairgrounds and picnic, June 2002, organized by Pride of Monterey County, Manifesto, Volume 6, Issue 7, May, 2002, https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/manifesto/7/; Monterey Pride annual celebration, July 2004. Manifesto, Volume 8, Issue 5, March 2004, https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/manifesto/1/; Monterey County LGBTQ History Collection, Archives and Special Collections, California State University Monterey Bay.