The City of Long Beach unveiled its proposed plans for its first LGBTQ+ Cultural District. The improvements along the Broadway corridor use placemaking, public art, and historical recognition in an attempt to create a welcoming gateway. And with it, celebrates Long Beach’s rich queer legacy.
Central to the vision is a new Pride Plaza at the southwest corner of Broadway and Junipero Avenue. Envisioned as a signature gathering space, it will be surrounded by public art, updated landscaping, and a pride-themed “Long Beach” sign as its anchor landmark.
Festoon cross-street lighting will be strung above Broadway, adding warmth, visibility, and a festival-like atmosphere both day and night. New street trees and enhanced landscaping would provide shade, beauty, and a more pedestrian-friendly experience. While large-scale murals, pride banners, and decorative streetscape elements would showcase LGBTQ+ stories and artistic expression. Historical markers and interpretive installations are also planned to highlight the Broadway corridor’s significance. Highlighting LGBTQ+ activism. Business ownership. Community organizing. And cultural life in Long Beach, ensuring that the district not only looks forward but also honors the generations who helped shape it.
“The Broadway Corridor has long served as an important gathering place for Long Beach’s LGBTQ+ community. It has a rich history of advocacy, community building, nightlife, local businesses, and spaces that helped create a sense of belonging,” said 2nd District Councilmember Cindy Allen. “The Long Beach LGBTQ+ Cultural District project will help recognize that legacy through future streetscape improvements, public art, lighting, historical markers, and other enhancements that celebrate the corridor’s cultural significance.”
The steps that led toward the creation of a Long Beach LGBTQ district
In June of 2022, the Long Beach City Council unanimously approved a recommendation brought forth by then-Mayor and current Congressman Robert Garcia and co-sponsored by Allen to allow City staff to look into the creation of a queer district.
The following year led to a preliminary vision plan for the district. It was a bold take on a neighborhood that often has its history shrouded or kept from peeking eyes. And that is something both recognized by queers themselves, who feel a queer district should offer ways to learn about the city’s queer past, and their allies.
And it’s a beautiful thing to see a city document actively advertise that, first and foremost, queer history should be at the epicenter of a queer district. Yes, of course, the many physical things. Like upgrading lighting a la West Hollywood’s stretch of Santa Monica or Nollendorfplatz in Berlin. Creating more welcoming sidewalks. Teaching scooting residents how to use the bike lanes. These things are important, even needed in many senses.
But let’s not forget that history.
Other cities have such spaces—but that doesn’t make the Long Beach LGBTQ district any less important
In Chicago, it’s sentimentally called “Boystown” but formally dubbed Northalsted. In Montreal, it’s The Village. And in San Jose, it’s called the QMunity District. So, when it comes to Long Beach, it’s been lovingly called “The Gayborhood” by visitors and residents alike for decades. Some have also called it “Rainbow Row.” Others have just called it “The Neighborhood with All the Gay Bars.”
There was, however, no sanctioned, From-City-Hall designation for the stretch of Broadway between Junipero and Alamitos Avenues up until this point. No matter how the dubbing is designated, one thing is clear. That stretch is an essential part of the city’s cultural fabric. And it serves as the main impetus for the City of Long Beach to formally designate the space.
From bars acting as funeral spaces to queer people collectively moving into a neighborhood in order to provide comfort and safety, the Broadway Corridor has long been the home of Long Beach’s LGBTQ+ community. And the fact that our city is formally recognizing the importance of that space is a sign of both evolution and empathy.
