HOLLYWOOD
LA LGBT CENTER COMPLETES NEW HOUSING FOR SENIORS
The Los Angeles LGBT Center celebrates completion of The Ariadne Getty Foundation Senior Housing, a cutting-edge 70,000-square-foot building in Hollywood with 98 affordable housing units for seniors ages 62 and above. The Senior Housing, created in partnership with affordable housing developer Thomas Safran & Associates, represents the culmination of years of planning and diligence to build an intergenerational Campus bringing together LGBTQ youth, seniors, and housing in a unified setting. The Senior Housing, located at 1127 North Las Palmas Avenue along the eastern area of the Center’s flagship two-acre Anita May Rosenstein Campus, includes 19 studios, 75 one-bedroom units, and four two-bedroom dwellings.
WEST HOLLYWOOD
24-HOUR FITNESS WEHO CLOSES AFTER 25 YEARS
The 24-Hour Fitness Gym located at 8212 Santa Monica Boulevard, closed permanently last month after serving the community for 25 years. “We are sorry to say that we have not been able to come to lease renewal terms with our landlord and will have to permanently close our West Hollywood club on Tuesday, November 30, at 9 p.m.” reads a Facebook post on the 24-Hour Fitness Super Sport West Hollywood location. The 24-Hour Fitness Super Sport in Hollywood known as the Arclight location, also officially closed permanently this past December 2020 with little to no fanfare. A upscale gym is expected to open in its place after renovations.
PALM SPRINGS
RETIREMENT RESORT FOR LGBT SENIORS BREAKS GROUND
Hours ahead of the Palm Springs Pride celebration last month, the Living Out Palm Springs resort style retirement community for LTBTQ+ seniors broke ground with a ceremony. The “first of its kind” project, started out as a 105-bedroom condo complex. It was delayed by about two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is now being built as a 122-unit, three-story apartment complex. It is expected to be move-in ready by mid-2023. Living Out Palm Springs is the long-term dream of Loren Ostrow, a part-time Palm Springs resident and developer out of Los Angeles. Ostrow told the Desert Sun he wanted to create a community where LGBTQ seniors can age in an open, supportive environment with their peers.
SAN DIEGO
USNS Harvey MILK NAVY SHIP IS LAUNCHED
The Harvey Milk Navy ship, named for slain gay rights leader, christened and launched in San Diego Bay early last month. Milk served four years in the Navy before being forced out. The replenishment oiler USNS Harvey Milk slid down the shipyard ways after a bottle smashing ceremony on the bow by former Navy officer Paula M. Neira, clinical program director for the John Hopkins Center for Transgender Health. Milk’s nephew, Stuart Milk, and Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro attended the traditional ceremony.
BOYLE HEIGHTS
EL PLACE LATINX PIZZERIA HAS CLOSED
Latinx queer pizzeria El Place in Boyle Heights has closed. El Place was the only queer Latinx business in the East Los Angeles. It closed on November 20, 2021, due to a high increase in rent according to its owners. The queer space opened Dec. 5, 2020, and was first named “El Noa Noa,” after a song by singer Juan Gabriel. The name was changed to El Place in August. In an interview with Q Voice News, one of the owners, Luis Octavio, said the closing is “bittersweet.” Octavio along with two other entrepreneurs took over the lease of the previous tenant, a sports bar, but when it ended, they had to negotiate a new lease with the property owner, who wanted to raise the rent. It led to the decision to close. The El Place partners are negotiating a live music venue in the Los Angeles area for a monthly El Place night. n
