The Stag (Long Beach Gay Bar/70's and 80's)

The Stag — Long Beach, California

By the late 1970s and early 1980s, The Stag was part of Long Beach’s surprisingly extensive gay nightlife scene, located at 5873 Atlantic Avenue.

The name said pretty much everything it needed to. The Stag belonged to that great era of unapologetically masculine gay-bar branding—stags, stallions, cowboys, leather, Levi’s, boots, mustaches. Subtlety was not exactly the point.

But like so many neighborhood gay bars of the period, The Stag was more than somewhere to get a drink. It was also part of the community itself, hosting fundraisers, special events, and gatherings for local gay organizations. Before social media—and before being openly gay was something everyone could safely do—bars were often where the community actually happened.

Long Beach had a particularly active gay scene during this period, with bars, clubs, bathhouses, and gathering places scattered throughout the city rather than concentrated in one small neighborhood. The Stag was part of that world: local, social, a little cruisy, and largely forgotten outside the people who were there.