Christopher Street West Association Records, 1970-2010

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Summary

Title:
Christopher Street West Association records
Dates:
1970-2010
Creators:
Christopher Street West Association.
Abstract:
Photographs, slides, clippings and analyses of press coverage, fliers, resolutions, certificates, and award plaques from the Christopher Street West Association (CSW). Formed in 1970 CSW was the first pride organization in the United States to obtain a city permit for its parade. In 1973 the parade was suspended, in the following year the parade resumed and a festival was added to the celebration. The parade was held on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles until 1978, after which it was moved to Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood.
Extent:
12.0 linear feet. [2 archives boxes, 3 archives cartons, 1 oversized archives carton, 49 box-binders, 5 flat boxes, and 1 shoe box]
Language:
Preferred citation:

[Box/folder #, or item name] Christopher Street West Association Records, Coll2012-134, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Background

Scope and content:

Photographs, slides, clippings, analyses of media coverage, fliers, VHS (TM) videocassettes, resolutions, certificates, and award plaques from the Christopher Street West Association (CSW). The collection documents the pride parade and festivals held in Los Angeles and later West Hollywood, California. The records document the transformation of a simple evening parade with a few cars and marchers attended by a few thousand to a three day festival and parade with music and floats attended by over a half million people.

The bulk of the collection consists of photographs from the 1980s and 1990s documenting the festivities as well as other CSW and pride events. The other events include award programs, kick-off and volunteer thank you parties, pride association conferences, pride runs/races, retreats, and a memorial service. The collection also includes records of various other events or programs sponsored or collected by CSW, including sporting events.

Biographical / historical:

The Christopher Street West Association (CSW) was formed in 1970 to organize a parade to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots. The concept of a celebratory parade and naming of the association were the result of a collaborative effort by community leaders, Reverend Bob Humphries, Morris Kight, and Reverend Troy Perry.

For the first parade the Los Angeles Police Commission required bonds totaling 1.5 million dollars and $1,500 for police overtime. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was contacted and Attorney Herbert Selwyn appealed the Commission's demand before the Superior Court of California. The court ordered the issuing of the permit and charged the police department with the responsibility to protect the parade participants as any other citizen. CSW became the first and only organization to obtain a parade permit for its 1970 commemorative parade.

In 1973 the Los Angeles parade was suspended; however, in 1974 new leaders coalesced to organize the annual parade with the addition of a pride festival, conceived by Pat Rocco. The parade and later the festival continued in Hollywood on Hollywood Boulevard through 1978. In 1979 the festival and parade were moved to an unincorporated section of Los Angeles County, west of Hollywood on Santa Monica Boulevard. In 1984 the residents of this unincorporated section of Los Angeles County voted to incorporate as the City of West Hollywood.

In 1993 CSW opened an 8-unit apartment building, Casa del Sol, for low income persons living with AIDS. The project was the first to receive funding from the United States department of Housing and Urban Development specifically to provide housing for persons living with HIV/AIDS.

CSW has also participated in regional and international pride organization events including the Consolidated Association of Pride, Incorporated (CAPI) and the International Association of Pride Organizations (InterPride).

"History of Christopher Street West / LA Pride." LA PRIDE LGBT Pride in West Hollywood. 2012 Web. 31 July 2012. http://www.lapride.org/about/history.html

Souvenir Pride Program 1972 and 1975

Acquisition information:
The records of the Christopher Street West Association were received prior to 2010.
Processing information:

Collection processed by Devon Moffat, Stefan Ogbac, and Michael C. Oliveira, April 2014.

The albums of photographs document the parade as well as other CSW events. Inorder to keep the albums whole the albums were either placed in the Festival and parade series or the CSW events photographs series depending on the primary focus of the albums.

The images and documents of CDs and DVDs have been transferred to the server.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged by the following series:

Series 1. Festival and parade photographs

Series 2. Professional photographers

Series 3. Festival and parade 35mm slides

Series 4. CSW events photographs

Series 5. Headshots and publicity photographs

Series 6. Records and ephemera

Series 7. Medals, plaques, and ribbons

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Michael C. Oliveira
Sponsor:
Processing this collection has been funded by a generous grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Date Prepared:
© 2014
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2014-04-28T11:31-0700

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.

Terms of access:

Researchers wishing to publish material must obtain permission in writing from ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives as the physical owner of the material. Note that permission to publish does not constitute copyright clearance. ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives can grant copyright clearance only for those materials for which we hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain copyright clearance for all other materials from the copyright holder(s).

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder #, or item name] Christopher Street West Association Records, Coll2012-134, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Location of this collection:
909 West Adams Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90007, US
Contact:
(213) 821-2771
askone@usc.edu
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