Hansen: Gay culture 2.0 hits Laguna Beach

Drag queens are back in Laguna Beach.

Main Street Bar and Cabaret is under new management with hopes of revitalizing the city’s lost gay culture — but with a modern twist.

“I call it Main Street 2.0,” said manager Craig Cooley, a marketing and hospitality veteran who has been spearheading changes over the last few months. “In other words, we’ve reinvented ourselves for a new culture and new generation.”

In addition to overhauling the bar’s weekly program with karaoke, trivia games and a better happy hour, the building at 1460 S. Coast Hwy. has been undergoing a remodel that will produce a larger stage, new flooring and an improved sound system. A grand reopening is planned for Feb. 19 to 21. Details can be found at mainstreet-bar.com.

For Cooley, the changes to Main Street mirror what’s happening in the broader culture, where integrated approaches are more accepted.

“I hope what happens is that the gay crowd will come here and meet some nice straight people, and the straight people will come here and have a great time,” he said.

The divisions between gay and straight are less important to Cooley, who believes that it’s better to embrace visitors, not marginalize them.

“I think five years ago the gay community wasn’t so welcoming to the straight community,” he said. “And I think what’s happened is the gay community has been so much more integrated and accepted in the last, say, 10 years that we also realized that we need to reciprocate.”

To that end, Cooley has built a program that he hopes achieves a nice, friendly balance. Knowing the history of Main Street, the Boom Boom Room, the Little Shrimp and Woody’s, Cooley understands and supports Laguna’s gay legacy.

But he also points out that none of them is still here.

“I think from a marketing standpoint, Laguna Beach became a non-destination for a huge audience with the demise of all the dance clubs,” he said. “They go to Palm Springs, L.A. and San Diego.”

Laguna can be a destination again, he said, but it will take creative effort.

“If we’re going to be integrated in the greater population and accepted with gay marriages and so many things, then we need to be as accepting and open about sharing ourselves and our lifestyles as the straight people have been about sharing themselves and their lifestyles with us,” he said.

Cooley points to other examples like the TV show “Modern Family” and the famous Darcelle XV Showplace in Portland, which has hosted the longest running drag show on the West Coast.

“I think the bottom line in the new culture is that the gay clubs are not exclusively gay anymore, and there are a lot of straight people that like gay clubs because they say they’re a lot more fun,” he said. “I looked at the big picture and my first marketing question was, ‘Can Laguna Beach support a gay club?’”

His answer, at least right now, is a qualified no.

“We have to assume that it’s going to be a mixed market, and we have to assume that the demographics are going to be very different. And not one particular demographic is really going to support the club day in and day out,” he said. “With that in mind, we need a high-energy dance club on the weekends, and we need some good entertainment, some good disc jockeys — I call them ‘party hosts.’”

And for Wednesday nights it’s drag shows, with performances by host Mae Loda-Bride, Endora, Twiggy Warhol, Dayamis and Wilhelmina Caviar, among others.

“It changes every week,” Cooley said. “I can’t believe they always have new material, but they do. They love it.”

The shows are already bringing in full audiences, with some groups — birthday parties and ladies night out — wanting to make reservations because it’s something different.

“I think it’s wonderful, and I see them coming in and I tell everyone, get them a table, accommodate them, take care of them, make sure they get a drink right away,” Cooley said. “I’m trying to change the culture to make it a very hospitable environment. Our welcome mat is really out.”

The shows are drawing a diverse, energetic crowd that seems united in its desire to have fun. One recent Wednesday, people ages 21 to seniors, male and female, gay and straight were there.

“We’ve got our windows open,” Cooley said. “We want to be seen. We want it to be a really, really fun place to go, yet at the same time sophisticated.

“I hope there is a huge resurgence and that we’ve come full circle: from not accepted to being accepted to being accepting of everyone. We are sincere when we say we want to create a gay renaissance for Laguna Beach.”

DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at [email protected].