Palms Memories: Remembering West Hollywood's Last Lesbian Bar

The Palms, a legendary Santa Monica Boulevard watering hole that kept everyone from Janis Joplin to Ellen DeGeneres lubricated, closed this weekend after decades of operation.

The queer community of greater L.A. is definitely feeling pangs of sadness over the closure, which was necessitated by a new development on the Strip. The Palms may not have been as glamorous as The Abbey or as sophisticated as the dearly-departed Normandie Room, but it was where many Southern California lesbian and bi women first let their hair down around other like-minded ladies.

The Los Angeles Times's Noelle Carter shares her memories of the Palms, a bar that helped her come out. Shawne White, manager of the Palms, says even though a lack of business didn't do the bar in (the development did) the need for lesbian bars may be antiquated, as gay and bi women can live more openly and don't need places exclusive to them. Whether that's true or not, lesbian visitors to L.A. certainly have other places to visit: the Truck Stop party at nearby Here Lounge is a raucous Sapphic party that happens ever Friday night and Girl Bar at the Factory nightclub is still going strong every Wednesday.