The Black Cat | Silver Lake
Address and Hours
View The Black Cat at 3909 W Sunset Boulevard,
Los Angeles, CA 90029 on Google Maps
Call The Black Cat by phone at
(323) 661-6369
info@theblackcatla.com
We are a 21 & over establishment (no kittens please)
HOURS
Monday - Friday
4:00 PM - 2:00 AM
Saturday & Sunday
2:00 PM - 2:00 AM
Happy Hour from 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM on weekdays
Our kitchen is open until 11:00 PM nightly
Our patio is open until 10:30 PM nightly
Reservations are accepted but not required
For parties up to 9 guests please select the reservation button below
For parties of 10 or more please email: reservation@theblackcatla.com
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Book An Event
For event inquiries in our private event room, please fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch soon. For full venue buyouts and filming inquiries, please email here.
The Back Cat
The Back Cat at The Black Cat is a private dining and event space that can accommodate afternoon and evening dinner parties from 12 to 30 guests, and up to 40 guests for cocktail parties, receptions and screenings.
- Capacity Up to 30 for dinner | up to 40 for receptions and screenings
Black Cat Tavern 1967
Historic Cultural Monument
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Images courtesy of ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries
Images courtesy of ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries
Images courtesy of ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries
The Black Cat. A Brief History.
The 1967 Black Cat Demonstration marks one of the earliest moments in US history that the LGBTQ community organized and gathered publicly to peacefully protest the harassment, brutality, and persecution they were suffering for being queer.
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The Black Cat Tavern opened in October 1966 catering to a gay clientele. At that time, homosexuality was a medically classified mental illness. Same-sex relations were criminalized in California. And in Los Angeles, the LGBTQ community faced constant institutional harassment and oppression at the hands of the Los Angeles Police Department.
On New Year’s Eve 1967, The Black Cat was targeted in an undercover police sting. As the unsuspecting revelers celebrated at midnight, a dozen plainclothes police officers launched a sudden, violent raid. Frightened patrons and staff fought back defensively against the unannounced officers. It was a confusing scene that quickly devolved into chaos. All resistance was met with brutal police force. Fourteen people were beaten to the floor, dragged outside, and arrested on the sidewalk in front of the bar that night. In the weeks that followed, six of those arrested were brought to trial by jury. All six were found guilty of lewd conduct, a conviction that carried with it penalties of jail time, fines, and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration.
In the wake of these unjust events, a coalition of LGBTQ community members joined forces with a burgeoning local activist organization named Personal Rights in Defense and Education (PRIDE) to plan a demonstration outside The Black Cat. Held on February 11, 1967, the demonstration was attended by several hundred protesters with the courage to demand their equal rights. These brave people were met on the street by squadrons of armed riot police officers. The well-organized and disciplined demonstrators remained orderly, and despite the threat of police violence, the demonstration unfolded tensely, but peacefully.
Months later, two of the six men convicted, Charles Talley and Benny Baker, would appeal their convictions all the way to the United States Supreme Court. In their appeals, the two men asserted (for the first time) that sexual orientation should not preclude someone from enjoying the same rights and equal protections guaranteed to all Americans under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The high court declined to hear their cases, but nonetheless, their appeals established new legal precedent that would transform the social, cultural, legal and political tenor of the LGBTQ civil rights movement from that moment on.
In 2007, The Black Cat was recognized by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission as Historic-Cultural Monument #939. A commemorative plaque on the façade of the building honors The Black Cat as the site of the first documented LGBTQ civil rights demonstration in the nation (two years prior to Stonewall)
In 2022, the State of California designated The Black Cat Historical Landmark #1063, the first and only California Historical Landmark to recognize California's LGBTQ history. A commemorative plaque on the corner of Sunset and Hyperion marks the monumental civil and human rights history of the location.
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