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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How Nevada City became an LGBTQ+ haven for travelers and transplants
When the first settlers came to the Sierra Nevada foothills in the late 1840s, they came for gold. Decades after the California Gold Rush ended in 1855, a different crop of settlers—including artists, musicians, and LGBTQ+ people—came looking for something other than precious metal. History runs deep in Nevada City, a hilly, pine-scented community of barely 3,000, which boomed in 1849 upon the arrival of early settlers like Captain John Pennington and William McCaig. During its heyday, miners came and went, chasing the ebb and flow of eureka. Even President Herbert Hoover lived here in the late 1890s, earning $2 a day pushing ore carts, and staying at the National Hotel—a mining camp, built in 1856, that's still in operation as The National Exchange. Today, downtown Nevada City is a national historic landmark, preserving a community rooted in its gilded past. That authenticity is the appeal that continues to draw a variety of tourists, especially LGBTQ+ people, where the opportunities in Nevada City—with its pristine nature, and its devil-may-care sense of expression—are worth more than gold. (Related: California gold rush towns are booming again. Here's what to see and do.) Located between Sacramento and Reno, at the edge of Tahoe National Forest and barely two hours from the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada City emerged as a stopover for folks seeking a retreat from urban confines. During the AIDS crisis, the town was a breath of literal fresh air, marked by soaring trees, rolling hills, and swimming holes along the Yuba River. For travelers, the city remains a breath of fresh air—teeming with parks, festivals, restaurants, shops, and hotels set against a bucolic backdrop steeped in history. The city's shift came after a miners' strike in 1956 shuttered the Empire Mine, a once-prosperous wellspring responsible for nearly 6 million ounces of gold. The Empire Mine became Empire Mine State Historic Park, with 14 miles of hiking, biking, and horseback trails. The Yuba River boasts swimming holes and white-water rafting, while the 850,000-acre Tahoe National Forest offers everything from climbing and caving to fishing and camping. In town, folks flock to main drags like Broad Street and Commercial Street for shopping and dining, from worldly wares at Asylum Down clothing store to grain bowls at Heartwood Eatery and Hot Toddies with live jazz at Golden Era, a cocktail bar in a historic saloon space dating to the Gold Rush. Quaint inns and handsome suites, meanwhile, provide lodging that transports guests back in time—albeit with modern-day amenities—at places like the brick-clad 1856 Speakeasy Suites and the six-room Broad Street Inn. It's Nevada City's nature—coupled with its accessible location and preserved-in-time aesthetic—that helped transform the community into an enduring haven beyond its mining boom. From time immemorial, LGBTQ+ people have existed everywhere, even in mines. (Related: Must-see LGBTQ-friendly destinations for every kind of traveler.) 'Because Nevada City was becoming this huge boom for the Gold Rush, there were so many men coming here, and so much money,' explains Anthony Jones, general manager of the The National Exchange, which finished an extensive renovation in 2021, and hosts events like drag bingo and belly dances. Entertainment emerged in the form of the Nevada Theatre, an 1865 venue that still operates as an LGBTQ+ cornerstone and hosts screenings with Nevada County Pride. 'The theater was such a big thing historically, and contemporarily,' Jones adds. 'That's where so much of the lore came from, that this was an environment that attracted more people associated with LGBTQ+ cultures.' Jones cites migration, especially from cities where LGBTQ+ people could blend in, the 'hippie movement' in the 1960s, and the AIDS crises as catalysts for Nevada City becoming a queer sanctuary. 'That's why you have that cultural tie to bohemian culture,' says Jones. 'There are lots of communes up here, many with different gender identities and vibes, and after the pandemic, even more people moved here, mainly from the Bay.' Local hotels, like The National Exchange and Grass Valley's Holbrooke Hotel, became bastions. 'These hotels that had more of an inclusive environment,' Jones explains, citing historic photos of cross-dressing men at The National Exchange, and a speakeasy at the Holbrooke where a door led directly to the mines, providing discrete passage for queer people. 'Because they had entrances that were not public, and there wasn't a lot of light inside, they could hide their behavior.' He describes Nevada County as having a diverse culture of coexistence. 'Regardless of the view that they're expressing, or their lifestyle, people have chosen to live up here for a reason—the 'leave me alone' reason,' says Jones. (Related: How destinations are helping LGBTQ+ visitors travel with pride.) As Nevada City's diverse community continued to grow, more LGBTQ+-owned and allied businesses popped up such as Take a Look Books, Thorn&Alchemy Art, Three Forks Bakery & Brewing Co., Fudenjüce vegetarian restaurant, and Lost & Found Vintage, as well as a longstanding theater, dance, and burlesque culture. One restaurant that celebrates that, Lola is named after the larger-than-life dancer, Lola Montez, who performed during the Gold Rush and lived in Grass Valley. Today, diners can enjoy steak frites and porterhouse pork chops in a stately dining room bedecked with historic imagery of the risqué performer, while the adjoining bar keeps her spirit alive with monthly drag bingo. Along with expressive events, including queer book clubs, potlucks, and picnics put on by Nevada County Pride, the city keeps people coming back, and planting roots. Nevada County Pride Board Chair, Rick Partridge relocated to Nevada City from the Bay Area with his husband. 'We were overwhelmed by how much everybody gets along,' he recalls. Lorraine Gervais, a jazz and R&B singer who has been in the area for 50 years, performs at Pride functions and same-sex weddings. 'Back in the '70s, cool people started coming here and they started transforming the culture,' she describes, pointing to artists David Osborn and Charles Woods, who arrived in the 1960s from San Francisco, as early pioneers in Nevada City's cultural shift. 'They had a graphic design firm, and they loved Nevada City, and a few of their friends came, and things started rolling.' (Related: Here are the 10 best destinations for LGBTQ families.) Nevada County Pride began 40 years ago as a social club for gay white men, according to Rick Partridge. Over time, it shifted into a non-profit with a board comprised mostly of women. 'We moved the needle significantly,' he says, highlighting an uptick in allied volunteers who want to support their trans kids or non-binary siblings. 'We ended last year with maybe 50 volunteers, and now we've more than doubled.' In addition to Nevada County Pride programming, which runs the gamut from queer film series to youth gatherings, the organization works to be as inclusive as possible, providing alternatives for sober people, the trans community, and beyond. Formed in Nevada County in 2002, Pat Rose became the treasurer of PFLAG and coordinated fundraisers with Nevada County Pride. 'We started doing more events that would involve both groups,' she notes, like running booths at the Nevada County Fair and marching in the Nevada City Constitution Day Parade. 'The first year was hard, as there were a lot of negative people who yelled at us, but as the years passed, we saw a slow change to people cheering us as we rode on our float down Broad Street.' That change is baked into Nevada City's DNA, from its first settlement as a Gold Rush town, to its entertainment scene its cross-dressing miners, and its LGBTQ+ influx. 'We didn't design it this way,' Jones stresses, of both The National's refurbishment and the town's evolution. 'We didn't come in here and say, 'We want drag.' They were here. The things that exist today seemed to have happened then. I would never want to be the one changing the culture; I want to see the culture show itself a bit more.' (Related: World's best destinations for LGBT Pride celebrations.) Matt Kirouac is an award-winning writer based in Oklahoma City, and the co-founder of The Gay Lane, a travel site 'celebrating queer culture in unexpected places."
National Geographic
3 days ago
- National Geographic
How this Gold Rush town became an LGBTQ+ haven for travelers and transplants
When the first settlers came to the Sierra Nevada foothills in the late 1840s, they came for gold. Decades after the California Gold Rush ended in 1855, a different crop of settlers—including artists, musicians, and LGBTQ+ people—came looking for something other than precious metal. History runs deep in Nevada City, a hilly, pine-scented community of barely 3,000, which boomed in 1849 upon the arrival of early settlers like Captain John Pennington and William McCaig. During its heyday, miners came and went, chasing the ebb and flow of eureka. Even President Herbert Hoover lived here in the late 1890s, earning $2 a day pushing ore carts, and staying at the National Hotel—a mining camp, built in 1856, that's still in operation as The National Exchange. Today, downtown Nevada City is a national historic landmark, preserving a community rooted in its gilded past. That authenticity is the appeal that continues to draw a variety of tourists, especially LGBTQ+ people, where the opportunities in Nevada City—with its pristine nature, and its devil-may-care sense of expression—are worth more than gold. (Related: California gold rush towns are booming again. Here's what to see and do.) Locals and tourists walk across the South Yuba River Bridge, a pedestrian walkway and bike path in South Yuba State Park. The bridge is also known as the 49er Crossing because of its historical association with the California Gold Rush and the Forty-Niners. Photograph By Andri Tambunan / Guardian / eyevine/Redux An oasis in the forest Located between Sacramento and Reno, at the edge of Tahoe National Forest and barely two hours from the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada City emerged as a stopover for folks seeking a retreat from urban confines. During the AIDS crisis, the town was a breath of literal fresh air, marked by soaring trees, rolling hills, and swimming holes along the Yuba River. For travelers, the city remains a breath of fresh air—teeming with parks, festivals, restaurants, shops, and hotels set against a bucolic backdrop steeped in history. The city's shift came after a miners' strike in 1956 shuttered the Empire Mine, a once-prosperous wellspring responsible for nearly 6 million ounces of gold. The Empire Mine became Empire Mine State Historic Park, with 14 miles of hiking, biking, and horseback trails. The Yuba River boasts swimming holes and white-water rafting, while the 850,000-acre Tahoe National Forest offers everything from climbing and caving to fishing and camping. The shops and eateries along Broad Street support the LGBTQ+ community with rainbow flags during Pride Month. Although Nevada City is known for its welcoming vibe, it didn't celebrate its first Pride until August 6, 2023. Photograph By Chris Allan, Shutterstock In town, folks flock to main drags like Broad Street and Commercial Street for shopping and dining, from worldly wares at Asylum Down clothing store to grain bowls at Heartwood Eatery and Hot Toddies with live jazz at Golden Era, a cocktail bar in a historic saloon space dating to the Gold Rush. Quaint inns and handsome suites, meanwhile, provide lodging that transports guests back in time—albeit with modern-day amenities—at places like the brick-clad 1856 Speakeasy Suites and the six-room Broad Street Inn. Taken sometime after 1933, this old photo captures stores and shops located on the corner of Broad & North Pine Streets in Nevada City, Calif. Photograph By Roger Sturtevant, Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congres It's Nevada City's nature—coupled with its accessible location and preserved-in-time aesthetic—that helped transform the community into an enduring haven beyond its mining boom. From time immemorial, LGBTQ+ people have existed everywhere, even in mines. (Related: Must-see LGBTQ-friendly destinations for every kind of traveler.) The emergence of an LGBTQ+ community in Nevada City 'Because Nevada City was becoming this huge boom for the Gold Rush, there were so many men coming here, and so much money,' explains Anthony Jones, general manager of the The National Exchange, which finished an extensive renovation in 2021, and hosts events like drag bingo and belly dances. Entertainment emerged in the form of the Nevada Theatre, an 1865 venue that still operates as an LGBTQ+ cornerstone and hosts screenings with Nevada County Pride. 'The theater was such a big thing historically, and contemporarily,' Jones adds. 'That's where so much of the lore came from, that this was an environment that attracted more people associated with LGBTQ+ cultures.' Jones cites migration, especially from cities where LGBTQ+ people could blend in, the 'hippie movement' in the 1960s, and the AIDS crises as catalysts for Nevada City becoming a queer sanctuary. 'That's why you have that cultural tie to bohemian culture,' says Jones. 'There are lots of communes up here, many with different gender identities and vibes, and after the pandemic, even more people moved here, mainly from the Bay.' Local hotels, like The National Exchange and Grass Valley's Holbrooke Hotel, became bastions. 'These hotels that had more of an inclusive environment,' Jones explains, citing historic photos of cross-dressing men at The National Exchange, and a speakeasy at the Holbrooke where a door led directly to the mines, providing discrete passage for queer people. 'Because they had entrances that were not public, and there wasn't a lot of light inside, they could hide their behavior.' He describes Nevada County as having a diverse culture of coexistence. 'Regardless of the view that they're expressing, or their lifestyle, people have chosen to live up here for a reason—the 'leave me alone' reason,' says Jones. (Related: How destinations are helping LGBTQ+ visitors travel with pride.) In the summer, thousands of locals and visitors take to the waters of the South Yuba River to cool off, especially during July when average temperatures reach 88°F in Nevada County, Calif. Photograph By Elias Funez/The Union via AP A boomtown for LGBTQ+ tourists, residents, and businesses As Nevada City's diverse community continued to grow, more LGBTQ+-owned and allied businesses popped up such as Take a Look Books, Thorn&Alchemy Art, Three Forks Bakery & Brewing Co., Fudenjüce vegetarian restaurant, and Lost & Found Vintage, as well as a longstanding theater, dance, and burlesque culture. One restaurant that celebrates that, Lola is named after the larger-than-life dancer, Lola Montez, who performed during the Gold Rush and lived in Grass Valley. Today, diners can enjoy steak frites and porterhouse pork chops in a stately dining room bedecked with historic imagery of the risqué performer, while the adjoining bar keeps her spirit alive with monthly drag bingo. Along with expressive events, including queer book clubs, potlucks, and picnics put on by Nevada County Pride, the city keeps people coming back, and planting roots. Nevada County Pride Board Chair, Rick Partridge relocated to Nevada City from the Bay Area with his husband. 'We were overwhelmed by how much everybody gets along,' he recalls. Lorraine Gervais, a jazz and R&B singer who has been in the area for 50 years, performs at Pride functions and same-sex weddings. 'Back in the '70s, cool people started coming here and they started transforming the culture,' she describes, pointing to artists David Osborn and Charles Woods, who arrived in the 1960s from San Francisco, as early pioneers in Nevada City's cultural shift. 'They had a graphic design firm, and they loved Nevada City, and a few of their friends came, and things started rolling.' (Related: Here are the 10 best destinations for LGBTQ families.) Nevada Country Pride in the pines Nevada County Pride began 40 years ago as a social club for gay white men, according to Rick Partridge. Over time, it shifted into a non-profit with a board comprised mostly of women. 'We moved the needle significantly,' he says, highlighting an uptick in allied volunteers who want to support their trans kids or non-binary siblings. 'We ended last year with maybe 50 volunteers, and now we've more than doubled.' In addition to Nevada County Pride programming, which runs the gamut from queer film series to youth gatherings, the organization works to be as inclusive as possible, providing alternatives for sober people, the trans community, and beyond. Formed in Nevada County in 2002, Pat Rose became the treasurer of PFLAG and coordinated fundraisers with Nevada County Pride. 'We started doing more events that would involve both groups,' she notes, like running booths at the Nevada County Fair and marching in the Nevada City Constitution Day Parade. 'The first year was hard, as there were a lot of negative people who yelled at us, but as the years passed, we saw a slow change to people cheering us as we rode on our float down Broad Street.' That change is baked into Nevada City's DNA, from its first settlement as a Gold Rush town, to its entertainment scene its cross-dressing miners, and its LGBTQ+ influx. 'We didn't design it this way,' Jones stresses, of both The National's refurbishment and the town's evolution. 'We didn't come in here and say, 'We want drag.' They were here. The things that exist today seemed to have happened then. I would never want to be the one changing the culture; I want to see the culture show itself a bit more.' (Related: World's best destinations for LGBT Pride celebrations.) Matt Kirouac is an award-winning writer based in Oklahoma City, and the co-founder of The Gay Lane, a travel site 'celebrating queer culture in unexpected places."
Belfast Telegraph
10-05-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Why Euro Play-Off Final has become one of the Irish League's most important duels
The European Play-Offs are the Irish League equivalent of the California Gold Rush as it is a lucrative gateway to untold riches. A cool £275,000 is the minimum either Coleraine or Cliftonville will earn from prize money as they do battle to become 49ers at The Showgrounds on Sunday.
Indian Express
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Story of the infamous Alcatraz prison, which Trump wants to reopen now
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday (May 4) that he had directed the government to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison on an island off San Francisco, closed more than 60 years ago. Considered one of the toughest prisons of its day, Alcatraz's reopening would serve as a 'symbol of law, order, and justice,' Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Also called 'The Rock' and 'Devil's Island', the facility housed some of the most infamous criminals in the United States, including gangster Al Capone. It has captured the public imagination for decades and featured in several books and movies, such as The Rock starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage. Here is a look at the history of Alcatraz and why it was shut down. From fort to prison The prison was originally a defence fort on Alcatraz Island, about 22 acres in size and located about 2 kilometres offshore from the city of San Francisco. In 1846, the US gained control of the island after John C Frémont, then military governor of California, bought it from naturalised Mexican citizen Francis Temple in the name of the federal government. Four years later, then US President Millard Fillmore recognised the island's strategic military value following the Mexican–American War (1846-1848), and the onset of the California Gold Rush (1848–1855). He signed an Executive Order reserving lands around San Francisco Bay, including Alcatraz, for 'public purposes.' The cell of a prisoner permitted to make oil paintings at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 16, 1956. (AP Photo, File) A fort was thus constructed on the island, with the initial structure completed in 1858. Around 100 cannons and military men were stationed. The West Coast's first operational lighthouse was also built on Alcatraz in 1854. However, over time, the island's necessity for defence purposes diminished (Alcatraz never fired its guns in combat). As it was isolated from the mainland due to the strong ocean currents and cold Pacific waters, the island began to be seen as a secure detention centre. By the late 1850s, the Alcatraz Fort was being used as a military prison to house various military personnel, including those convicted of offences by court-martial, deserters, and those deemed a security risk. During the Civil War (1861-1865), the prison also housed Confederate prisoners of war as well as private citizens accused of treason or being Confederate sympathisers. With the number of inmates increasing throughout the war, additional cells were constructed. After the Civil War, the prisoner demographics grew to include Native American prisoners from the American Indian Wars (1609-1924), which were fought to displace Indigenous people from their ancestral lands and bring in White settlers. The prisoner population kept rising in the following years, especially after the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, bringing the number to around 450. To accommodate the inmates, the military decided to revamp the fort entirely, and in 1907, the structure was formally designated a US military prison. The reconstruction happened between 1910 and 1912, and the new prison was renamed 'the Pacific Branch, US Disciplinary Barracks for the US Army', and was more popularly known as The Rock by those who worked or were incarcerated there, according to a report by the US General Services Administration (GSA). Morphing into Devil's Island Alcatraz stopped operating as a military prison in 1933 due to the increasing maintenance costs. After the prison shut down, the military left the island, and it was acquired by the US Department of Justice, which turned it into a federal prison. Operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Alcatraz was modernised and fortified in 1934, becoming America's first maximum-security civilian penitentiary. It was done in the wake of 'prohibition, the Great Depression, and the advent of organised crime', which had led 'citizens and politicians alike to demand a prison that could securely house dangerous and notorious crime figures,' according to The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia (2012), edited by Wilbur R Miller. A view from a helicopter of Alcatraz Prison, a National Parks site located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay in San Francisco, California, U.S. May 5, 2025. (REUTERS/Fred Greaves) The facility housed notorious criminals such as gangster Al 'Scarface' Capone, who was convicted of tax evasion. During his reign as a crime boss between 1925 and 1933, Capone ran 'an empire of crime' in Chicago that was based on 'gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, bribery, narcotics trafficking, robbery, and murder,' according to the FBI website. Alvin 'Creepy' Karpis, who led a criminal gang in the 1930s and was the FBI's first 'Public Enemy,' served more than 25 years in Alcatraz. The most famous prisoner at the facility was Alaskan murderer Robert 'Birdman' Stroud. He was convicted of manslaughter and sent to a penitentiary in McNeil Island, Washington, in 1909. However, he attacked another inmate, leading to his transfer to another prison, where Stroud murdered a security guard. He came to Alcatraz in 1942 and spent the next 17 years there. Over the years, Stroud developed an interest in birds and went on to become an expert ornithologist. Prisoners typically arrived in Alcatraz in handcuffs and ankle shackles. Their daily life was harsh, and they were given only four rights — food, clothing, shelter and medical care. Other privileges, such as corresponding with family members and recreational activities, had to be earned through hard work. 'Punishments for bad behaviour included hard labour and lock-downs in solitary confinement, restricted to bread and water,' according to the website of the National Park Service, which currently operates Alcatraz as a tourist destination. As a federal prison, there were 14 escape attempts by 34 prisoners at Alcatraz. Nearly all prisoners who tried to escape were believed to have drowned or were shot dead by guards or recaptured. The 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz, starring Clint Eastwood, showed the real escape attempt of prisoners Frank Morris and brothers Clarence and John Anglin (they were never seen again after their escape). Closure and later years Much like the US military, the Federal Bureau of Prisons found it extremely expensive to run the Alcatraz prison. A 1959 report found that its operation costs were three times those of a comparable prison. 'It costs $10 per prisoner per day compared to $3 in other prisons,' the GSA said, citing the report. Another issue was that the perpetual salt exposure due to the surrounding waters corroded its structures. An estimate suggested that it would cost $5 million to repair the damage. These factors eventually led to the prison's closure on March 21, 1963. For years, no significant activity took place on the island until 1969, when a group of Native American students, known as 'Indians of All Tribes', arrived there by boat. They occupied the island in a bid to raise awareness about the numerous social and economic plights faced by Indigenous populations in the US. The students remained there for about 19 months, after which federal marshals moved in and forcibly removed them in June 1971. The next year, the island became a national recreation area under the management of the National Park Service. It opened for tourists in 1973.
San Francisco Chronicle
05-05-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Levi's sues after ‘Sans' Francisco labels reveal massive fake jeans operation
Levi Strauss & Co. has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a New York company orchestrated a sprawling counterfeit operation involving more than 90,000 fake Levi's-branded products. The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California, names Premier Brands Group, Inc. and its owner, Alan Chartash, as defendants. Levi Strauss accuses the company of trafficking large volumes of counterfeit apparel — jeans, jackets, shirts and other items — bearing forged Levi's trademarks and falsely representing the goods as genuine. Levi's claims the fake documents were riddled with obvious errors, and the garments themselves were poorly made — some even containing tags referring to 'Sans' Francisco. 'LS&Co. has never been 'Sans' Francisco,' the company noted. Founded during the California Gold Rush in 1853, Levi Strauss is one of the world's largest and most recognized apparel brands, with its headquarters still in San Francisco. According to the lawsuit, Premier Brands sourced counterfeit merchandise from known producers and resold the products under the guise of legitimate inventory redistribution. The company's website claims it 'specializes in the redistribution of consumer products globally,' but Levi's alleges that the business model was a cover for trafficking in fakes. Levi Strauss is seeking damages, as well as a permanent injunction to halt what it calls a deliberate and harmful infringement of its intellectual property. The company says the scheme targeted its brand directly and caused significant damage to its 'fame, goodwill, recognition, and reputation for top quality and style.'
