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Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
How L.A.'s queen of Black queer disco used her powers for good
When Rep. Maxine Waters learned Jewel Thais-Williams had died at 86 on Monday, the politician — who typically has something to say — fell silent for a moment or two. Thais-Williams is widely known in the Black and LGBTQ+ communities as the founder of the iconic nightclub Jewel's Catch One. It opened in 1973, and at its peak, celebrities from Grace Jones and the Pointer Sisters to Sharon Stone and Madonna walked through its doors. However, it wasn't flashbacks of the nightlife scene at the corner of Pico and Norton that caused Waters to pause. The congresswoman was reflecting on the impact Thais-Williams had on the country. 'Jewel was a warrior, a true warrior,' Waters told me. 'A lot of people talk about helping people. She just did it — over and over again — no matter the circumstances. She didn't wait for someone else to step up. She didn't ask for permission. She just went out and helped people … so many people. She was a wonder woman.' To truly understand Thais-Williams' legacy, you must first remember the time in which she began building it. In 1961, a Supreme Court ruling restricted women from tending bar unless they were the wife or a daughter of the owner. And while the Civil Rights Act of 1964 created a legal pathway to help dismantle sex discrimination, when Thais-Williams opened her bar less than a decade later, the residue from that Supreme Court ruling — and Jim Crow laws — was still quite palpable. On top of all of that, she was a lesbian. In 1973 California, employment law did not protect the queer community, Penal Code 647 was used to justify entrapment stings in public spaces, and the white gays of West Hollywood would often ask Black and brown patrons for three pieces of ID just to keep them out of clubs. Establishing Jewel's Catch One, becoming the first Black lesbian to own a bar in this country, was no crystal stair for Thais-Williams. 'When I first met Jewel, it was in the backyard of Catch One,' said Waters, who spearheaded the federal Minority AIDS Initiative and convinced the Congressional Black Caucus to host a hearing on the disease, which had been disproportionately killing minorities. 'I was trying to get federal funding to help people living with AIDS and went to see what she was doing. It was incredible. She was absolutely incredible. She was helping all of these men whose families had kicked them out and had nowhere else to go. She was feeding them out of her restaurant and helping them with treatment. And then she went to school to learn medicine and helped even more people. She was truly special.' Keith Boykin, founder of the National Black Justice Coalition and former aide to President Clinton, was a friend of Thais-Williams and told me 'the most important lesson I learned from Jewel is that building community in a time of oppression is an act of resistance.' In 1993, Boykin helped arrange the first sit-down meeting between a president and the LGBTQ+ community, a startling fact when you consider that by then there were nearly 400,000 reported cases of AIDS and nearly a quarter of a million Americans — predominantly gay men — had already died. The federal government's deafening silence through the '80s and early '90s had been met with loud resistance from organizations such as ACT UP, and, as Boykin said, community building. The work Waters and Thais-Williams did together is one of the highlights of the 2016 documentary 'Jewel's Catch One.' Its director, C. Fitz, told me she 'set out to make the film due to the fact I saw a large need to tell her story for our future.' 'I was compelled to make the film to shine a light on an important hidden hero in our community that changed lives and impacted history,' Fitz said. 'I wanted to tell the story certainly about her incredible club she created, but also her life as a whole and all she accomplished including being a healer with her clinic.' In 2001, Thais-Williams opened the Village Health Foundation, which offered traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, counseling and other holistic approaches to treating ailments that were disproportionately impacting the Black community. It took Fitz six years to make the film. As a result, she said, she carries numerous life lessons she learned from Thais-Williams with her each day, like 'the importance of laughter.' 'As hard as a day was, I always saw Jewel laughing,' Fitz said. 'We work so hard to make a difference, but we have to take care of ourselves inside and out too.' This week began with about 100 armed federal agents and members of the state's National Guard conducting a 'show of force' operation in a relatively empty MacArthur Park. Thankfully, there weren't any mass arrests, just mass concern about the president's tendency to use our military for political theater. Last month, when Waters tried to check on David Huerta, the president of the Service Employees International Union California who was being detained at a federal facility, the door was shut in her face. There's an obvious thread between the government cruelty of past decades — toward LBGTQ+ people, women and people of color — and the performative cruelty today against … well, all of those same groups still, and also in recent months especially against Latinos and immigrants. Waters had been in meetings most of the day when news about Thais-Williams reached her ears … and broke her heart. 'She was a fighter; that's what I love most about her,' Waters said. 'I'm a fighter too. That's one of the reasons why we got along so well.' With all due respect, I would argue 'fighting' isn't the reason the two of them got along so well. Everybody is fighting, in one way or another. It's what we fight for that keeps people together. It's what we fight for that ultimately defines the meaning of our lives. Thais-Williams may be known for opening a popular nightclub, but what she fought for — the people most in need of a champion — is what defined her life. YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow
Eater
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
LA's Trailblazing Founder of the Iconic Nightclub Jewel's Catch One Dies at 86
Jewel Thais-Williams, the founder of Los Angeles's groundbreaking LGBTQ+ nightclub Jewel's Catch One, died on June 7, 2025, at 86 years old. Thais-Williams, known affectionately in Los Angeles circles as Mama Jewel, opened Jewel's Catch One in 1973 in Arlington Heights on Pico Boulevard near Crenshaw. She operated the nightclub, known as 'the Catch' and 'Studio 5 of the West,' for 42 years as a welcoming space for queer Black and Latino women, as well as the transgender community and gay clubgoers, until its sale in 2015. Thais-Williams' life was captured in the 2018 documentary, Jewel's Catch One, which was distributed by Ava DuVernay's production company, Array. She is remembered as a force in Los Angeles's queer community, and for her impact on those she reached with Jewel's Catch One. Before opening Catch One, Thais-Williams was working in a grocery store and owned a clothing boutique. In a 1995 interview with LGBTQ+ series In the Life, she shared that Black patrons experienced hostility and discrimination at Los Angeles queer clubs, and wanted to open a venue where everyone was welcome. In a challenging economic period of stagflation in the early 1970s, she saw a nightclub as recession-proof. 'People party and have a good time and drink when they can't afford to do anything else,' said Thais-Williams. 'So I sought out a place to purchase.' In 1972, she bought the building, which previously housed the Diana Ballroom. As Catch One opened, Thais-Williams inherited the Diana Ballroom's client base, which consisted of a daytime crowd comprised of retired white locals, straight Black blue-collar workers in the after-work hours, and a queer crowd late at night. The expansive space consisted of two separate dance floors, cocktails from multiple bars, DJ setups, strip shows, card games, and live music. Thais-Williams also opened the short-lived Houston outlet for Catch One in 1982. In the 1970s and 1980s, laws restricted Thais-Williams's ability to operate and brought increased harassment from law enforcement. At the time, California had legislation that barred women from bartending unless they owned the venue. The Los Angeles Times reports that there was also a legal restriction on same-sex dancing from that era, and there were instances of the Los Angeles Police Department intimidating or arresting bargoers if they were suspected of being homosexual, sometimes entering a building brandishing guns. In the same Times interview, she also stated that Black people could not venture past Wilshire Boulevard without being stopped by members of the LAPD. In an interview with LAist, Lillian Faderman, co-author of the book Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics and Lipstick Lesbians, said, 'The LAPD was just merciless in their raids of gay bars.' The Catch became a disco-fueled magnet for crowds to watch recording artists like Donna Summer, Chaka Khan, Sylvester, Rick James, and Evelyn 'Champagne' King perform. It wasn't uncommon to see legendary recording artists just hanging out, like Ella Fitzgerald, the Weather Girls, Bette Midler, and Whitney Houston. Madonna was also a Jewel's Catch One fan, hosting a release party at the Catch for her 2000 album, Music. Alongside her work with Catch One, Thais-Williams was a community activist. She recognized the importance of connecting resources to those who needed them most and used the club as a space to host Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. In 1989, Thais-Williams opened Rue's House with her wife, Rue Thais-Williams. The organization provided healthcare and social services to women and children living with HIV and AIDS. She also co-founded the Minority AIDS Project and was a board member of the AIDS Project Los Angeles. In 2015, Jewel Thais-Williams announced that Jewel's Catch One would close its doors after four decades. The current Catch One venue is not associated with Jewel's Catch One. Thais-Williams is survived by her wife and partner of 40 years, Rue, and siblings Carol Williams, Lula Washington, and Kenneth Williams. Eater LA All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
