Tag Archives: West Hollywood

Gay History – February 12, 1976: Actor Sal Mineo Murdered In West Hollywood

Salvatore  Mineo Jr. better known to the world as Sal Mineo, was the baby-faced American actor whose legend and cult following largely stems from his iconic role as the doomed ‘Plato’ in Nicholas Ray’s 1955 classic of ‘switchblade cinema’ – ‘Rebel Without A Cause’. In the movie Mineo played a troubled high-school kid who emulates (actually as far as 50’s cinema could push that envelope)  falls in love with James Dean’s character Jim Stark, although there are reports of a real-life love affair between the two off-set).This was the role for which he would earn the first of two Academy Award nominations.

In 1962 Jill Haworth Mineo’s “girlfriend” kicked open Mineo’s closet door, catching the 35-year-old actor bedding his buddy Bobby Sherman. (Yes. that Bobby Sherman.)  “But he didn’t stop,” she said. “He kept going at it.” Rumors of Mineo’s sexuality circulated. He found serious work even more difficult to procure, predominantly because filmmakers saw him as an embarrassing relic of the 1950s.

On the night of February 12, 1976, actor Sal Mineo returned home following a rehearsal for the play P.S. Your Cat Is Dead. After parking his car in the carport below his West Hollywood apartment, the 37-year-old actor was stabbed in the heart by a mugger who quickly fled the scene. At first, the e police  suspected that Mineo’s work for prison reform had put him in contact with a dangerous ex-con. Then their focus shifted to Mineo’s personal life. Investigators had discovered that his home was filled with pictures of nude men. But the gay pornography also failed to turn up any leads and later became the basis for a hotbed of rumors that Mineo was killed by a “trick gone wrong”

Out of the blue, Michigan authorities reported that Lionel Williams was arrested on bad check charges and was bragging to everyone that he had killed Mineo. Although he later retracted his stories at about the same time Williams’ his wife back in Los Angeles told police that he had come home the night of the murder drenched in blood. However, there was one major discrepancy in the case, Williams was black with an Afro and all of the eyewitnesses had described the perpetrator as a white man with long brown hair.

Fortunately, the police were able to unearth an old photo of Williams in which his hair had been dyed brown and processed so that it was straight and long. In addition, the medical examiner had made a cast of Mineo’s knife wound and police were able to match it to the description of the knife provided by Williams’ wife. Lionel Williams was eventually convicted and given a sentence of life in prison. He was paroled in the early 1990s but rearrested after committing other crimes. Today, Williams whereabouts is unknown or weather or not he is still even alive.

***NOTE:  Because of the time period many are unsure of Mineo’s true sexuality.  Some have said that Mineo was “bisexual” but because of the time period in the 1970’s many gay men used the claim of bisexuality as a stepping stone to fully “coming out”.

Gay History - February 12, 1976: Gay Actor Sal Mineo Murdered In West Hollywood

Porn Star Wesley Woods Gay Bashed By 3 Men In West Hollywood

Porn Star Wesley Woods Gay Bashed By 3 Men In West Hollywood – Video

Porn star and comedian Wesley Woods and his friend was jumped and brutally beaten by 3 straight men in West Hollywood on Wednesday prompting him to take to Twitter and talk about his experience and warn others in the community to be aware of their surrounding and their safety at all times.

Since Donald Trump has taken office and embolden the extreme alt-right the number of hate crimes against the GLBT community have risen at an alarming rate.

No matter where you live and how safe you believe your community to be.  Always be on guard and take the proper steps to ensure your safety and well being.

“Art AIDS America” 30 Years of Reaction and Response

AAA_Terrill“Art AIDS America” is an in depth survey of artistic reaction to the AIDS crisis. Angry, political, pained, mournful, always personal and autobiographical,  this exhibition of 47 pieces, including never-before-seen-works by Catherine Opie, hangs at both the ONE Archives and Gallery in West Hollywood and at the West Hollywood Library. Part of the WeHo @30 series of art exhibitions celebrating West Holywood’s thirty years of cityhood, “AIDS Art America” shows the shift in American art from the abstract/conceptual works of the 1960s through early 80s inot the more revealing art of present day–a direct reaction to the personal tragedy experienced by so many artists of the time period.

” Art AIDS America” is a preview of Tacoma Museum of Art exhibition which opens later this year before traveling to New York and Georgia in 2016.

Locations & Hours

Please be aware that hours for the ONE Gallery and the West Hollywood Library differ and visitors wishing to see both parts of the exhibition should plan accordingly. Overlapping hours include Thursdays from 4-7 pm, and Friday/Saturday from 1-5 pm. Three hours of free validated parking is available in the Library Parking Structure located on El Tovar Place (validations available at the West Hollywood Library) during regular Library operating hours.

ONE Archives Gallery & Museum
626 North Robertson Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Thursday: 4pm-8pm
Friday, Saturday & Sunday: 1pm-5pm
Closed Mondays through Wednesdays, and June 12-14 (for LA Pride weekend)

Free admission, donations accepted. To verify hours, call (213) 821-2771 or visit one.usc.edu

West Hollywood Library
625 North San Vicente Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Monday-Thursday: 11am-7pm
Friday and Saturday: 10am-6pm

On Saturday, July 18, curator Jonathan D. Katz PhD. leads a free tour from 1:00 – 2:30 pm at the West Hollywood Library and from 2:45 – 3:30 p.m. at ONE Archives Gallery & Museum. Free admission. RSVP at calgbtarts@gmail.com

Top image: Joey Terrill, Still-Life with Zerit, 2000

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Albert J. Winn, Akedah, 1995
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Niki de Saint Phalle, AIDS, you can’t catch it holding hands, 1987

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fierce pussy, For the Record, 2013

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Tino Rodriguez,
 Eternal Lovers, 2010

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Julie Tolentino, The Sky Remains the Same, from Ron Athey’s Self Obliteration #1, 2008

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Shimon Attie, Untitled Memory (projection of Axel H.), 1998

WATCH The “Old Dogs & New Tricks” Web Series Premier! – The Show TOO GOOD For Logo-TV

“Old Dogs & New Tricks” the new gay “Baby Boomer” web series follows the friendship and tribulations of four diverse and otherwise successful West Hollywood men – each one located squarely within middle age and asks the question, Does (sex) life end for gay men as they approach 50? (With hysterical results)

Old Dogs & New Tricks if the type of programming that LOGO TV should be producing.

The cast and crew lead by Leon Accord decided to bring ODNT to life via the web (Screw Logo anyway they suck ) to show the serio-comedic struggles of the 4 middle-aged gay best friends, all struggling to stay vital and relevant in youth-obsessed West Hollywood.

The new season boasts unique guest stars including hunky Thom Bierdz (Young and the Restless), comedian Patrick Bristow (Ellen, Austin Powers, Showgirls) as a hilarious psychiatrist, and Bruce L. Hart (The Reckoning, Homewrecker) playing a bitchy professional ‘frenemy”

So check out Old Dogs & New Trick’s Pilot Episode and newly debuted Episode 1 below starring: Leon Acord, Curt Bonnem, Jeffrey Patrick Olson and David Pevsner.

Old Dogs & New Trick’sThe show that was too good for Logo-TV

Back2Stonewall.com recommended!

 

Check out the ODNT Website by CLICKING HERE!