What caused the Black Cat Tavern Riots? / Miguel Covarrubias

M. Covarrubias

The Black Cat Tavern was an LGBT bar located at 3909 West Sunset Boulevard in the Sunset Junction neighborhood of the Silver Lake district in Los Angeles, California. The police raids and the subsequent protests at the Black Cat Tavern can be understood within the spatial and temporal context of the Sunset Strip curfew riots that took place during the counterculture movement of the 1960s. Individuals protesting police raids spawned by homophobic sentiment were urged by speakers to make a "[...] unified community stand in Silver Lake against police brutality." In other words, the response to the raid on the Black Cat Tavern became a platform to discuss intersectional issues relating to the criminal justice system.