Throwback Thursday Remembers Writer John Rechy, Pre-Stonewall Riots and Donuts for Hispanic Heritage Month

September 26, 2024
HANK ORSO

Throwback Thursday Remembers Writer John Rechy, Pre-Stonewall Riots and Donuts

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We've been celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, and with that in mind, Throwback Thursday looks back at the groundbreaking Mexican-American writer John Rechy and his connection to one of the country's first LGBT riots against police oppression. And no, it wasn't Stonewall!

It was May 1959, in a small donut shop on Main St. in Los Angeles. The area was a center of underground gay activity, and the shop, Cooper's Donuts, was an illicit hangout for local gays, drag queens, and the trans community. As was the norm, cops showed up at the donut shop and began harassing the patrons. Righteously fed up with the mistreatment, the queens and men in attendance hurled food, coffee, and plates at the cops, driving back off their turf. For a moment, They called in reinforcements, and for another full day, a full-blown riot ensued as the oppressed battled the cops.

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Rechy, who was born in El Paso, TX, was one of the men the police tried to arrest that night before being beaten off. (Pun intended!) He would later recount this event in his debut novel, City of Night, a robust and gritty look at the underbelly this former hustler experienced in cities like New Orleans and L.A.

The novel is heralded as an unflinching and unrepentant look at the search for love on the seedier side of the street. It is unapologetic, and forthright, and rings true.

Notable gay authors had the following to say about this audacious novel:

"John Rechy shows great comic and tragic talent. He is a truly gifted novelist."
--Christopher Isherwood

"[Rechy's] tone rings absolutely true, is absolutely his own, and he has the kind of discipline which allows him a rare and beautiful recklessness....He tells the truth, and tells it with such passion that we are forced to share in the life he conveys. It is the most humbling and liberating experience."
--James Baldwin

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Rechy is the author of seventeen novels and non-fiction and has been the recipient of many awards for his writing through the years. Interestingly, when City of Night debuted, he was still working as a hustler in LA, while teaching during the day! In fact, sex work was something he would do into his forties while he was teaching at UCLA

From a donut riot ten years before Stonewall to the debut novel and beyond of this notable Mexican-American writer still at it today, we celebrate this notable contributor to gay Hispanic culture.