Pershing Square will transform into a three-day queer extravaganza Friday and this weekend.
DTLA Proud Festival 2019 will include 16 food trucks, community booths, a queer marketplace, LGBTQ history exhibit, a water playground, live performances, live art installations, and interactive exhibits.
Here’s everything you need to know about the fourth annual festival.
Location
Pershing Square Park. The entrance is at the corner of 5th and Hill streets.
Hours
- Friday from 4 to 10 p.m.
- Saturday and Sunday from noon to 10 p.m.
Festival goers attend the DTLA Proud Festival in 2018 at Pershing Square. Photo: DTLA Proud.
Prohibited items
- Weapons ( including permitted weapons) knives, chains pepper spray/mace, flares, fireworks
- Food, beverages, alcohol, cans, bottles, flasks, coolers, drugs, illegal substances
- Pamphlets, product samples
- Skateboards, rollerblades, bicycles, helmets, chairs, (soft, low-back beach chairs allowed), beach balls
- Laptop/tablet computers, 2-way radios, laser pointers, flashlights
- Permanent markers, spray paint
- Noise making devices such as air horns, drums, whistles
- Photo, audio, or video equipment
- Suitcases, luggage
- Signs, flags, banners, posters
Road closure
Hill Street between 6th and 5th streets will be closed from 8 p.m. Friday to 11 p.m. Sunday.
Ticket prices
- Friday is free and family friendly for everyone, featuring drag queen story time, gaymers lounge. No alcohol will be served.
- Tickets $10 at the gate for Saturday and Sunday, which are 21 and over with ID. Online ticket sales include service fees.
Summertramp
The south end of Pershing Square on Saturday and Sunday will become a 20,000 square-foot waterpark with slides, pools, and water guns and live local DJs.
Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles, the first LGBTQ mariachi band, performed at DTLA Proud in 2017. Photo: DTLA Proud.
The Marketplace
An LGBTQ shopping experience showcasing 20 queer entrepreneurs, showing vintage and boutique clothing, handmade jewelry, drag and beauty makeup, art, and much more.
Queer history
The location for DTLA Proud is rooted in queer history. From the 1920s to the 1960s, Pershing Square was the center of “The Run,” a large collection of gay friendly cafes, bars, and cruising areas along the Fifth Street corridor, stretching from the Los Angeles Central Library to Los Angeles Street. The Fifth Street area had so many queer businesses and spaces that during World War II, the U.S. Army and Navy gave military personnel a list of more than two dozen places that they were not allowed to visit.
Queer history part 2
DTLA Proud has partnered with the One National Gay and Lesbian Archives to curate a tribute to Los Angeles’ queer history, which dates a a decade before the Stonewall Riots.
Main stage entertainment
More than 100 local queer performers will be featured, including Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles; Miss Shalae, Ongina, Vander Von Odd, Bitqch Puddin’, Abhora, and Vancie Vega, the most popular Dolly Parton impersonator.
Art
- The Artist Alley will spotlight 20 local queer artists and their work
- 3 live art installations will be activated that express Los Angeles’ diversity.
Parking
If you will be driving, here’s a link parking information
Public transportation
Taking the Metro? For directions from your location, Metro’s trip planner can help.
