According to Ron deHarte, president and CEO of Palm Springs Pride, “It’s a story that can be repeated in towns across the country. The area’s original gay bars were founded in still-unincorporated Cathedral City, about fifteen minutes away. The majority of LGBTQ bars in Palm Springs are concentrated along Arenas Road, but that wasn’t always the case. The city even has the nation’s first all-LGBTQ City Council. Nowadays, there are hundreds of LGBTQ-owned businesses and almost half of the population identifies as a member of the community. There’s little doubt that the resort city’s evolution into a haven for LGBTQ nightlife was in direct response to some of these early entrants. As the decades wore on, public figures like Rock Hudson, Liberace, and Cary Grant also sought solace in the desert to escape public scrutiny. Palm Springs first rose as a high-end luxury escape in the 1930s, when silver screen actress Greta Garbo vacationed there with her rumored lover, writer Mercedes de Acosta.
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