Linda Spheeris

Kymn Goldstein interviews Linda Spheeris about the Hollywood lesbian bar scene and West side lesbian social life in the 1970s. Spheeris begins by describing Bacchanal 70, a large lesbian bar and nightclub at Melrose and Poinsettia where she waitressed in the early 1970s. She got the job through the singer Teda, a girlfriend who she first saw in the Los Angeles production of Hair. She remembers the club was large, with a stage, booths, and a dance floor drawing a crowd she estimates was ninety percent lesbian. She describes the drug fueled atmosphere and a night when a woman showed up after closing, stabbed and bloody. No one ever learned whether she survived a gay bashing or a drug deal gone wrong. Teda was an abusive partner, and a previous girlfriend slugged Spheeris when she saw her with Teda.

She also discusses social life outside of the bars. She remembers the bar softball teams, including the Devils, the team she played on for the Seventh Circle, topless gatherings on Venice beach, and a police sweep they called the Venice 7 Bust. She describes how there were distinct lesbian communities in the West side, Hollywood, and the Valley. She also discusses going out to Peanuts with members of the all women punk band the Runaways, and taking visitors from overseas to the bars. She remembers she always preferred one on one relationships to the hedonistic sexual freedom of the era.

Spheeris also worked in film, from independents at New World Productions, including Ron Howard’s Grand Theft Auto, to union work, an Emmy, and membership in the Academy. She got sober in AA and describes her first meeting at Cedars and how she developed a crush on another member. She now volunteers at the West Hollywood sheriff’s station, and drives along Route 66 constantly on patrol.