One of the earliest known lesbian bars.

From the late 1940s through the mid-1960s, this block on Vermont Avenue was home to two working-class, racially mixed lesbian bars: the If Café (also known as the If Club) and the Open Door. “Crowd of butch girls, men in 40s, others from area,” read the description for the If Café in 1966 in the Barfly gay bar guide

Working class, racially-mixed, butch lesbian hang out. The clientele was Black, white, and Latina, demonstrating that queer life in Los Angeles did not exist only in white and affluent areas but was also embedded in working-class communities of color. Women at these clubs developed a strong, oppositional community, with their own styles and slang; for example, butch Black women termed themselves "hard dressers."

Police frequently raided the bars and arrested patrons, charging women either with "masquerading" - that is, wearing men's clothing - or prostitution. A People's Guide to Los Angeles, Pulido p.46

Featured space in Lillian Faderman's Curator Map.