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Great Wall Institute: The Process of the Great Wall of Los Angeles

Do-nut Riot

In his book City of Night, John Rechy recalls that in May 1959, two police officers walked into Cooper’s Donuts and singled out five individuals; two drag queens, two male sex workers, and one gay man. For years, Coopers Donuts had been a popular hangout among the gay community since it was located between two gay bars, Harold's and The Waldorf. The routine harassment by LAPD towards the LGBTQ community of Los Angeles had steadily risen since William H. Parker became Chief of Police in 1950. The individuals were taken outside where their ID’s were checked and they were arrested, an illegal tactic of the LAPD. As the officers were trying to shove all five of the patrons into the back of the police car, one of the men began to protest that they did not fit in the cramped car. The protest of the individual caused the onlookers to take action as they all began to protest. Trans women, lesbians, drag queens, and gay men began throwing donuts and coffee cups at the policemen. The police fled without making the arrest and they intended to return with back up. The LGBTQ community danced and celebrated as they watched the police car leave. When the police came back, the crowd had grown as the word of the rebellion spread. The officers closed off a section of the Main Street in order to control the area and made several arrests.

Mr. Rechy has since indicated that the donut riot he witnessed did not occur at a Cooper’s Donuts, but at an unnamed donut shop in Los Angeles. Occurring a decade before the Stonewall Uprising in New York, the donut riots remind us that the LGBTQ community has long engaged in rebellions to counteract police harassment.

Sources:

“Cooper Do-Nuts.” ONE Archives at the USC Libraries, 16 Aug. 2018, one.usc.edu/story/cooper-do-nuts.
Piepenburg, E. (5 June 2023). “A Gay Riot at a Doughnut Shop? The Legend Has Some Holes.” The New York Times
Rechy, John. City of Night. Profile Books LTD, 2021.

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"Predating the Stonewall Riots by ten years, Cooper Do-nuts was the site of a 1959 protest against the LAPD's harrassment of the gay and transgender clientele frequenting the shop. Due to Cooper&Do-nuts' proximity to several gay and lesbian establishments, a case of resisting arrest evolved into a full-scale riot that is remembered as the first open act of LGBTQ resistance toward police abuse in the United States."
Predating the Stonewall Riots by ten years, Cooper Do-nuts was the site of a 1959 protest against the LAPD's harassment of the gay and transgender clientele frequenting the shop. Due to Cooper Do-nuts' proximity to several gay and lesbian establishments, a case of resisting arrest evolved into a full-scale riot that is remembered as the first open act of LGBTQ resistance toward police abuse in the United States. BY CHRISTIANA LILLY: "the Los Angeles Police Department often targeted LGBT people through entrapment, intimidation, and violence. Police specifically targeted trans people, arresting those whose perceived gender did not match their driver’s license. Several gay bars, in an attempt to remain inconspicuous and avoid police raids, banned or discouraged transgender people from entering. However, Cooper’s Donuts, which opened in 1959 in the Skid Row neighborhood, was welcoming to the transgender community. The shop served policemen during the day and, as the patrols dwindled in the evening, opened its doors to trans people and those barred from other establishments."-
"...Cooper’s Do-Nuts uprising right here in Los Angeles. Main Street was a popular hub for LGBTQ+ people, and Cooper’s Do-Nuts was a 24 hour welcoming space for trans folx in a city that otherwise targeted those who had IDs and driver’s licenses with gender markers that didn’t match their gender presentations. The fact that Cooper’s was a space where trans women, drag queens, and gender diverse people could congregate, made it a target for police and arrests.LA law at the time dictated that if your gender presentation did not match the gender on your ID you would be taken to jail and LGBTQ people were subject to campaigns of entrapment, intimidation and violence. As a result, many gay bars banned or actively discouraged trans and/or visibly gender diverse people from attending in order to avoid attracting attention and being targeted by raids. There were rules that you must wear at least three items of clothing that match your legal gender.One evening in May of 1959, the police attempted to arrest several patrons including two drag queens, two male sex workers and a gay man. As those arrested attempted to fight back, protesting their unjust arrest onlookers from Cooper’s Do-Nuts decided enough was enough, and a group consisting of transwomen, lesbians, drag queens and gay men, spilled out onto the street in support and threw coffee cups, donuts and trash at the police until they were forced to retreat without their detainees. Backup was called and a night of rioting ensued. That night is widely considered to be the first gay uprising in modern history, seven years before the Black Cat Riot in L.A.’s Silverlake neighborhood, and ten years before the Stonewall Rebellion." - by William Grant Still Arts Center
"the Los Angeles Police Department often targeted LGBT people through entrapment, intimidation, and violence. Police specifically targeted trans people, arresting those whose perceived gender did not match their driver’s license. Several gay bars, in an attempt to remain inconspicuous and avoid police raids, banned or discouraged transgender people from entering. However, Cooper’s Donuts, which opened in 1959 in the Skid Row neighborhood, was welcoming to the transgender community. The shop served policemen during the day and, as the patrols dwindled in the evening, opened its doors to trans people and those barred from other establishments. One evening, two police officers asked for ID cards from some customers at the shop — a typical way for them to harass LGBT people. Those who were picked out of the crowd, including John Rechy, an accomplished gay author who has written about the uprising, were “two hustlers, two queens and a young man just cruising.” Something snapped in one of them; enough was enough. He objected to the car being packed with five people and fought back, leading the customers at the donut shop to flood into the streets, throwing coffee cups, trash, spoons, donuts, anything they could get their hands on. “[The officers] fled into their car,” Rechy writes, “called backups and soon the street was bustling with disobedience. Gay people danced about the cars.” The officers returned with reinforcements, Main Street was closed, and history was made. However, the importance of the Cooper’s Donuts uprising was not recognized until much later. Mark Thompson, a social historian who lived in the same neighborhood as Rechy, writes of the event’s importance: “I would not describe it as a riot but more like an isolated patch of local social unrest that had lasting repercussions. I think less in its day, more as a lesson for us today. L.A. is such a huge, sprawling city (even back then) so what happened in one district probably did not register elsewhere — especially when issues of class and race are factored in.” Not too much is known about the uprising at Cooper’s Donuts, and as time passes, fewer of the storytellers of the time are around to share their experiences. But it is important to remember that the fight for LGBT rights was not limited to one city and one event. The Cooper’s Donuts uprising, like the Compton Cafeteria riots, the Dewey’s sit-ins, and the Independence Hall protests, helped pave the way for Stonewall and for all the victories the community has seen since." - Christiana Lilly
"The Cooper Donut Riots Althought the facts vary, and the mere existance of an uprising has come into question, the narrative of the Cooper Do-nuts Riot stands is as follows: The Cooper Do-nuts Riot was a response to the routine harassment of LGBTQ people by the police in Los Angeles in the late 1950s. The uprising began when two police officers attempted to arrest two drag queens, two male sex workers, and a gay man. One of those arrested protested the lack of room in the police car and onlookers began throwing assorted coffee, donuts, cups, and trash at the police until they fled in their car without making the arrests. People then took to rioting in the streets and police backup arrived blocking off the street for the entire night and arresting several people. The Cooper Do-nuts uprising is often believed to be the first gay uprising in the United States. Although these events are little remembered today, they contextualize the fight for LGBTQ rights and remind us that this struggle was not limited to one city or even one event. The Cooper Do-nuts riot and many other events helped pave the way for Stonewall and for all of the victories since. It stands to reason that each individual will have to determin for themselves, given the facts we have to date, whether or not the uprising itself even occurred. And only time will tell what truly lands in the history books. "