"For the gays, lesbians, and transgendered people who have moved to L.A. over the past two centuries, the City of Angels has offered a special home--which, in turn, gave rise to one of the world's most influential gay cultures. Drawing upon untouched archives and over 200 new interviews, Authors Faderman and Timmons chart L.A.'s unique gay history, from the first missionary encounters with Native American cross-gendered "two-spirits" to cross-dressing frontier women in search of their fortunes; from the bohemian freedom of early Hollywood to the explosion of gay life during World War II to the underground radicalism sparked by the 1950s blacklist; from the 1960s gay liberation movement to the creation of gay marketing in the 1990s. Faderman and Timmons show how geography, economic opportunity, and a constant influx of new people created a city that was more compatible to gay life than any other in America."--From cover, p. 1.