Streetbar named as grand marshall of Palm Springs Pride Parade – Desert Sun
The iconic Palm Springs gay bar Streetbar will be the Community Grand Marshall of the Palm Springs Pride Parade in November.
Streetbar, which opened in 1991, was the first gay bar in Palm Springs and is now the longest-operating LGBTQ bar in the Coachella Valley.
Up until the 1990s, most local bars specifically for LGBTQ patrons had been concentrated in neighboring Cathedral City, which was unincorporated until 1981 but only a few miles from the heart of Palm Springs.
Streetbar’s founders, Dick Haskamp and Hank Morgan, created a longstanding tradition of using events to bring the LGBTQ community together to raise funds for local organizations such as The LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert and the Palm Springs Animal Shelter.
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Haskamp died in 2018, but the charity work continues under its current ownership. The bar is also celebrating its 30th anniversary. In a prepared statement, Greater Palm Springs Pride President Ron deHarte said the city is “fortunate” that Haskamp’s legacy continues.
“I think he would be beaming with pride along with a visible teardrop or two, seeing Streetbar today. We are delighted to honor Streetbar for embracing and supporting the local community,” deHarte said.
David Farnsworth, now the co-owner and general manager of Streetbar, started working at the business in 2000. Then, Palm Springs was firmly a seasonal destination, and was often quiet from June to October. Arenas relied on local foot traffic rather than tourists.
“We’re like a gay community center bar. Local gay men treat this as their living room,” Farnsworth told The Desert Sun in May. “It’s been ground zero for them for forever.”
This year’s Pride Week in Palm Springs takes place on Nov. 1-7 and the theme is “You Are Included.”
The festival in downtown Palm Springs takes place on Nov. 5-7 between Amado Road and Tahquitz Canyon Way in the surrounding area of a new city park on Museum Way and Belardo Road. There’s also live entertainment and dancing on Arenas Road and Palm Canyon Drive. The annual parade will start at 10 a.m. Sunday.
Other offerings include the Art of Pride with LGBTQ artists, and health resources such as vaccinations and HIV testing.
PS Pride did not hold the typical parade last year due to the pandemic. Instead, the organization played recordings of parades from prior years on Facebook and promohomo.tv and livestreamed the annual Pride Week rainbow flag raising in downtown Palm Springs over Facebook. The livestream of the flag raising drew more participation than the typical in-person event, so PS Pride plans to continue livestreaming the flag raising each year.
The 2021 parade will also be broadcast online, as it has in prior years.
More information on Palm Springs Pride is available at apps.pspride.org.
Previous reporting by Desert Sun reporter Amanda Ulrich was used for this report.
Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.