West Hollywood gets ready to host biggest celebration ever in the city.As many as 400,000 people are expected in West Hollywood West Hollywood A community of southern California northeast of Beverly Hills. It is mainly residential. Population: 36,600. late next month as part of the citywide 25th anniversary of Christopher Street West Christopher Street West (CSW) is the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Pride Parade and Festival held in June in West Hollywood, California, USA. Named after New York City's famed Christopher Street, the site of the Stonewall Rebellion. , a festival of gay and lesbian pride. If it meets expectations, the two-day festival will be the biggest event held in the city where it is estimated that 30 percent of the population of 36,000 is gay or lesbian. Promoters of the event also say the festival is the biggest planned gay and lesbian event in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. this year. The festival is also evidence of the city's continuing efforts to market itself as a destination for homosexual travelers. The Christopher Street West celebration, which includes a parade along Santa Monica Santa Monica (săn`tə mŏn`ĭkə), city (1990 pop. 86,905), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1886. Tourism and retailing are important, and the city has motion-picture, biotechnology, and software industries. Boulevard, is scheduled for Saturday, June 24 and Sunday, June 25. Hotels in the city and surrounding area are already nearly full for the weekend, said Michael Yates Several notable individuals have been named Michael Yates:
Officials at the West Hollywood Convention & Visitors Bureau, which is promoting the festival, said people from around the country, as well as Europe, are expected to attend the festival. Package deals Most of the major hotels in the area are offering special packages for people going to the festival. "This is the big gay event in the U.S. this year, so we expect very big crowds," said Haley Powers, executive director of the bureau. Because there have been no studies, the bureau cannot estimate the economic impact of the festival on businesses in West Hollywood and the surrounding areas of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , said Powers. She said this year's festival is expected to be far bigger than previous celebrations because it is the 25th anniversary of the event. Powers said the event has been advertised in several gay and travel magazines. The Christopher Street West festival was started 25 years ago on the first anniversary of what is called in the gay and lesbian community the Stonewall Inn The Stonewall Inn was the site of the famous Stonewall riots of 1969, which have come to symbolize the beginning of the gay liberation movement in the United States. It is located at 53 Christopher Street, between West 4th St. and Waverly Place, in Greenwich Village, New York City. incident. The Stonewall Inn was a gay bar in Greenwich Village Greenwich Village (grĕn`ĭch), residential district of lower Manhattan, New York City, extending S from 14th St. to Houston St. and W from Washington Square to the Hudson River. in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of that was raided by police in 1969. Following the raid, there were three days of civil unrest in New York's gay and lesbian community. Attendance explodes Since 1970, the Christopher Street West celebration has been held every summer in West Hollywood. The first few years of the celebration drew crowds of about 15,000 and last year attendance was about 250,000. Yales said last year's crowd could have been bigger but for scheduling conflicts with another gay and lesbian festival in New York. Because there are no such scheduling conflicts this year, Yates said, attendance could exceed 100,000. The festival will be held at West Hollywood Park on San Vincente Boulevard between Santa Monica Boulevard and Melrose Avenue. Admission to the festival ranges from free for children under 12 to $10 for adults. The parade is expected to include 6,000 participants. It is generally considered the third largest parade in the state, said organizers, after the annual Rose and Hollywood Christmas parades. |
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