Irina Contreras leads an intimate walking tour of downtown’s most notable queer spaces. Search for connection in Pershing Square, honor Howard Efland outside the former Dover Hotel, and consider what actually goes on between the stacks at the Central Library. The journey begins at 547 South Main Street – the site of 1959’s Cooper’s Donuts riot.

Comfortable walking shoes and sunscreen recommended.

Note that the walk was conceived in a way that considers accessibility. If you have any accessibility needs however, we would appreciate if you could notify us in advance at contact@navel.la

Cruising DTLA is part of our NO CRUISING program, at NAVEL from May 16–18. A portion of this event’s proceeds will be donated to the California Coalition for Women Prisoners’s #MeTooBehindBars initiative.

Irina Contreras is a Los Angeles born and bred interdisciplinary and multimedia artist, cultural producer and community organizer. Irina has worked for over ten years at the intersections of arts, education, and critical pedagogy in institutional and community-based settings. Currently, their art practice examines counter-narrative of radical political histories. Recent projects accentuate the role of social media and surveillance culture by highlighting collective memory and narrative. Teetering between “documenter” and “creator” of experimental narratives and methods, Contreras’s work utilizes video, photography, archives, and de-centered performance as modes through which to highlight internal public and private spaces of forgotten or buried tension.

Image by Metro Transportation Library and Archive