Early Collection of Gay and Lesbian Travel Guides includes Damron Address Books and Fodor's Gay Guides

[LGBTQ] Early travel guides provided gay, lesbian and queer communities a safe resource to meet like-minded people and now serve as historical reference for cities and states documenting queer culture. Collection of 6 travel guides and 2 newspapers featuring gay and lesbian travel guides. All released between 1978-2004. The travel guides measure between 5.5" x 8.5" and 4.25" x 5.5". Many in archive are Damron Guides, or the Damron Address Book, which began as a project by Bob Damron who found gay-friendly bars and establishments during his travels. It was the first annual guide to gay and lesbian bars, hotels and bed and breakfasts in the US, and later (truncated) expanded to include Europe, Mexico, Canada, and several other locations. Prior to the guides, he published gay and lesbian travel articles in several newspapers, two of which are included in this archive. The guides are divided by states and cities and feature many establishments that no longer exist, serving as one of few historical documents proving that these establishments were real and that gay and lesbian communities existed much earlier than expected. Each book also contains addresses and phone numbers for the businesses, along with a reference key with additional travel tips and descriptions. Also included are color advertisements for various gay and lesbian businesses. As Jack Swab at he University of Kentucky states: "Given the topic and the community they catered to, print runs even at the best-established gay publishers were relatively small. Contributing to this scarcity is the temporality of these items, the information contained within them quickly went out of date, rendering the guide less useful as time went on, reducing the number of surviving guides even further." Most books mainly cover the USA, with 400 out of 500 pages dedicated to all 52 states including popular cities and other destinations. Also included are European cities and other countries in later editions. This collection includes:

[1] Coast to Coast Times, Issue 120, 1978. Includes "Doing America with Bob Damron" article on New York's Fire Island.
[2] Lambda News, Vol. III Issue VI, June 1978. Includes Bob Damron "Doing America" article on Gay Life and Culture in Houston, Texas.
[3] Fodor's Gay Guide to Los Angeles and Southern California by Andrew Collins, First Edition, 1997. 170 pages on gay life, culture and establishments in Los Angeles.
[4] Fodor's Gay Guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area, by Andrew Collins. First Edition, 1997. Includes 166 pages on Gay Life, Culture Establishments and more in the bay area.
[5] Damron Road Atlas, 1997. Includes Gay City Maps for USA, Canada and Europe, including 293 out of 330 pages on USA with thousands of addresses and listings.
[6] Fodor's Gay Guide to the USA by Andrew Collins, Second Edition, 1998. Includes dozens of maps, destinations, and a breakdown of cities and states with gay friendly establishments.
[7] Damron Amsterdam: Gay Tourists Guide. 1998. Contains 175 pages including detailed maps, tear out wallet cards, lists of gay bars, hotels, establishments and more.
[8] Damron Accommodations, 8th Edition, 2004. Contains USA, Mexico, Europe, Middle East and other countries. with 400 out of 600 pages dedicated to US states and cities.

Damron's books and other gay travel guides were seen as essential travel companions for early queer road trips. Similarities have been drawn between the early travel guides and the Victor Hugo Green published "Negro Motorist Green Book." All books include iconic vintage advertisements, color maps of cities, key destinations and other travel tips. These books are interesting today because they capture locations and places that have long disappeared. All feature vibrant and vintage covers and are all in very good condition. (Inventory #: 20129)