For West Hollywood residents, Pride is one of the happiest times of the year. Grace and I have been lucky enough to live in WeHo for the last few years, and slowly we’ve perfected how we like to celebrate Pride. As you are probably aware, Pride month goes for the whole month of June, and in WeHo there are events all month long. But what we think of as “Pride” is the day of the parade that goes through our city along Santa Monica Boulevard. Together, Grace and I have been to six West Hollywood Prides, and this past Pride (just a few weeks ago) was one of our favorites yet! For the past few years we have hosted a pregame and breakfast and then everyone walks from our house (or Grace’s apartment, before we got married and lived together) to where the parade starts, since it’s just a couple of blocks away.
There are a lot of different ways to celebrate Pride in LA. There are a million parties going on, there are ticketed and non-ticketed aspects of the parade day, and of course some people are actually IN the parade itself on a float. Grace and I keep it super simple, and we love this formula! Starting at 8am the day of Pride, we open our doors to anyone and everyone who wants to join us. We have mimosas, bloody marys, and breakfast, and we blast Cher and other gay icons on our speakers. A bit before 11am, which is the start time of the parade, we do a last call for drinks and then we head into the street!
We like to just set out a bunch of stuff and let people mix their own mimosas and bloody marys.
This year, with the help of my best friend who has a culinary degree, I made the yummiest six-layer rainbow pride cake!
As we head out to the parade, we usually make a game plan as to where we’ll meet in case anyone in the group falls behind (the streets can get really crowded and hectic—but it’s always fun). We love Micky’s and that’s where we all met up this past Pride.
We hang, we drink more, we dance, and then by mid afternoon we usually are ready to hit up Shake Shack (don’t know why, but it’s a Pride tradition!).
One of the best things about Pride is the afternoon nap. I know some people stay out all night, but I absolutely love coming home around 4pm and napping and then waking up, cleaning the house, and ordering pizza. It’s just the best end to the sweetest day! This year, of course I also ended the night with an extra slice of Pride cake.
To end this post, I just want to say that if you haven’t yet gotten to experience the joy of attending a Pride parade/celebration or feel like you can do so safely or openly, my prayer is that one day you get to be yourself in vibrant, joyful community. The joy I feel on Pride is something I hope every LGBTQ+ person gets to experience, and I’m so grateful for West Hollywood. If you don’t know much about West Hollywood’s history, I encourage you to read this article (or many others) about how WeHo decided to incorporate as its own entity in 1984 and become a self-governing gay city separate from Los Angeles. We love living here so much.