Reminder: Ron Lanza Memorial at El Rio @ Sat Jun 15, 2013 11am - 1pm (Queer Things)

more details » Ron Lanza Memorial at El Rio Ron Lanza Memorial El Rio, 3158 Mission St @ Precita, San Francisco Saturday, June 15, 2013 @ 11am A memorial for Ron Lanza, the co-owner of two pioneering gay comedy clubs, The Valencia Rose and Josie's Cabaret and Juice Joint, will be held at El Rio in San Francisco's Mission District on Saturday, June 15, the day before what would have been his 77th birthday. Lanza, who died of colon cancer on April 9, was also a former schoolteacher, activist, actor, and collector of old cars and [elderly] dogs. He was born and raised in New York and came to San Francisco in 1961 after a three-year stint in LA. Perhaps the most important moment in Lanza's life was in the early 1970s when he came out of the closet to the class he was teaching at Ygnacio Valley High School in Concord, thus being one of the first public school teachers to do so. The following year, San Francisco teacher, Tom Ammiano, came out, and in 1978 the No on 6 campaign, founded by Ammiano, fellow schoolteacher Hank Wilson, and Harvey Milk, successfully defeated the Briggs Initiative, whose goal was to ban gay people from teaching in the state of California. In the late 1970s, Lanza, along with his longtime friend, Wilson, helped found 32 Page and 330 Grove, two of the early gay community centers in San Francisco, where the city's first gay film festival was held. He and Wilson also founded the Gay Teacher's Coalition and as well as the Butterfly Brigade, which later became the Castro Street Safety Patrol, to protect members of the Castro community. The Valencia Rose operated in the early 1980s and Josie's, named after Lanza's grandmother, ran from 1990 to December 31, 1999. Both served as performance spaces, launching the comedy careers of many a comic (Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Cho, Lea Delaria, Tom Ammiano (now a state assemblyman), Marga Gomez and others) as well as meeting spaces. Josie's became the campaign office for Ammiano's write-in campaign for San Francisco mayor in 1999. After Josie's closed, Lanza worked as a limo driver, first for Bauer's, and then branching out on his own, at first using his classic cars. A lifelong dog lover, Lanza always had a few stray dogs at his side. In 2008, he organized the Dolores Street Walk-a-thon, which raised money for the Doris Day Animal Foundation, amongst other charities. In the spirit of Lanza's comedy clubs, his memorial will have an Open Mic format. People are being asked to share a story, a song, a remembrance, to bring a potluck dish and photos or other memorabilia. Must be 21+ as El Rio is a bar. When Sat Jun 15, 2013 11am – 1pm Pacific Time Calendar Queer Things Who • larrybob - creator

Invitation from Google Calendar You are receiving this email at the account queerthingssf@gmail.com because you are subscribed for reminders on calendar Queer Things. To stop receiving these notifications, please log in to https://www.google.com/calendar/ and change your notification settings for this calendar.