Glendale’s Museum of Neon Art celebrates June Pride Month
Guest post by Johnny Donovan, glendaleOUT
To celebrate pride month the Museum of Neon Art (MONA) honors the LGBTQ community and the integral role the community has played in sustaining the museum through rainbow based displays viewable from the window. Selfie ready rainbow wings and a rainbow archway by artist Candice Gawne are best viewed at nightfall, and a work by David Otis Johnson, representing an abstracted rainbow will be viewable in the MONA lobby and from the window day and night.
The amazing neon light displays are perfect for a Pride Month photo for anyone passing by! Be sure to tag both #QueeringGlendale and #MuseumOfNeonArt in your photos when you share on social media.
Visitors to the museum can also pay their respects to the recently restored Circus of Books sign.Circus of Books was a bookstore and gay pornography shop that operated in West Hollywood and Silverlake. For generations of gay men, the Circus of Books sign was a symbol for a store, gathering place, cruising spot, and resource to the community. The mom-and-pop business was established in 1982 by Karen and Barry Mason. The store survived the AIDS crisis, censorship wars, and multiple recessions until its closure in 2016. Circus of Books is a sign that bears testament to hidden narratives of individuals forced to exist in the shadows, and the businesspeople who put themselves at risk to provide services to them.
While the museum celebrates Pride month we acknowledge that there is still much to be done to insure equity and equality for LGBTQ individuals and we recommit ourselves to better serving, archiving, and telling stories to all visitors to make a brighter more equitable world.
