After a period of renovation of West Hollywood’s historic Werle Building on Robertson, the June Mazer Lesbian Archives, featuring the largest West Coast collection of Lesbian culture, material, and history, will reopen on May 6. The grand re-opening, which will take a look at the premature closing of L.A.’s Sisterhood Bookstore in 1999, will feature a new exhibit titled: “The Simone Wallace Collection of Sisterhood Bookstore,” co-hosted by Wallace herself.
Per the press release:
“The Archive chose to spotlight the Sisterhood Bookstore at its grand reopening because of the store’s 27-year commitment to the diversity and the commonality of women’s experience, and its serving as a center of community for women in need of a sounding board. The bookstore’s mission was to thrive as an independent bookstore by offering the best service and the deepest, most diverse choice of books – and also provide a center for the women’s community where people would gather, exchange information, and the resources to move the community toward political action.
The largest major archive on the West Coast dedicated to preserving and promoting lesbian and feminist history and culture, the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives was founded in 1981 in Oakland, CA. The Archives moved to Southern California in 1985, and into the Werle Building – a 1940 Streamline Moderne structure owned by the City of West Hollywood – in 1989. The organization has been run solely by volunteers for most of its 37 years, operating with support from private donors and the City of West Hollywood. Additionally, the Archives has created an outreach and collection-building partnership with the UCLA Libraries.”
