
CONTACTAbout UsCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Equal Entertainment LLC.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
We need your help
Your support makes The Advocate's original LGBTQ+ reporting possible. Become a member today to help us continue this work.
Your support makes The Advocate's original LGBTQ+ reporting possible. Become a member today to help us continue this work.
A Different Light bookstore in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood will close at the end of this month, but does its departure mean California will be without a gay bookstore?
An Associated Press article from Saturday stated that the Golden State will be gay bookstore-less once A Different Light shutters this month after decades of operation; the bookstore's West Hollywood branch closed in 2009. But gay-friendly bookstores remain in California, even if they're not considered gay bookstores, per se. For example, San Diego's Obelisk bookstore in the gay-centric Hillcrest neighborhood sells jewelry and comic books, as well as LGBT books and HRC merchandise. Circus of Books operates two Los Angeles-area locations -- one on West Hollywood's gay main drag, Santa Monica Boulevard, and another in the gay-friendly neighborhood of Silver Lake -- and both stores stock gay novels, magazines, and erotica.
The owner of the Circus of Book stores, Karen Mason, acknowledges her stores serve mainly LGBT customers but she doesn't see her operations as gay bookstores.
"I always admired A Different Light, they were much more pure than we were," Mason tells The Advocate. "At one point, they wouldn't carry a bestseller unless it had a gay character in it. If you wanted to know what was going on with gay literature, you were so well-served there."
Circus of Books won't be closing anytime soon, Mason says, but times have changed for all bookstores in the age of Kindle.
"We're still here and we don't have any plans to close," Mason says, "but we certainly have less staff and our sales are down."
Nbroverman
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Watch Now: Pride Today
Latest Stories
Detroit trans woman Karmin Wells shot and killed
July 16 2025 5:53 PM
Daily newsletter 7/16
July 16 2025 5:12 PM
5,000 users leave trans subreddit in wake of transmasculine controversy
July 16 2025 4:10 PM
Cooper Koch’s Emmy nomination earned him a surprise prison call
July 16 2025 3:47 PM
Florida officials claim SCOTUS ruling allows them to deny trans adults health care
July 16 2025 2:43 PM
Kevin Spacey demands release of Epstein files
July 16 2025 2:12 PM
Florida authorities search for truck driver who vandalized rainbow intersection
July 16 2025 1:12 PM
Trending stories
Recommended Stories for You
Neal Broverman
Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.
Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.