A semi-regular column where we review notable new poetry collections, literary journals and zines.
For many Americans, especially those under 30 years of age, it may be hard to remember a time when hooking up with someone didn’t involve some sort of digitized courting process. These days, we simply slide into someone’s DMs or swipe right on a smartphone app. Instances of real-life meetings that lead to intimate encounters are increasingly rare.
Queen’s Circle: Cruising Oral Histories of Balboa Park (Burn All Books) is a new collection of essays and interviews edited by Kate Clark and designed by Marina Grize. The zine-style book provides a window into pre-millennium hookup culture, specifically those that occurred in an area of Balboa Park that became known as “the Fruit Loop,” which has been re-knighted as “Queen’s Circle” for the purpose of the project. As if either distinction wasn’t telling enough, Queen’s Circle was a cruising spot for LGBTQ people long before it was even somewhat socially acceptable to show any sort of queer affection in public.
Queen’s Circle works as an accompaniment to Clark’s ongoing “Parkeology” programming, a series of on-site public art programs that explore the history of public spaces. Without sounding as if I’m dumbing it down, the 2016 and 2017 programs were essentially really cool group tours of Balboa Park locations that had a something of a hidden history. They often included artistic and performative aspects, including, in one instance, actors in nude bodysuits for a tour of an area of Balboa Park that once hosted a nudist colony. One of those tours included a video and audio project that explored the queer cruising history of Marston Point, and how it often served as a spot for casual liaisons.
The idea behind “Parkeology,” and now the accompanying Queen’s Circle, is simple enough: to not let the history of these spaces go unnoticed or, even worse, become lost to history. Clark worked with the Lambda Archives and interviewed dozens of elders in the community for the project, and some of those interviews are included in this supplemental book. It’s a quick, fascinating read and filled with first-hand accounts from not only the men and women who frequented Queen’s Circle, but also the cops who busted them and the lawyers who defended them. It’s both historical and anthropological, but more importantly, it’s an immensely valuable document to understanding the secret lives many had to live in late 20th century America.