Jewel Thais-Williams, founder of Jewel's Catch One nightclub in Los Angeles, died at the age of 86. The nightclub served as a vital space for Black queer women and the LGBTQ+ community since its inception in 1973. Artists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Madonna performed there. Thais-Williams faced challenges, including police harassment, while fostering community support during the AIDS crisis. She created a welcoming environment for individuals marginalized in the nightlife scene, highlighting the club's significance in Black and queer culture, comparable to renowned clubs in New York and Chicago.
"It was a community, it was family," Thais-Williams told The Times in a 2018 interview. "To be honest myself, I was pretty much a loner too. I always had the fears of coming out, or my family finding out. I found myself there."
"I didn't come into this business with the idea of it becoming a community center," she said in 1992. "It started before AIDS and the riots and all that. I got the first sense of the business being more than just a bar and having an obligation to the community years ago when Black gays were carded - requiring several pieces of identification for entry."
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