Gay and Lesbian Travel Guides and Writing Documenting Community Networks and Cultural Landscapes 1980 to 2000

Edmund White Bob Damron

Collection

White, Edmund. States of Desire. Fodor’s. Gay Guide to San Francisco. Fodor’s. Gay Guide to New York City. Ferrari Guides. Gay Paris. Out & About. Gay Travel Guides USA Resorts and Warm Weather Vacation. Access. Gay USA. Damron Publishing. Damron Accommodations. These late twentieth-century travel guides and narrative accounts document the development of LGBTQ mobility, geography, and community infrastructure during a period when openly queer travel required careful navigation of uneven legal protections and persistent social stigma. Spanning 1980 to 2000, the collection combines Edmund White’s States of Desire, a foundational work of gay travel writing grounded in firsthand observation of urban queer life, with a range of directory-style guides that identify and organize information about bars, hotels, restaurants, and social spaces across the United States and international destinations. These publications provide primary evidence of how queer travelers located and accessed safe environments, and how commercial and community networks developed to support LGBTQ movement across cities and regions. Their function has been compared to earlier travel aids created for marginalized communities, situating them within a broader history of navigational tools developed in response to exclusion from mainstream public space.

1] White, Edmund. States of Desire: Travels in Gay America. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1980. A non-fiction compilation of travel writing from novelist Edmund White covering his adventures across major cities in the U.S. as a gay man in the 1970s and 80s.
[2] Fodor's Gay Guide to San Francisco, 1997. First Edition. 166 pages. Measures 4.25" x 7". Includes San Francisco, the Bay Area, San Jose, Monterey Bay and maps of other locations.
[3] Fodor's Gay Guide to New York City, 1997. First Edition. 187 pages. Measures 4.25" x 7". A guides to New York City and surrounding gay friendly locations, including Fire Island and New Hope, PA.
[4] Ferrari Guides' Gay Paris: The Definitive Guide to Gay and Lesbian Paris. 1997. First edition. 304 pages. A guide providing not only recommendations but background and cultural context for the gay community in Paris and information for the English-speaking LGBTQ traveler. Former owner named marked in pen on title page.
[5] Out & About Gay Travel Guides: USA Resorts & Warm-Weather Vacation. New York: Hyperion, 1997. First edition. 370 pages. Includes 245 pages on US locations, focusing on gay friendly areas with warm weather climates including Key West, Miami, Fire Island, Provincetown, Palm Springs, and Hawaii.
[6] Access: Gay USA. 1998. First edition. 416 pages. A guide to gay and queer friendly hotels, restaurants, shops, and attractions across the major cities of the USA.
[7] Damron Accommodations, Fourth Edition, 2000. 638 pages. Measures 8.5" x 5.5". A comprehensive guide to queer friendly hotels, resorts, B&Bs, and guest houses across North, Central, and South America, Europe, Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand, with around 500 pages dedicated to 45 US states.
Group of seven volumes issued between 1980 and 2000, combining narrative travel writing with directory-style guides. Formats range from compact city guides to larger regional and international directories. The Fodor’s guides provide geographically focused coverage of San Francisco and New York City, including surrounding destinations such as Fire Island and Monterey Bay, while Ferrari’s Gay Paris incorporates cultural context alongside listings for English-speaking travelers. Out & About and Access: Gay USA present broader national overviews of resorts, hotels, and attractions, and Damron’s Accommodations extends coverage globally, with extensive listings across North America, Europe, and beyond. Entries are organized by city and region, typically including addresses, contact information, and descriptions of queer-friendly establishments, often accompanied by maps, advertisements, and event listings.

These works emerged during a period of increasing visibility of LGBTQ communities alongside continued vulnerability, particularly in the context of the AIDS crisis and ongoing discrimination. Travel guides of this kind were frequently updated and quickly rendered obsolete as venues changed or closed, contributing to their limited long-term preservation. As noted by archivist Jack Swab, such materials were often produced in relatively small print runs and discarded once outdated, shaping their survival. Light wear consistent with use, including previous ownership marking to the Ferrari volume; otherwise clean interiors and sound bindings; overall good to very good condition. The group offers a longitudinal record of LGBTQ travel networks and supports research into mobility, urban history, and late twentieth-century queer life.

Item #21047

Price: $750.00