From Gloom to Glory: The Transformation of Life’s Palette

Prior to the tourist hub of San Bartolomé de Tirajana in Gran Canaria evolving into a holiday destination, the capital of Gran Canaria served as the nucleus of leisure pursuits designed for same-sex interactions during the 1970s. In the vicinity of Santa Catalina in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, particularly within the bars of the park and the adjoining bowling alleys, local gay individuals began to convene discreetly, mingling with British, Swedish, and German visitors whose sexual freedoms were markedly different from those in Spain. It was during this period that the initial establishments began to surface, which were not overtly marketed as welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community—since the term had not yet been coined—but were known within the community, such as the Derby bar. In this image from the early 1970s, two men can be seen conversing and enjoying a cigarette on the terrace.