Mattachine Steps

Silver Lake’s “secret” staircases aren’t really much of a secret anymore thanks to the heart-painted Micheltorena Steps. But if there’s an incline in the area that we wish got more attention, it’s this one, which marks the site of the founding of one of the country’s earliest gay rights groups. Activist Harry Hay formed the Mattachine Society in 1950 and for the next half-century continued to work toward unifying gay communities and assisting in victimization.