LA Pride weekend may be over but Pride month is still going strong (and always strong in our hearts forever, far beyond that June 30 end date). But as celebratory, inclusive, accepting and perfect as the entire month of June may be, Pride month is also a time for brands to change their social-media avatars to something rainbow, throw up a "$3 shots!" sign and cash in on the good will and LGBTQ market.
Fortunately, a number of L.A. restaurants, bars, companies and other orgs are offering specials throughout June that not only celebrate Pride, but also benefit it. Here's a quick guide to some of the city's best specials whose proceeds help queer-centric nonprofits and other organizations in Los Angeles and around the country.
Photograph: Courtesy Bibo Ergo Sum
Enamel pins at Bibo Ergo Sum
Enamel pins are in. Great cocktails are in. Pride is in, and forever. Combine all of these easily at Bibo Ergo Sum, one of our favorite bars in town, which recently launched PRIDE pins that feature the bar's logo done all up in rainbow. These babies only cost $8 apiece, and they'll be available well beyond the end of June, all through the summer. The best part? They benefit the Los Angeles LGBT Center, an organization that's been providing the L.A.-area LGBTQ community with housing, health courses, cultural events, advocacy and education for more than 50 years.
Photograph: Courtesy Dosist
Cannabis pens by Dosist
Get high, save lives? We're all about Dosist's contribution: OK, so the cannabis company renowned for its proprietary dose pens isn't offering a special this month, but it is donating a whopping 25 percent of all of its sales through June. That means that whenever you purchase a Dosist pen from retailers such as Med Men, Sweet Flower and delivery-service Eaze, you'll be helping organizations throughout California: LA Pride, the San Francisco LGBT Center, San Jose's Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center, and San Diego Pride. Find the full list of participating retailers here.
Nina West's flavor collection at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams
Camp queen and drag superstar Nina West already showed the world how much pride he has—never forget that amazing Rainbow Brite-looking getup from West's RuPaul's Drag Race elimination—but he's giving us even more rainbow realness through a monthlong collab with Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. West, a persona of Andrew Levitt, worked with longtime friend and ice cream icon Jeni Britton Bauer to bring us Dream Puff: a limited-edition flavor inspired by cream puffs, using a salted vanilla custard ice cream base that's dotted with pastry flakes and a ribbon of fresh strawberry sauce. You can find it in-store only, but if there's not a Jeni's near you, don't ruin that eyeliner—West also curated a Pride collection of four favorite flavors (available for online orders), and there's also a limited-edition Pride tee. What's more, Jeni's is donating 100 percent of the proceeds from every single item we just mentioned to the Nina West Foundation, Levitt's org that helps LGBTQ youth in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, and beyond.
Photograph: Courtesy Sidecar Doughnuts
Lime Poppyseed Pride at Sidecar Doughnuts
Sidecar Doughnuts is known for baking and frosting some of the best hole-y treats in town, just as much as it's known for its famous celebrity-chef collabs. Some of the kitchen world's biggest names have toiled for months and crafted some of the coolest doughnuts just to make the limited-run specials, but this June's might take the cake: Top Chef finalist Melissa King created a special out-and-proud pastry, the Lime Poppyseed Pride, a yeast doughnut coated in a fresh-lime glaze and rainbow sprinkles, all topped by a sizable rainbow meringue. "I kept saying it needs to be 'bigger, brighter, gayer!'" King shared via Instagram. "After a month of solid recipe testing, I think we nailed it!" You can find the treat at Sidecar's Santa Monica and Torrance locations (as well as Costa Mesa and Del Mar, farther south), and a portion of the proceeds of each sale benefits Camp Brave Trails, a locally-based camp that helps empower LGBTQ youth in a safe and fun setting.
View this post on Instagram
Pride flavors and sundaes at Humphry Slocombe
L.A.'s cheekiest, most irreverent ice cream shop regularly features LGBTQ-friendly flavors and events—it's got drag-queen art on the walls every day, too—so of course Humphry Slocombe is going all-out for Pride month. Expect an in-store rainbow of special Pride flavors: the Queer Eye Cookies & Graham, a collab with show that involves olive oil ice cream, chocolate cookies and graham crackers; the San Francisco drag-queen–inspired Juanita MORE!, blend of blackberry ice cream with ginger and whiskey; the Who’s Your Daddy, made with rotating beer flavors "for your dad or daddy)"; the Strawberry Blondie, strawberry ice cream with white chocolate chip blondies; and the Harvey Milk and Honey Graham, made with blackberry honey ice cream and house-made graham crackers.
Every in-store Juanita MORE! order sees a $1 donation to the GLBT Historical Society, which serves as a museum and archive preserving history and the LGBTQ experience. If you're ordering online, $5 from every Humphry Slocombe Pride Pack purchased via Goldbelly benefits the L.A.-based STORIES: The AIDS Monument, which remembers and honors those lost to AIDS, and so does $3 from all L.A. pint sales ordered through Caviar.