In recreating Echo Park’s the Semi-Tropic on a soundstage for the show, the Showtime drama also created an IRL queer space for its fans.
The first matter you acknowledge in a shot of Dana ’s bar are the women : seemingly hundreds of them , mostly gay , some bi , all gorgeous . One or two men , maybe , if they ’re there to support their friends or partners that day . Softly lit with a brick wall - support prevention and turquoise art deco styling , Dana ’s is the focal point of the reboot of sapphic clowning - dramaThe L Word : Generation Q , returning for its third time of year on November 18 . The bar is a glitzy upgrade to The Planet of the originalL Word , but its function remains the same : a central place in the neighbourhood that suck up characters into romance and chaos — because who can invalidate their X in such a diminished community ?
The Planet was the eye ofThe L Word . Run by ally Kit ( Pam Grier ) for the majority of the serial , it became a haven and safe place for the residential district of LGBTQ+ hoi polloi in surrounding West Hollywood . Kate Moennig , who plays everyone ’s favorite lesbian lothario Shane McCutcheon , severalise Thrillist that Grier ’s decision not to pass to the reboot was integral to the lift : " There ’s no Planet without Kit . " Plus , the author wanted to move to the east side , signaling the end of the old earned run average and the beginning of a more inclusive one , which is represented in the show ’s cast of transgender , nonbinary , and disabled people . It echo an IRL faulting for the LA gay community from West Hollywood to more low-cost neighborhoods ..
Moennig adds that The Planet was found on a java sign of the zodiac calledLittle Frida ’s , a West Hollywood staple patronise by lesbians in the 90s . For that grounds alone , The Planet was no longer feasible : " Realistically , these little coffee shop would never have survived for 15 twelvemonth anyway ! " Dana ’s has promptly become integral toL Wordlore in its own right : open up by Shane in Season 1 , it ’s been a hotbed for drama and the meeting situation for her and Tess , her longest love interestingness since Carmen . Played by Jamie Clayton , Tess is part of what do Dana ’s flavor so actual .
Design by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist
While closing down The Planet marked a teddy into the futurity , there is a central nod to the past in the Modern stripe : the name . Dana Fairbanks , played by Erin Daniels , was a central character for three season of the original series before in the end dying of breast genus Cancer . The love of Alice ’s life , Dana was beloved by all , onscreen and off , and her exit is find throughout the show . Naming the bar after Dana feel natural , like something Shane would do , says Moennig .
" I was always really queer about what it was conk out to be named , and when the producers said that was going to be the name of the space , it was , without question , the most complete name for the spot . " Clayton adds , " Shane did this awe-inspiring thing by naming the cake after her ally , so there ’s a sadness there . Dana was one of the legacy character that so many the great unwashed who are fans of the original are a sports fan of . "
bar have historically been a favorite of goggle box showrunners as a place to bring character together , but asGeneration Qshowrunner Marja Lewis - Ryan points out that pouf quad are disappearing . " We ’re moving online and we ’re more accepted in a lot of traditionally straight outer space , but there is something so special about having a place just for us . " Even if a thriving bulk - sapphic space like Dana ’s is a fading vision of Sion , it made gumption forQ.“When an sequence is really working , from the midpoint to the end , we ’re in a single case , " Lewis - Ryan suppose . " We need an event space in which we could have multiple case come together , and for us it seemed natural to have a bar where people could get inebriated and make out and crusade . "
More than anything , it had to be somewhere that exes endeavor to avoid one another could crash back together . " This is a relationship story . You want a space that forces us into all of those awkward bit with ex long enough to become friends again , " says Lewis - Ryan about a moral force that she calls a " queer staple . " Plus , she adds , the show demands play . " This audience want a brawl in the alley and someone light into a consortium . " She laughs . " It ’s all in the human body of the show . You want the most dramatic set of circumstance alongside the most striking report . This quad just feels so correct for queer conflict . "
" The bar has become ground zero for everyone to meet up and for drama to pass , " accord Moennig . " It really is its own character . "
The update inhalation for Dana ’s came from a real bar in Echo Park , theSemi - Tropic . Reality and fiction blur in the Semi - tropical , peculiarly on Sunday nights , when Showtime apply screening party for the new episodes . " Those first scene [ in Season 1 ] that you see when I ’m there with my girlfriend , we ’re at the Semi - Tropic . We filmed all of that on locating , " says Clayton . The fine art department , set and prop squad then repair the saloon on effectual stages between seasons one and two . Being based on a material bar , however , is why the layout remains realistic , even on a soundstage .
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" rebuild a space that was in reality a location was a very trippy experience for me . It ’s awing what the artistic production department did , " says Lewis - Ryan . By building a new exercise set based on a real topographic point , they got to maintain verisimilitude while pass water real - time edits : tally newfangled john , a back patio , and changing how you get behind the bar . " In the Semi - Tropic , to get behind the bar , you have to go through the kitchen . That ’s mad ! " says Lewis - Ryan . The real - life layout made the narration hard to run : " I could never have a fit where somebody was stand behind the bar unless they were going to remain there . They were trapped . "
Of course , for any location to feel rightfully real , it ’s not just about the circle ; it ’s about the performances that take blank space there , how real the relationship that act out can experience . InGeneration Q , the ensemble mold makes all that fighting , fucking , and have a go at it feel authentic wherever they are . But in Dana ’s , it ’s Clayton ( and Tess ’s human relationship with Shane ) that lay down it find flesh and bone .
Whether she ’s extend someone a drinking , swanning around with a tray or narrowing her eyes at a trouble maker , sheisTess . Clayton tell me that she ’s bringing her real experience to the table . " I survive in New York for age and I did it all . I was in the servicing industriousness for over a tenner . I bartended , I waited tables , I hostessed , I go - go trip the light fantastic , I DJed . I know all the different personality you would run into , so I ’ve been capable to bring all of that to Tess , " she says . It ’s that experience that cause it real . " Working in night life for so long , there is specificity to sure affair like the way I make drinks or the way of life that I move through the crowd or talk to people . All of those thing come from my experience . "
Photo courtesy of The Semi-Tropic
Shane opened Dana ’s as a kind of beguilement , a way to remove herself from her life as it had been , and as time of year 3 opens , we wonder if have a bar is what Shane actually wants to be doing with her living . " Last class there was poker , and then the benefit . There ’s a lot going on there ! It ’s a lot ! Shane is n’t doing what she wants to be doing , " says Clayton . Moennig correspond : " I think it ’s true that the legal community has become much bigger than Shane had ever anticipated , and Tess only wants to make it farm and turn . I find like opening Dana ’s in the first position was a bit of a distraction from what she was dealing with at that present time , and now it ’s the question ofIs this really something that I want to keep doing?It ’s taking on a life of its own . " run Dana ’s becomes a root of conflict for Shane and Tess ’s family relationship . " They ’re not well-chosen , " Clayton says . " They both want distractions instead of communicate with each other . "
In the coming season ofGeneration Q , Dana ’s continues to play a key role , and Lewis - Ryan say we ’ve gravel tons of dramatic event to wait ahead to — as well as holiday episode that transform the space for Halloween and Thanksgiving . " Our art section really get to bend this season ! " she says . That also means that screen parties at the Semi - Tropic will continue into January , bringing the utopia to living . Those experiences make Dana ’s even more particular to Lewis - Ryan . " When I go to the screenings there on Sunday nights , I substantiate that we ramp up this thing . We write about it and then it became veridical , " she says . " I be intimate that place and I just feel worked up that we get to have a space like that . It ’s really important to look out and do things together . It undoes pity and it builds community . It ’s really special . "
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