Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Los Angeles Times story is especially valuable for reconstructing chronology. It says the controversy began when Theresa Strang bought the Blue Monkey and learned that continuing its weekly poetry readings required an entertainment license. Police allegedly threatened her with a misdemeanor, the readings stopped for six weeks, poets complained “to city officials and local newspapers,” a protest reading occurred on the City Hall steps, the Police Commission suspended enforcement, and on Monday, May 17, 1993, the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to rescind the requirement.
The Los Angeles Times story is especially valuable for reconstructing chronology. It says the controversy began when Theresa Strang bought the Blue Monkey and learned that continuing its weekly poetry readings required an entertainment license. Police allegedly threatened her with a misdemeanor, the readings stopped for six weeks, poets complained “to city officials and local newspapers,” a protest reading occurred on the City Hall steps, the Police Commission suspended enforcement, and on Monday, May 17, 1993, the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to rescind the requirement.
