The Center San Diego (LGBT Community Center)

The Center San Diego — formally the LGBT Community Center of San Diego — is one of the oldest LGBTQ+ community centres in the United States, having been founded in 1971 in the immediate aftermath of the Stonewall era. The Centre has been based in Hillcrest for much of its history and serves as the institutional anchor of San Diego's LGBTQ+ community: providing social services, health and wellness programming (including HIV/AIDS services), youth and senior programmes, legal assistance, housing support, and a range of community spaces for meeting and events. The Centre also organises San Diego Pride — one of the largest LGBTQ+ events in the United States — through its programming infrastructure, making it one of the more operationally significant community organisations in any American city. The Centre St location in Hillcrest places it in the heart of the gay neighbourhood, adjacent to the commercial corridor and accessible on foot from most of the neighbourhood's bars and restaurants. For visitors who want to understand San Diego's LGBTQ+ community beyond its nightlife, The Center is the essential contact point and the clearest window into the depth of organisation and mutual support that underpins the community.