Jewel Thais-Williams—the founder of Jewel’s Catch One, L.A.’s first Black-owned LGBTQIA+ nightclub—has died at age 86, media outlets reported.
DJ Mag reported that the team at Catch One wrote on Instagram that it was “honoring the life” of Thais-Williams “with heavy hearts,” adding, “a visionary, activist, healer, and mother to many, her legacy transcends nightlife, reverberating through community health, advocacy, and the fight for acceptance and safety. She welcomed everyone under her roof and transformed our city. Today we honor her spirit and aim to carry forward her message of love, resilience, and unity at Catch One.”
Born in Indiana in 1939 before moving to San Diego as a child, Thais-Williams eventually opened Jewel’s Catch One, also known as “The Catch,” in the Arlington Heights neighborhood of LA in 1973. The venue became the city’s first Black-owned queer club, and counted Ella Fitzgerald, Madonna, Donna Summer and Whitney Houston among its visitors, the Los Angeles Times reported. The club was later bought out in 2015, during which it changed its name from Jewel’s Catch One to Catch One.
In a 1995 interview with the LGBTQ+ series In the Life, she shared that Black patrons dealt with hostility and discrimination at Los Angeles queer clubs, and so she wanted to open a venue where everyone was welcome, according to Eater LA. A documentary named after the venue was released in 2016.
Alongside her work with Catch One, Thais-Williams was a community activist. In 1989, she opened Rue’s House with her wife, Rue Thais-Williams; the organization provided healthcare and social services to women and children living with HIV/AIDS. She also co-founded the Minority AIDS Project and was a board member of the AIDS Project Los Angeles.
National Black Justice Collective (NBJC) Executive Director and CEO Dr. David J. Johns issued a press release that Windy City Times received. He stated, “Jewel Thais-Williams was more than an icon; she was a guiding force for generations of Black LGBTQ+ people who longed to be seen, celebrated, and safe. She was a tireless advocate, a revolutionary, and the matriarch of a movement that has always depended on our ability to dance, love, and survive. … NBJC honors Jewel’s lifetime of service and the joy she made possible. We send our condolences to her wife, Rue, and all who carry forward her legacy of care and community. We will continue to build the world she knew was possible—one rooted in Black freedom, love, and infinite possibility.”