In 1954, Mike Connolly, the gay gossip columnist for the Hollywood Reporter from 1951 to 1966, was described by Newsweek as probably the most influential columnist inside the movie colony, the one writer who gets the pick of trade items, the industry rumors, the policy and casting switches. He was indeed one of the most talented and influential members of the Hollywood press of his time, and his column, for those who could read between the lines, was a daily chronicle of gay goings-on. Fifty years later, his cumulative output is a virtually untapped lode of gay Hollywood history. Mike...

Generations of Ogdenites have grown up absorbing 25th Street's legends of corruption, menace, and depravity. The rest of Utah has tended to judge Ogden--known in its first century as a "gambling hell" and tenderloin, and in recent years as a degraded skid row--by the street's gaudy reputation. Present-day Ogden embraces the afterglow of 25th Street's decadence and successfully promotes it to tourists. In the same preservationist spirit as Denver's Larimer Square, today's 25th Street is home to art galleries, fine dining, live theater, street festivals, mixed-use condominiums, and the Utah...