Danny Combs - 1968 Groovy Guy

From: The Vintage Gay Blogspot

 The Groovy Guy contest was started by Sam Winston in 1968 as a marketing tool for the then newly formed Advocate magazine and as a way to unite the Los Angeles gay community around a contest that moved away from drag events. The contest can be seen as the start of the split in the early seventies between the GLBT community. The co-sponsor for the first contest was the gay club The Hayloft, where the first contest was held.

The event was organized by Bob Barnett and John Charles, of Too Guys Productions, with the Adovcate staff doing advertising. The first contest had seven contestants and 150 people in the audience at the August 19th event. Local LA area bars submitted applicatants to be considered for the contest. The bars that participated in the first event were: The Blue Angel West, De Paul's, Klondike, Right Pocket, River Club, Sax Club, Seventh Keg, Tony Honker and the Valli Haus.

 1968 1st Groovy Guy contest winner Danny Combs