Chinanu Okoli: In West Hollywood, one of America’s most famous boozy neighborhoods, Justice Kay spends his Wednesday nights like a lot of other queer guys in Los Angeles….at a bar.

Justice Kay: “It’s kind of the only really option for you to go and develop a sense of community sometimes.” 

Chinanu Okoli: But instead of holding a shot, or a cocktail or a beer, when you run into justice at his favorite hangout, the Beaches bar on Santa Monica Boulevard, you’re going to find him holding something a little bit different. A video game controller.

And instead of asking his nearest barmate if they want another round, you’ll find justice asking a different question.

“Wanna Smash Bro?”

The tongue-in-cheek inquiry is a coded reference to one of the hottest  game nights in WeHo, when each Wednesday dozens of LGBTQ+ patrons pour into Beaches for “Wanna Smash Bro?” – a weekly meetup where patrons play rounds of Nintendo’s Super Mario Smash Brothers for hours on end. 

The goal? to foster community in a way that decenters alcohol… albeit in one the most well known alcohol-centered queer social districts in the country. 

Kay first learned about ‘Wanna Smash Bro’ six months ago when, while walking by beaches one afternoon, he heard the iconic theme music of the game he’d spent thousands of hours playing growing up.

Stepping inside Beaches, Kay was transported. Inside the bar, patrons huddled around tv screens, frantically clicking controllers, laughing and sharing jokes. They teased each other and egged each other on. 

That evening Kay joined in. And since then, he’s been back every week.

JK: “Coming here, playing a few rounds of smash bros., then going with a friend to get like, food over there, then going to like insomnia cookies to get cookies, then one of our members is a drag performer so watching her perform like, right here in the bar while we’re playing is insane.” 

‘Wanna Smash Bro’ started last fall when Beaches employee David Zavoda invited his sober friends to a Smash Bros tournament at the bar for his 22nd birthday. An instant hit, bar managers quickly encouraged him to make the event weekly.

DZ: “I think it really nurtures an actual community and kind of brings back to like, what being gay is. It’s about togetherness, you know? 

The new form of community resonated with Beaches customers. But there was another aspect, Zavoda says, that really seemed to speak to patrons. 

DZ: “I feel like this event, it really took off because people didn’t feel so pressured to drink.”

When Zavoda first came to west hollywood from the east coast as a teenager, he felt like he had to use drugs and alcohol in order to fit in and be respected. 

DZ: “I thought that’s what being gay was. Because it’s like, what else are you supposed to do? For real, where else are we meeting besides the bars and clubs?”

Those social pressures quickly grew into something more however when, by 21, Zavoda had become addicted to alcohol and cocaine and began seeking treatment for substance abuse .

Zavoda isn’t alone. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults, often looking to find community or escape their demons, are more likely than their straight counterparts to use substances, experience mental health issues, and comtemplate suicide. But events like “Wanna Smash Bro”, where attendees don’t need alcohol to enjoy themselves, are helping.

DZ: “I’m not doing this to build  business, I’m doing this to build a community and nurture it.” 

And in building the Smash Bros community, Beaches has begun to attract a variety of customers. 

Justin Kilner: “Everybody’s fun and friendly and you can’t really ask for too much more than that.”

Justin Kilner, another ‘smash bro’, has lived in L.A. for five years. He’s not sober or dealing with any alcohol or substance abuse, but still found “Wnna Smash Bro” to be welcoming in a way that other gay events in the city are not.

Justin: “When i find myself in WeHo, sometimes I find myself disconnected in the environment, especially if i’m not trying to get super hammered, and i’m trying to actually meet people, I feel like this is a great group.”

Now, as Smash Bros continues to grow in popularity and attendance, Zavoda is hoping to turn the event into a professional competitive tournament.

DZ: “I just want to see it keep getting bigger and bigger, I see more people come out every single week and also just seeing how good people are getting at this game, of course one day, it’s gonna be our main focus.”

But for smash brother patrons like Justin Kilner and Justice Kay, their biggest hope, of fostering a community they perhaps didn’t even know they needed, has already come true. 

JK: “I think what I really wanted was a close group of queer friends around my age, which is something I never had before and this group has definitely given me that.”