The Planet

"The Planet" (from The L Word)

The Planet

Location: Presumably somewhere in West Hollywood, but the actual façade used in the filming was located in Vancouver, Canada.

Opened: January 18, 2004

Closed: March 11, 2009

From time to time, just for the heck of it, we post on a fictional womyn's space.

The Planet is one of those places, having served as the hangout for the various characters of The L Word, the infamous " television drama series portraying the lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual, straight and transgender people and their friends, connections, family and lovers in the trendy Greater Los Angeles, California city of West Hollywood"--as Wikipedia (rather awkwardly) describes it.

Initially I wanted to somehow summarize the role that The Planet played in the characters' lives, but I quickly discovered that the task was overwhelming. Especially for someone who had only viewed a couple of episodes, and never did care for the series much. So those of you who are fans, you can fill in the details from your memories.

According to Grace Chu, the Planet was actually inspired by a real-life place in Los Angeles:

The Abbey

The Abbey, originally established as a gay coffee shop in the early 1990s, is currently a gay bar and restaurant that transforms into a club on the weekends. Local L.A. lore has it that it was the inspiration behind The Planet on The L Word.

However, it has also been asserted that the Urth Caffe is the real-life inspiration.

Urth Caffe

"The Planet" in Second Life

In 2007, The Planet became what was probably one of the first lesbian places to assume a virtual existence in Second Life. It would be interesting to know if any other womyn's spaces have that honor.