Bruce of Los Angeles was a pseudonym used by photographer Bruce Bellas to market his photographs of the male physique. Bellas was born and lived in Alliance Nebraska where he was a chemistry teacher. It was in 1947,that he left Alliance and moved to California and changed careers to work as a photographer. He quickly gained a reputation as a photographer in the bodybuilding world and did work for Joe Weider for one of his magazines. He also photographed models in his home on Kensington Road (Bruce made 4 photographic magazines called Kingston Road) in Long Beach. He became a significant pioneer in the development of the American gay aesthetic.
As it was before 1968 Male Erotica was not allowed (postal regulations and obscenity laws) to show male frontal nudity, so Bruce would travel to cities with trunks full of of nude pictures to sell to clients from hotel rooms. He also sold his photographs by mail order and which was in demand in the 1950s and 1960s. Bruce expand his work and reputation by creating and publishing the magazine The Male Figure. Bellas continued to photograph the male physique up until his death in 1974. Following his death, Kurt Deitrick continued distributing Bellas' photographs under the name Kensington Road.
An extensive archive of Bellas' nude male physique photographs exists today, largely intact. His impact on physique photography is largely felt and recognized, and the works of Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, and Bruce Weber are widely considered to be influenced by Bellas' pioneering style. In 1990, the Wessel O'Connor Gallery in New York and the Jan Kesner Gallery in Los Angeles both exhibited a wide array of Bellas' work, furthering modern recognition of his impact. Bruce of L.A. was an icon of gay art and one of the most famous names in physique photography, Bruce Bellas is remembered today as a pioneer of beefcake. Beginning in the 1940's and continuing until his death in 1974, Bellas photographed some of the most important figures in the world of physical culture; bodybuilders Steve Reeves, Bob McCune, and George Eiferman, and models Joe Dallesandro, Mark Nixon, and Brian Idol are just a few of the countless strapping males captured by Bellas’ lens. The man who came to be known as Bruce of Los Angeles crafted a refined, masterful aesthetic of erotica, whose influence would later surface in the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, Bruce Weber, and many others. Bijou I have been an owner of numerous gay sexual business's since 1969, one of them was the Bijou Theater and sex club that closed in 2015 and Bijou World. I have been a manufacture, producer, filmmaker, wholesaler, collector and re seller of gay porn, sexuality, erotica, all things adult since 1969. I set prices for collectible item's based on what I paid, quality, rarity, market value. I cater to collectors, those who give gifts, those who are looking for a specific man, item, article etc. Bijou's inventory is over 35,000 magazines plus thousands of brochures etc. As a collector myself I dislike it when sellers misrepresent items their offering by making very general descriptions as Very Good, Excellent, Like New, New knowing that the items have creases, tears, rusted staples, very visible wear or just leaving defects out. I spend the time to give the best descriptions that accurately describes the items I'm selling so you can make an honest purchasing decision.