To kick off the Los Angeles area’s LGBT Pride weekend, The Huntington will host An Evening Among the Roses: A Celebration of the LGBT Community at The Huntington. The elegant garden party celebrates and thanks the many past and ongoing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender contributions to the institution.

The evening will highlight the Huntington’s LGBT collections and honor pioneering portrait artist and long-time Angeleno, Don Bachardy amid The Huntington’s stunning roses, and features the rare evening access to the Huntington Art Gallery, a live DJ set by Matthew Rubino of Project Slate, drinks, hors d’oeuvres and more.

Don Bachardy, renowned American portrait artist and life partner of author Christopher Isherwood. Isherwood (1904–1986) is best known for The Berlin Stories, on which the musical Cabaret was based, and for his novel A Single Man. The Huntington holds the archive of Isherwood’s papers, including correspondence from his closest friends—W. H. Auden, E. M. Forster, and Stephen Spender—and from Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams, and Somerset Maugham; 50 Bachardy portraits of individuals are represented in the Isherwood papers.

The event is open to all and tickets are $45 and must be purchased in advance. For tickets, to make a donation to support the event, or for additional information, visit http://huntington.ticketleap.com/aneveningamongtheroses.

Event chairs are Jonathan Weedman (Wells Fargo Foundation) and Raymundo Baltazar (“Project Runway”). An Evening Among the Roses is made possible by Wells Fargo. Additional support has been provided by Whole Foods, Merrill Lynch Pasadena, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the David Bohnett Foundation, HSBC, the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, Uptown Gay and Lesbian Alliance, and ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries.

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens is a collections-based research and educational institution serving scholars and the general public.