Serving the Los Angeles Bear community for more than 20 years.

Discover camaraderie and chosen family with Bears LA.

OUR MISSION

Bears LA is dedicated to promoting camaraderie, community, and chosen family while giving to charitable organizations and encouraging community services.

WHAT WE DO

Events and Contests

SOCIAL EVENTS

We sponsor and organize a variety of social events and produce the Bear LA and Mr. LA Leather Bear Contests.

Learn More

CHARITABLE CAUSES

We are an all-inclusive group, supporting camaraderie, fun, and friendship, while giving to charitable causes and encouraging community service.

Get Involved

WHO WE ARE

A Community of Bears

Bears LA was created in 1993 to provide a social outlet for the Los Angeles Bear community and surrounding areas.

Bears LA In Numbers

1993

ESTABLISHED

501c3

NON-PROFIT STATUS

20+

YEARS OF SERVICE

3500+

MEMBERS

Introducing our new Bears LA Vice President, Mike Klipsch @ekim1406

Mike was Mr. LA Leather Bear 2025 and is an active member of the @theregimentbt. Mike works in digital marketing.

Best Bears LA Event: Mr LA Leather Bear Contest

Bears LA Member: Since 2025

Favorite Bear: Winnie the Pooh

Bears LA represented STRONG at the Fetish Formal Fête hosted by @roughtradegear Thank you to everyone who made this incredible night possible including @eagle_la @avatarclubla and especially @hyliaphoto for capturing this beautiful moment with our family. Moments like this are when we are at our best as a community. TOGETHER AND UNITED. 🐻❤️

Introducing our new Bears LA President, Brian Hettler @midasheart

Brian Hettler is our current Mr. LA Leather Bear and holds the title of reigning Mr. LA Leather 2026. He is an active member of the @ladragnuns as well as the @imperialcourtoflahollywood Brian is the owner of a marketing agency called Fingerprint Creative Inc.

Best Bears LA Event: Mac & Cheese Cookoff.

Bears LA Member: Since 2023

Favorite Bear: Baloo

It’s happening! 🐻

Over the next week, we’re gonna start introducing the new Bears LA Board of Directors 👀

A bunch of really good humans stepping up to help shape what’s next for this community we all love. Not just titles… people who care, who show up, who want to build something that actually feels like home.

Get ready to meet the crew. It’s a new chapter ❤️

So many events this weekend!!!

Bears LA is going to be everywhere, all weekend long. From happy hour hangs to late night chaos to waffles (yes, waffles), we’re showing up, supporting, celebrating, and vibing into the sunset.

If you’ve been meaning to come out, this is your moment. No pressure, no expectations. Just good people, good energy, and a whole lot of bear love.

Pull up to one thing or everything. We’ll be there either way.

Come find your people. 🐻 #BearsLA

Presenting the Bears LA 2026 Spring Games

bear-lympics
Bigger Hairier Hungrier

Singles or doubles go belly-to-belly in furocious displays of body and appetite to prove who truly has what it takes to be Top Bear.

The event is being held to raise funds for the Los Angeles LGBT Center Immigrant Legal Services.

https://lalgbtcenter.org/services/legal-services/immigrant-legal-services/

DM @bapho.matt for more information, or to enter.

In case you were curious, this is where Bears LA will be this weekend. Join us wherever you can, and if you want to become a member… you know where we’ll be! Come get some hugs and a stiff… drink. 🐻😘🍻

Last night Bears LA showed up for something special with @avatarclubla A panel on Worship and Submission that held space for honesty, vulnerability, and the many ways we connect, trust, and care for one another.

For us, this is a major part of he work. Showing up. Listening. Supporting. Standing alongside other organizations doing powerful, intentional work in our community.

We’re not here to exist in a vacuum. We’re here to build something bigger, together.

Thank you to @dznrdad @genxmaverick @drob1980 @pupspanky_flips and @mstrchris83 for facilitating and hosting such a great discussion and being so open and generous with your experiences.

Thanks for joining us for another Bear Prowl! Always fun seeing the looks from passers by, when the see a big group of sexy bears.

#bearsla #mrlaleatherbear #mrbearla #bearsonparade

Still buzzing from The Big Bear Meeting. 🐻✨

We came together at Pitfire Pizza with a room full of heart, ideas, and sexy bears who actually want to build, and it showed. BEARS 👏 SHOW 👏 UP 👏

We shared where Bears LA is headed. A return to formal membership. A new board structure. Committees to help us grow and actually get things done. A renewed focus on fundraising, community care, outreach, and building spaces where people can just be.

This next chapter is about showing up for each other, for our community, and for something bigger than any one bear.

If you have been circling, watching, or feeling curious, this is your moment to step in.
There is a link in our bio to become a member.

If you want to get involved, collaborate, or learn more, reach out. We want you in this. Big bear hugs all around! RAWR!!! 🐻🥰❤️

The temperature is warming up, and so is the competition. Come to @eagle_la Friday 5/22/2026 9pm-2am.

bear-lympics
BEARS LA 2026 Spring Games
Singles or doubles go belly-to-belly in furocious displays of body and appetite to prove who truly has what it takes to be Top Bear.

Singles or Doubles may enter.

Round 1
Parade of Bears
Display a singlet look that shows your unique Bear-sona!

Each entry will represent a bear of their choosing. We want to see what makes your bear unique.

Round 2
Bear Bodies
Show off what makes you a bear.

Body hair, muscle, belly, butt! We want to see what your bear daddy gave you.

Round 3
Beary Hungry
Category is caloric intake. The food goes in the belly.

A resounding roar for our champion, the golden bear himself. Congrats @midasheart on becoming @laleatherpride Mr LA Leather 2026.

We could not be more proud of your representation of Bears LA. On to Chicago!

📸 @motorbootphoto

#bearsla #mrlaleather #mrlaleatherbear #mrbearla

Join Bears LA for a slightly organized, highly enthusiastic pizza party where we start dreaming (and building) what’s next for Bears LA.

Here’s what’s in the picnic blanket:
We’re bringing back membership (yes, it’s happening). We’re planting the seeds for a newly imagined board (fresh energy, fresh ideas). We’re forming committees to help us actually DO THE DAMN THING.
And that means YOU! If you want to be more involved or have ideas, we would love your help with fundraising, community outreach, marketing, finance, and event production that makes you say “wait… that was a Bears LA event?!”

Bears LA has been around since 1993. It has had many evolutions, countless leaders, and helped build our community into what it is today. To every board member, titleholder, person with a pool that hosted a pool party, and past member, we want to see you, celebrate you, and thank you for keeping Bears LA alive for OVER 30 YEARS! Let’s make this chapter the best one yet!

Details Pitfire Pizza – Echo Park April 18 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Thank you to everyone who joined our Bear Prowl yesterday. Love and gratitude to our sponsor @roughtradegear and congrats to the 2 winners of $25 Rough Trade gift cards.

#mrlaleatherbear #mrbearla #bearsonparade #roughtradegear

Can you put 1 foot infront of the other? Do you like being outside? Are you able to go there and back again?

Come join Bears LA for a Bear Prowl. We will be walking from Santa Monica and Sunset to Echo Park Lake. In total it will be 5 miles. You can also meet us at the lake, and just walk there.

Please feel free to share with anyone, this is an open invite.

https://partiful.com/e/P0woU5fEQVZVNlBNaSvN?c=OsL7-h20

Bears in the desert… @toolshedps

#bearsla #mrlaleatherbear #mrbearla #leather #toolshedps

On October 7th, the Transitivity & Gender Inclusion Training was hosted by Charlie Ocean and sponsored by BearsLA Los Angeles Leather Coalition DomCom, and the Regiment of the Black and Tans

We’re proud to share that our Transgender and Nonbinary Inclusion in Leather Communities Training is now available on the Bears LA website.

Our bear and leather communities include trans, femme, and nonbinary bears, and they belong here fully, safely, and without question. This training is part of our ongoing commitment to education, accountability, and creating spaces rooted in respect, consent, and care.

The session offers practical guidance, real-world scenarios, and tools for building more inclusive community spaces. Not just in theory, but in how we show up for one another every day.

As one participant shared: “As a trans person navigating the leather community, I feel heard. I feel hopeful.”

This resource is available to members, leaders, volunteers, titleholders, and anyone who wants to help make the Los Angeles leather community safer and more welcoming for everyone.

Education is love in action. Growth is a shared responsibility. And this work continues together.
❤️🐻

Link in bio to learn more.

bear-lympics
A bear-themed contest and singlet night benefiting the Los Angeles LGBT Center – Immigrant Legal Services, which provides legal aid and support for LGBTQ+ immigrants and asylum seekers.
@lalgbtcenter

Donate today: lalgbt.center/BearsLA26

Presented By
@bearsla
President @instagabe77
Mr Bear LA 2026 @bapho.matt
Mr LA Leather Bear 2025 @ekim1406

Gold Medal Sponsor
@roughtradegear

Silver Medal Sponsor
@eagle_la

Bronze Medal Sponsor
@spunklube

Presenting Sponsor
@ibcpalmsprings

Medals by
The Trophy Guy LA

Grand Prize Raffle Sponsor
@benorsonleather

Accepting contestants now! Contact @bapho.matt to enter.

bear-lympics
BEARS LA 2026 Winter Games
Singles or doubles go belly-to-belly in furocious displays of body and appetite to prove who truly has what it takes to be Top Bear.

Singles or Doubles may enter.

Round 1
Parade of Bears
Display a singlet look that shows your unique Bear-sona!

Each entry will represent a bear of their choosing. We want to see what makes your bear unique.

Round 2
Bear Bodies
Show off what makes you a bear.

Body hair, muscle, belly, butt! We want to see what your bear daddy gave you.

Round 3
Beary Hungry
Category is caloric intake. The food goes in the belly.

Eat a cake on stage or have your partner feed you a rotisserie chicken. We want to see your bear appetite.

Presenting the Bears LA 2026 Winter Games

bear-lympics
Bigger Hairier Hungrier

Singles or doubles go belly-to-belly in furocious displays of body and appetite to prove who truly has what it takes to be Top Bear.

The event is being held to raise funds for the Los Angeles LGBT Center Immigrant Legal Services.

https://lalgbtcenter.org/services/legal-services/immigrant-legal-services/

DM @bapho.matt for more information, or to enter.

The @bearslaofficial Annual Mac & Cheese Cook-Off is back for its 7th year at @eagle_la @dirtybird_la on Sunday November 23rd from 4-8pm.

Whip up your best Mac & Cheese recipe to win one of 6 categories, or come pay $5 to be the judge and help select our winners. This is always a very fun event and you will have some of the best and mouse #most unique Mac & Cheese you’ve ever tasted!

Bears. 🐻
Leather. 🖤
Beer. 🍻
Food. 🧀

Sounds like a good Sunday to us!

Silver Lake bars like The One Way gave the leather, Levi, and biker scenes a home when the outside world wasn’t safe. More than watering holes, they were the heartbeat of a culture that still shapes us. One Night Only: One Way honors those spaces and the people who fought for joy, freedom, and visibility; their legacy living on through each of us.

This night is about honoring the One Way, celebrating the culture bars of that era created, and reminding each other why these spaces matter.

Join us on Friday, September 19, 2025 at Eagle LA to keep that spirit alive.

So proud of @bearslaofficial President @instagabe77 Thank you for fearlessly leading Bears LA and creating space for community, inclusion, a body positivity over your many years leading in LA. Go check out the full article at @losangelesblade Rawrrr! 🐻❤️

Congratulations @ekim1406 on becoming our new LA Leather Bear 2025! Welcome to the family. 🐻🖤🍻

Mr. LA Leather Bear 2024 @tonyvegaxx presents the 6th Annual Bears LA Mac & Cheese Cook-Off!!

Come show off your comfort food cooking skills! Bring your nana’s favorite recipe, your bougie best concoction, your Southern delicacy, or your childhood memory. Or just come sample the best macaroni and cheese dishes in the county during @eagle_la ’s Sunday Beer Bust.

The Categories are:
•Best Overall
•Judges’ Favorite
•Most Original
•Vivacious Veggie
•Ms. Mac & Congeniality

Contestants:
Please make 2 trays worth or 12 quarts worth if using a crockpot.

$5 Tasting Buy-In lets YOU be the judge!

Proceeds to benefit Bears LA and Bears LA Charities

Message Gabriel at gabrielvgreen@gmail.com to get on the chef’s list!!

PEEK-A-BOO @pvssycatjoey 📸: @jamiekaufmanphoto

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@bearslaofficial