'Able to be me': Peepa's owner works to further Palm Springs' status as LGBTQ-friendly

Jeff Witthuhn moved to Palm Springs in 2016 with entrepreneurial intentions.

The bright-mannered, 41-year-old Wisconsin native has a long background in retail, and in August 2018, he opened Peepa’s on North Palm Canyon Drive. The shop carries a vibrant assortment of clothing, art and gifts, and in the winter, boasts a colorful assortment of Christmas trees decorated with items for purchase.

Witthuhn curates the inventory from local and independent artists, and many of them are women, Black and/or members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“It's an honor to be able to give these designers and artists a platform and exposure,” Witthuhn said. “If I could carry more people, I would, but I'm confined to my four walls.”

Witthuhn chose to set up shop in Palm Springs because he thinks highly of the city, and believes it’s in the “upper echelon” when it comes to promoting diversity, acceptance and equality.

His store reflects those values while radiating an Instagrammable aesthetic. The space is sprinkled with bold iconography of Democratic politicians that come in the form of coffee mugs, art prints and even ornaments.

The clothes he sells vary in texture, pattern and color, but most fall within the mid-century modern aesthetic that's so emblematic of Palm Springs. He also sells books on everything from drag culture to sexual anatomy, which are displayed on a shelf under trendy neon signs.

“The man is fabulous at merchandising, I've never seen anybody as good as he is,” said Peepa's employee Cheryl Burss. “He pays a lot of attention to where he puts his merchandise.”

A fresh start in Palm Springs

Witthuhn began working in retail when he was 16 years old and held various positions in the industry.

However, his relocation to Palm Springs was not only to pursue business ambitions. Witthuhn wanted to free himself from the societal worries he dealt with back in Wisconsin.

As a gay man, he was self conscious about kissing his partner in public or going to a grocery store wearing attire “deemed as gay clothes.”

He recalled altercations of getting punched in the face at a bar and teenagers yelling anti-gay slurs at him while he was on his way to a high school basketball game.

In Palm Springs, those worries don’t cross his mind.

“I will never move out of Palm Springs because every day I wake up appreciative of just being able to be me,” Witthuhn said. “Those things don't exist in my reality out here and I would never want to leave that.”

Community Marketing & Insights reported that 36% of individuals surveyed within the American LGBTQ community have relocated within the past two years, and 11% of them indicated moving to another state.

The data comes from the market researcher's 16th Annual LGBTQ Community Survey, which gathered intel from 14,843 respondents across the United States (including Puerto Rico).

Of the respondents who indicated they'd moved, 45% said the choice was driven by a desire to improve their quality of life. Witthuhn believes most people who move to Palm Springs come for the same reason.

“Nobody is from here, right?” Witthuhn said. “Everybody chose to move here, which I think contributes to the culture, because people are here by choice.”

Witthuhn said Palm Springs' LGBTQ-friendly culture is largely due to its marketing. He credited both Visit Palm Springs and the Gay Desert Guide for their focus on inclusive representation in marketing materials.

What inclusivity looks like

The Gay Desert Guide is a website that helps people find events and activities that are of interest to the LGBTQ+ community.

The owner of the website, Brad Fuhr, began operations almost 10 years ago and has a print, digital and radio media background in Los Angeles and Chicago.

He saw an opportunity in the digital space in Palm Springs when he noticed there wasn’t a comprehensive website to find restaurants, LGBTQ+ friendly businesses and things to do in the area.

“When I came to Palm Springs, nobody was doing digital right,” Fuhr said. “That's why I created Gay Desert Guide, to capture and encapsulate all of that.”

The website compiles its index of businesses through prospecting establishments and accepting inquiries from businesses that want to join. The businesses are then allowed to self identify as LGBTQ+ friendly and if they receive a complaint, Fuhr said the Gay Desert Guide will step in to give advice or training.

He gave the example of a business that caters to LGBTQ+ weddings.

“If they don't have any imagery on their website that shows two men or two women together, we will tell them in order to really make this appeal to our people you need to have representation on your website,” said Fuhr.

Throughout his time in Palm Springs, Fuhr said he's noticed a plethora of young entrepreneurs entering the marketplace.

Palm Springs used to be a provincial town that housed long-established businesses, he said, and there “wasn't a lot of new innovation.”

“When I started Gay Desert Guide 10 years ago, we had many of the same business owners who had been here for years.” said Fuhr. “That's really changed in the last few years, especially during the COVID crisis.”

Witthuhn is one such young entrepreneur. He opened Peepa’s almost four years ago, and the store is one of the many establishments found in the Gay Desert Guide’s directory of LGBTQ-friendly businesses.

Witthuhn makes sure his staff at Peepa’s is friendly to everybody that walks in — even to those who may not align with the store's values.

The store once displayed a portrait of Vice President Kamala Harris on its window, Witthuhn recalled, and through the doorway, a woman once peeked inside to say “I hate that bitch.”

“Some people that come in aren't our vibe and it is what it is,” he said. “We still do our best to be nice and give them the same customer service as everybody else.”

He tells his staff to act like hosts of a cocktail party and to greet customers as their guests. He also wants them to be the ambassadors of the artists they carry and to tell their stories.

“The standards that Jeff holds us to are pretty high,” said Peepa’s employee Aleesha Lang. “Just like the products are curated, the staff is also curated. These are people that Jeff trusts.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Peepa's owner found refuge in Palm Springs' LGBTQ-friendly culture