[dropcap]L[/dropcap]et heterosexual America have its Miss Atlanta, Miss Phoenix, Miss New Orleans, etc., contests. In gay America, it’s Mr. (Your City Here) Leather that wears the crown (or leather sash).
In Los Angeles, the contest is a rolling series of events (ten this year and last) by various leather groups at which individual candidates are chosen to compete in March for the Mr. LA Leather 2014 title. The latest contest was Saturday night at the Eagle LA, the city’s pre-eminent leather bar, where Eric Paul Leue was named Eagle LA Mr. Leather 2014.
Leue, 27 and a native of Berlin, describes himself as a “nerd, chocolate addict, family guy.” The “nerd” descriptor may be an allusion to his position as the Los Angeles account executive at BinWise, a San Francisco firm that produces online applications for the beverage industry. Leue joined BinWise in 2013 after moving to Los Angeles from Europe, where he had worked in Berlin and London in the hospitality business and run his own branding agency, EPL Brand Services.
Leue now joins six other contestants: Milo Elenez, named in January as Mr. Pistons Leather at Pistons Bar in Long Beach; Gabriel Green, named Mr. LA Leather Bear 2014 in November at Pistons; Derek Paul, named in November as Mr. Sanctuary Leather 2014 at Sanctuary LAX in Lennox; Andy Covarrubias, named in October as Mr. Regiment 2014 at the Eagle LA; Nick Oliver, named Mr. Christopher Street West Leather 2014 last June at Fubar, and Jordan Frink, chosen as Mr. Sister Leather 2014 in a September contest at the Eagle LA produced by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
Remaining contests include Mr. Oil Can Harry’s Leather, which begins at 7 p.m. next Sunday at Oil Can Harry’s in Studio City; Mr. SoCal Leather at 9 p.m. Feb. 14 at the Eagle, and Mr. Bullet Leather, at 10 p.m. Feb 15 at Bullet Bar in North Hollywood.
The Mr. LA Leather contest will be held Mar. 29 at a location to be determined. It is preceded and followed by a series of events from Mar. 23 through 30, with details available online.
Photographer Robert Green of Motorboot Photography captured a few more images of the Mr. Eagle LA Leather contest, shown on the pages that follow.
