Whether the riot actually happened, the date, location and whether or not the cafe was a branch of the Cooper chain are all disputed, and there is a lack of contemporary documentary evidence,[1] with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) stating that any records of such event would have been purged years ago.

[5] Novelist John Rechy, who says he was present at the riot, described the routine arrests in his 1963 novel, City of Night: "They interrogate you, fingerprint you without booking you: an illegal L.A. cop-tactic to scare you from hanging around.

"[6] The names of individuals arrested in a bar raid would routinely be reported by local newspapers, outing them to the community, usually resulting in the loss of jobs and being socially ostracized.

[1] A common version of the story says that Cooper Do-nuts was a café at 215 South Main Street in downtown Los Angeles' Skid Row neighborhood.

[citation needed] Mark Thompson, a historian who lived in the same area as Rechy, wrote: "I would not describe it as a riot but more like an isolated patch of local social unrest that had lasting repercussions.

"[5] In 2020 the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council considered making Cooper Do-nuts a historical site and requested police records to corroborate Rechy's account of the riots.

[12] On June 22, 2023, as the City of Los Angeles erected a ceremonial Cooper Do-nuts Square sign at 2nd and Main Streets, the LAPD made a formal apology for its harassment of gay citizens.