Da Poetry Lounge was originally hosted in Basco’s living room for three years before expanding to the Greenway Court Theatre.
[3] In 2010, Javon Johnson published “Manning Up: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Los Angeles' Slam and Spoken Word Poetry Communities”, an essay addressing the prevalence of sexism at Da Poetry Lounge.
[5] From March 2020 to November 2021, DPL held their events virtually in order to keep workers, performances, and audience members safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
[6][7] On December 30, 2022, Tonya Ingram, a poet who frequented Da Poetry Lounge and performed on DPL’s 2015 team at the National Poetry Slam, passed away from kidney failure.
[8] Da Poetry Lounge has featured performances from Yesika Salgado,[9] Walela Nehanda,[10] Elizabeth Acevedo,[11] Alyesha Wise,[12] Tonya Ingram,[13] Olivia Gatwood,[14] Rudy Francisco,[15] Kevin Coval,[16] Dante Basco,[17] and Javon Johnson.