Seattle city officials believed that the city was not doing enough to enforce laws discriminating against homosexuality and feared that eventually it would be as openly acceptable as in cities such as San Francisco. Owners of such establishments would frequently bribe law enforcement to ensure their survival as well as prevent harassment of their mostly gay clientele and escape legal consequences themselves. Stories of Exile and Belonging, may be likened to the African-Americans who used churches to organize during the civil rights movement.ĭuring the 1950s, when anti-sodomy laws were still in effect in the United States, gay bars, clubs and bathhouses became scrutinized. In the 1950s and 1960s, Seattle's dance clubs served as important points for the gay community to meet and strategize, which according to Gary Atkins, author of Gay Seattle.
Performances would change, with ever-more flamboyant costuming, more energetic and choreographed dancing and even laser shows." In the 1970s vaudeville had changed and Seattle began the trend of courts, public drag clubs "with 'emperors' and 'empresses' where "lip –synching would remove the need for singing talent and open the way to any man who could dance, quip, or even just costume. In the 1960s and 1970s new gay Seattle hotspots such as the Mocambo, the Golden Horseshoe and the Golden Crown opened. It was a hotspot in the post war period with service-persons, but in the 1960s the military made most gay establishments in Seattle off-limits. Regular vaudeville and drag shows were held there with singers dressed in drag. The Garden of Allah was the most popular homosexual Seattle cabaret in the 1940s and 1950s. The Greyhound bus depot, Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, and the restrooms in the University Plaza Hotel and at the University of Washington were also known as meeting spots for gay men. Both were open to both gay and straight clientele during the 1930s. The Spinning Wheel on Union Street and 2nd Avenue, was a cabaret featuring female impersonators. The Double Header above The Casino, opened in 1934, was possibly the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the United States until it closed at the end of December 2015.
CAPITOL HILL GAY BARS SEATTLE FREE
The Casino, opened in 1930 on the corner of Washington Street and 2nd Avenue, was known as "the only place on the West Coast that was open and free for gay people", and where same-sex dancing was allowed. Pioneer Square, also known as "Skid Road" or "Fairyville," with its bars, clubs, and cabarets probably was the center of early public gay life in Seattle.
In the 1920s and 1930s, early establishments open to homosexuals were concentrated in areas of ill repute. The Washington Sodomy Law was adopted in 1893, and in the same year, a King County court sentenced Charles Wesley to seven years at hard labor for "intent to know" Eddie Kalberg, "a male person".
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