Gay Bathhoe - The Stranger

Contents:

• GAY BATHHOE
• WHERE TO FD THE GHOSTS OF SEATTLE'S FIRST GAYBORHOOD
• THE STRANGER'S GUI TO THE BT GAY CLUBS, SHOPS, AND BARS SEATTLE
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• SEATTLE'S PREMIER MEN'S JACK-OFF CLUB ISN'T JT FOR GAY GUYS
• GAY SEX BATHHOE - Q SNA & SPA
• SEATTLE GAY SNAS
• QUEEN CY COM OUT: EXPLORG SEATTLE'S LBIAN AND GAY HISTORY, BY THE NORTHWT LBIAN & GAY HISTORY MM PROJECT
• MAPPG SEATTLE'S GAY AND LBIAN HISTORY
• CLUB ZSEATTLEMENUHOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSCISE CLUBSSNASCY GUIGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPCLUB Z

GAY BATHHOE

Every once a while, as though strand si a gay Advent lendar, I e upon a room wh the door popped open and a guy si eher lyg nu on his tummy or jackg off while his ey stare out to the hallway. Walkg back to my room, I nsir how eply reassurg mt be for gay men to know that, at any time of day or night, and wh very ltle effort and expense, they n get head on the fly, no strgs attached. Begng the 1930’s wh the openg of the Caso Pool Hall, which allowed same-sex dancg, until the mid-1970’s wh clubs such as Shelly’s Leg, Pneer Square was the center of early public gay life Seattle.

Bill Park, a dishwasher at the Mombo, reunts that, “The Mo was a mixed crowd until 1955, when beme mostly gay - except for daytime, when office workers, urthoe workers, lawyers and judg me for lunch…The menu was sophistited; Coquille St. There were no gay bars on Capol Hill at that time.

The Mombo, open om 1951 to 1978, served a val role as a meetg place for early gay anizatns.

WHERE TO FD THE GHOSTS OF SEATTLE'S FIRST GAYBORHOOD

The Queen Cy Bs Guild, an anizatn of bar owners that would eventually bee today’s Greater Seattle Bs Associatn, as well as the Uned Ebony Council, a black gay male anizatn found 1975, and part of the Court of Seattle wh s emprs and royalty, both ed the Mombo for early anizatnal meetgs. The Dorian Society was Seattle’s early homophile anizatn, as most gay groups were lled durg this era.

THE STRANGER'S GUI TO THE BT GAY CLUBS, SHOPS, AND BARS SEATTLE

In addn to tradnal tnal efforts such as a newsletter, the Dorian Society had a speakers bure to speak Seattle public schools, appeared on rad programs, led tours of gay bars for a program lled Urban Plunge, and hosted drag balls. Sourc: The Land at Our Feet: Prervg Pneer Square’s Queer Landspe, Richard Cy Com Out: Explorg Seattle's Lbian and Gay History created by The Northwt Lbian & Gay History Mm Project. The baths beme the South End Steam Baths the early 1940s and served a gay clientele.

While not the only gay bathhoe Seattle, the South End was certaly the olst.

Although baths are often thought of as a purely sexual space, they were also an important social space for gay men.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

Many of the baths were exclively gay and were often ls prone to police raids than the bars, so they tend to be one of the saft public spac available to gay men at this time.

Queen Cy Com Out: Explorg Seattle's Lbian and Gay History created by The Northwt Lbian & Gay History Mm Project. The Garn of Allah was loted at 1213 First Avenue on the outskirts of Pneer Square near Downtown Garn of Allah was a mid-20th century gay baret that opened 1946 the basement of the Victorian-era Arlgton Hotel. It’s the same thg wh this regnn, you had so ltle plac to meet people; not everybody who was gay went to a gay tavern.

SEATTLE'S PREMIER MEN'S JACK-OFF CLUB ISN'T JT FOR GAY GUYS

Sourc: An Eveng at the Garn of Allah: A Gay Cabaret Seattle, Don Plson.

One patron, Dale Peters, scribed his experienc the clter of queer spac south of Yler Way as: “I jt was not aware that there were gay bars, that there was any kd of social life.

GAY SEX BATHHOE - Q SNA & SPA

Gay bars, that gay people uld go to and feel fortable. I’m sorry, there were two steam baths at that time that were equented by gay people. Dale Peters, terview by Northwt Lbian and Gay History Mm Project, January 11, 1998, transcript.

As the Edorial Director/Co-Owner, Michael Strangeways wr, eds and do about a ln other jobs for Seattle Gay Scene, Puget Sound's most vised LGBTQ news, arts and entertament webse now celebratg s 14th year as a media outlet.

SEATTLE GAY SNAS

Christopher FrizzelleWh Pri season upon and bs utly re-openg, now might be a nice time to spend some time Seattle’s tradnal gayborhood: The mudflats below the Deadle. Long before Capol Hill beme the home of rabow crosswalks, and before Renton Hill was briefly Seattle’s gay statn the 1970s, Pneer Square (as the mudflats are now known) was where all the seedy, secret, same-sex actn happened. Seattle went through wav of moral eedom and moral panic, but for most of the cy’s post-lonizer history, gay life was centered around Send Avenue and S.

Next door was the upstairs gay bar The Double Hear — which state liquor spectors, who had to approve all bar nam, were too nse to realize was a sexual phemism.

Opened 1934, would bee the longt-operatg gay bar Seattle until closed 2015. In general, highris and parkg lots have replaced all of Pneer Square’s gay hnts.

QUEEN CY COM OUT: EXPLORG SEATTLE'S LBIAN AND GAY HISTORY, BY THE NORTHWT LBIAN & GAY HISTORY MM PROJECT

One of the most famo of the neighborhood’s gay bars was Shelly’s Leg, though was only open for a few years the 1970s. Shelly Bman was a drifter stayg wh some gay iends when she attend a Bastille Day para Pneer Square; a flty non blew a solid wad of nfetti to the crowd, htg her and requirg the amputatn of her leg.

MAPPG SEATTLE'S GAY AND LBIAN HISTORY

It was Seattle’s first real dis, and had a giant sign out ont readg “Shelly’s Leg is a GAY BAR provid for Seattle’s gay muny and their guts. At one pot the 1960s, the police even nspired to open a gay bar across the street om police headquarters.

It’s a ttament to queer peopl’ sheer force of will and tense need to nnect that they were able to endure the homophobia and rptn the police force to the extent that they had to orr to keep the doors open. Eventually, revelopment changed the face of Pneer Square, and the burgeong boulevard of Broadway on Capol Hill, upled wh the availabily of hog after the Boeg Bt, lured the gayborhood away om s early roots. Personally, I thk the gay ghosts of the People’s Theater, the Double Hear, and the Atlas Steam Bath serve a ltle more than we’ve given them.

CLUB ZSEATTLEMENUHOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSCISE CLUBSSNASCY GUIGAY WEDDGSGAY MAPCLUB Z

Though there are gay people and gay bs throughout Seattle, Capol Hill is tradnally the gay neighborhood, and ’s where you’ll fd most of the gay bars, the cy’s only lbian bar, and a few zany crosswalks pated the lors of the rabow.