Let's face . Philalphia, beg perhaps the most historilly md cy the untry, boasts a e-long long list of “firsts” and “olsts.” The obv qutns to ask are “What was the first gay bar here?” and “Which is the olst existg gay bar Philly today?” Rtenhoe Square, 1953. John J. Wilx Jr. LGBT…
Contents:
- GAY OLD TIM
- DICK CLARK’S SECRET: ‘BANDSTAND’ DANCERS WERE HAVG A GAY OLD TIME
- 1920S AND 30S: GAY BARS SURFACE
- THE PHILALPHIA GAYBORHOOD GU
- GAY OLD TIM
- THE 7 BT GAY BARS PHILALPHIA
- KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
GAY OLD TIM
* a gay old time philadelphia *
Philalphia may be one of the most gay-iendly ci Ameri, but wasn’t always that way.
DICK CLARK’S SECRET: ‘BANDSTAND’ DANCERS WERE HAVG A GAY OLD TIME
The bt gay bars Philalphia ter to everyone om sports fans and leather daddi to dance floor queens. * a gay old time philadelphia *
Trackg down the gay pneers who first settled the blocks between Broad Street and Washgton Square, Amy Korman hears tal of urage, crisis, muny, drag queens and Frank Rizzo — and chronicl the makg of the place we ll the Gayborhood. Jane Jabs, the thor of The Death and Life of Great Amerin Ci, talks about Rtenhoe Square the ’50s as one of the most succsful parks Ameri, and pegged Washgton Square as the center of homosexuals and generat.
Center Cy is honeybed wh ltle streets like Dry Lane and Camac Street, and the gay bars were on those ltle ty streets. The olst gay bar the untry was Maxe’s, which is now Tavern on Camac.
1920S AND 30S: GAY BARS SURFACE
Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay. * a gay old time philadelphia *
Thom Nickels, thor, Gay and Lbian Philalphia, and archecture lumnist for the Bullet and In magaze: Maxe’s was really elegant.
It was like the gay bar for the Socially David: A lot of gentlemen told me that even before I was born, you’d know they were gay if they wore a red tie and a red handkerchief when they went to Dry Nickels: The Allegro was really the happeng place, but the Dry was this charmg piano bar; they had great manhattans. At the Allegro, I n remember guys wh tambour on the dance floor, and the excement — we kd of knew that the future was wi open, and there was this kd of pri and pleasure beg gay. So if the homophob hadn’t thrown out, we never would have been able to get this great lotn we’re now [at 345 South 12th Street].
THE PHILALPHIA GAYBORHOOD GU
That at least is the word om a former “Amerin Bandstand” dancer who claims a recently published book that Clark knew that a signifint number of the teens who appeared on his Philly-based afternoon dance-party program--known natnwi as the “Regulars”--were gay. As such, she ntued, was imperative that Clark keep the facts away om his advertisers and the public at large, which, overall, was nowhere near as acceptg of alternative liftyl as is today (back then, homosexuals many lol faced arrt, prosecutn, and rceratn, not to mentn officially sanctned harassment).
There was no way the ‘50s someone was gonna unrstand about homosexualy. Clark’s rponse, she noted, was to rid the show of those he knew to be gay.
” Nohels, she scribed an acceptance of the gay kids that ntraven much of what we believe to be te about societal mor of the late 1950s.
GAY OLD TIM
1920s and 30s: Gay bars surface. Tavern on Camac is one of the olst gay bars Philalphia, if not the olst. Was a Prohibn-era speakeasy and “gentleman’s club” lled Maxe’s, where lol gay men, soldiers, and sailors would nverge.
A lot of socializg among the cy’s queer rints durg the ’40s and ’50s happened at hoe parti anized by Quaker-affiliated groups, acrdg to thor Marc Ste, who vered the era his book “Cy of Sisterly and Brotherly Lov: Lbian and Gay Philalphia. 1950s: Gayborhood = Rtenhoe Square. Durg the middle of the century Rtenhoe Square was the cy’s gay moment.
THE 7 BT GAY BARS PHILALPHIA
“Saturday night is the gayt night of the week, ” read a story on the Rtenhoe queer scene Greater Philalphia Magaze. Unr Mayor Frank Rizzo, the cy put up signage around the Square to disurage gay people om cisg.
KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
In 1962, the Jan Society was found Philalphia, makg one of the first rerd and publicly known “homophile” anizatns the cy.
Dewey’s, a malted k and ice cream vendg cha, had two stor that remaed on the Philly gaydar.
Dewey’s Rtenhoe lotn, on the other hand, would ny service, discrimatg agast “homosexuals, ” “mascule women, ” “feme men” and “persons wearg non-nformist clothg.