Friday September 22, 2006 SGN.org |
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Volume 34 Issue 38 |
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Saturday, Aug 30, 2008
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Seattle Gay History: The golden age of Gay parties (circa. 1950s - 1960s) |
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| Seattle Gay History: The golden age of Gay parties (circa. 1950s - 1960s) | |
| by Don Paulson
- SGN Contributing Writer
In the last 50 years, Gay Seattle has enjoyed near 100 Gay bars and restaurants, beginning with the Garden of Allah in 1946. They have since been the main focus of Gay entertainment as well as house parties, then affectionately called "Sewing Circles." Both helped unite the Gay community though they didn't know it then. Before the many Gay organizations of today, none existed before 1959. The first Seattle Gay organization was the 1959 incorporated Drag Ball organization called Jamma Phi, which thrived for four years. Is it any wonder that the first Gay organization was a party scene, well deserved after 10,000 years of wishing. These were the days of an emerging Gay community when Gays were coming out in droves from the dark side of the moon, everyday a new sexy face! Residents today can only imagine how thrilling that was. Hetero emulation or not, it was all about finding a lover and living happily ever after. Sex was a given. Because of lame Seattle laws, no fresh meat or alcohol could be sold on Sundays and drinking establishments closed early. And so it came to pass that bring-your-own-beer after hours clubs and house parties spread across the fertile land with biblical ramifications! What made them golden was the honesty of the party goers. Bill Parkin who owned the Gay Pike Street Tavern remembers: "In the 1950s and early 1960s, I and other Gay bar owners would announce to bar patrons an open party at so and so address and everyone was invited - everyone! You never had to worry about anything being stolen." Madame Peabody's was the only Gay after hours club with police blessing. It offered incredible freedom of Gay expression, but one could call it too intimate in a devil may care sort of way. Gay parties offered the same revelry but were smaller, less intense and friendlier. One could interact with others, have a conversation, focus on a trick, show off your jewels or your wonderful Gay self! There was another subtle but important spin off: homosexuals gaining real estate, a right to congregate without being jailed. Unfortunately, there were few 'out' minorities at this time. For some, parties were an alternative from the Gay bars of limited intimacy at a time when innocent but 'inappropriate' touching of the same sex could be grounds for arrest. Not so with parties but they could get loud and spill out into a homophobic neighborhood. As famous party giver, Bill Parkin, recalls: "When you arrive or leave a Gay place you lower your voice and keep your hands in your pockets." For Gays who never went to the Gay bars, except when slumming, there were cocktail, dinner and garden parties, brunches, musicals, get together's to play board and card games or watch a rare television showing of 'The Wizard of Oz, etc. They were the Gays who because of their professions or family pressure could not afford to be seen in Gay scenes - including the local 'Petunia Club' and another nationwide rich, Gay elite piss elegant 'Fly-in Club' who partied in different U.S. cities where they would fly in and party in all their privileged splendor. Others only went to straight bars or were inundated with their work, the arts or those seeking refuge in an empty closet. Others just got old. Bill Plant recalls: "People were friendlier and more trusting then, of course the Gay scene was much, much smaller. We partied in ugly apartments, elegant houses and rented mansions. The mansions had great parties and gorgeous drag queens who would attend and they never failed to liven things up. It was always a pleasure when the drag entertainers performed, such as Jan Del Rio with her snakes or songstress Countess Estelle, "the only drag queen who came to Seattle in a covered wagon." Unfortunately there were few photos taken at this time - no one dared take a photo of another Gay person without their permission. At a party, one announced a photo-op. Gays back then often believed that the police collected photos and lists of suspected homosexuals. Exposure or blackmail was a real or imagined fear. Parties offered once-in-awhile drag queens a stage to radiate in all their theatrical splendor or to experiment with drag for the first time. Issac Monroe regretfully recalls: "My buddy Dan and I decided to go to this party in West Seattle in drag, so we shopped for clothes at the Goodwill in the Pike Street Market (where you could still find beaded dresses). We picked out our dresses; shapeless, navy blue stretchy silky affairs that stretched over the body and a blouse that showed a little skin and a strand of large fake pearls and earings. Our stockings were tan opaque old lady stockings and our shoes were black lace up with low heels that elderly women wore. I wore a $3.50 witch's wig I bought at the ten cent store, which I made into a bun that looked surprisingly good. Dan combed his long hair in such a way that he looked like old school teachers used to look. I wrapped a flat pillow around me. That made me look like a woman who had plenty to eat all her life, a little chunky but elegant. I had theater experience, so, my makeup was discreet - a soft pink with a little bit of lipstick. Under my costume I wore Jockey shorts. I had no clear picture of who I was, except a proper woman past her youth. I thought I was humorous as opposed to camp, but Dan blossomed into this outrageous, nice Ernestine phone lady type, opening his purse with handcuffs and muscle magazines dropping out, then snapping it shut with a loud snap and a witty response. He was the life of the party. "I was in the kitchen working on my third Martini when I was introduced to two guys who came in. I remarked how polite they were and someone said, 'They thought you were real, somebody's mother who brought you to the party.' I freaked, 'Jesus Christ, this is funny, not real!' I fled into the bathroom and looked into the mirror and silently screamed when I saw my old Aunt Fanny in the reflection. 'Oh my god, this is who I look like!' This was a time in my life when I was vain and wanted to be beautiful; a hot and sexy man and I was - with my intense blue eyes, blond hair and great body from working out for years at the gym. I began taking off all my clothes and walked out naked into the party that became stone silent. All you could hear was crickets in the background. My lover Larry was shocked and said, 'Issac, what are you doing!' I replied, 'This is who I really am! Drag is okay, but I'm not a drag queen!' I put on my shorts and dashed into the kitchen. Larry avoided me. I was miserable. I drank a couple more Martinis to drown my disastrous performance, ate a candy bar, became deathly ill and passed out. Dan and Larry carried me to the car and plopped me in the back seat of his pristine 1949 Cadillac Fleetwood, where I threw up on the floor. I was one ugly drag queen and I never went in drag again." In the early 1960s, Gay parties began to change. The Gay scene got too big for open parties, camaraderie suffered and trust became an issue. Then, the emerging drug culture cast it's own shadow. The golden age of parties was over. |
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