Friday June 8, 2007 SGN.org |
 |
Volume 35 Issue 23 |
 |
|
Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008
|
 |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Seattle Gay History - Part II: Gay shared housing |
|
.jpg) |
|
| Seattle Gay History - Part II: Gay shared housing | |
|
by Don Paulson -
SGN Contributing Writer After the World War II, Gays were coming out of the closet in droves via the new Gay bars and a new awareness of what it means to be Gay and the safety in numbers. When many of the middle and upper classes moved to the suburbs they left large houses and mansions that Gays bought or rented for Gay shared housing, which offered companionship and affordable rent. Issac Monroe remembers meeting a trick in 1955 who said, "I want to introduce you to Ma.' When we arrived at this beautiful mansion on Queen Anne Hill an older man came to the door. My trick said, 'Issac, this is Ma.' He didn`t leave and rented rooms to other Gays who loved and took care of him in his old age. In turn, they lived in luxury. Starlight Hotel was a hotel in Ballard. Bob Callahan remembers: 'I was about fifteen years old and selling Times subscriptions door to door. I entered this hotel, which had spangles and colored lights in the hallway. A smiling man came to the door but he was dressed in women's clothes! A number of drags lived in the hotel in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.' John and Russell owned a large house on Capitol Hill and rented out five bedrooms to other Gay men. John also took care of his aging mother who was a loving surrogate mother to the Gay men in the house. I was living in New York City and admired Andy Warhol and wanted to buy a painting but had no extra money, so I sold a pint of blood for $5.00 and bought a signed Warhol print of Jackie Kennedy from the Leo Castelli Gallery. Years later, back in Seattle, I loaned it to John and Russell who had insurance -- it was stolen but I got a $5,000 settlement, now worth $20,000. I suggested to a local art dealer to invest in Warhol but you'd think I suggested removal of his toe nails! A Warhol disaster series could have been purchased for $1,000 in 1963 -- one sold recently at auction for 74 million! Peterson House is one of the surviving mansions on Capitol Hill. In the late 1950s, it was a perfect house for shared housing and for open parties. It had many bedrooms that were left open, so there were parties within parties. It was rented by Bob Bedord, Pat Nesser and Del Greenlee (one of Gay Seattle's few "out" Blacks that everyone respected and loved). Many Gays in the 1950s desired the new chic apartment houses -- they respected the old houses but saw them as quaint and not to be taken seriously. Peterson House could be purchased for $50,000 in 1960 (three million today). If they had purchased Peterson House as the house aged, one would be faced with upkeep, new roof, electrical and plumbing upgrades, huge property taxes, insurance, fuel costs, etc. Few could afford such expenditures and would be forced to sell. Mercer Street Sorority House was owned by Ted, who rented out four apartments to a vivid list of bi-racial Gay men and Lesbians, artists, musicians and a variety of non-conformists. The site seemed to attract the most unusual people and continues to this day as one of the last remaining old houses on northwest Capitol Hill. Renters had many parties and brunches in spite of the ghost, who walks the halls looking for the room where 70 years ago a man cut his wrists, rolled himself up in a rug and bled to death. Over the years, residents have heard someone in the hall but of course no one is ever there. The room he searches for was removed for a two story loft apartment. When charming, erudite and sexy David moved in with Ted, he breathed new life into the 'Queer as Folk' at Sorority House. He was famous for his Sunday brunches, where there were always a few Canadians invited the night before at the Gay bars. David's most bizarre party was in the large, vacant, cobwebby and very dusty attic where you had to climb a ladder to a dimly lit and spooky space. The attic had no wiring, so David rigged up a myriad of extension cords for light and a radio for music. About 35 people showed up and were shocked at the crudeness of the attic but forgot their worries after one drink of David's punch, named 'Saint Siscelia Society Punch' (containing May Wine, Champagne, Peach Brandy, Rum and Gin). The party was a success with who's who in the Gay world in attendance. Since there was no bathroom in the attic, David put a funnel at the end of a garden hose and dropped it down to a tiny garden for drainage. Since there were so many worldly people who lived at Sorority House, a number of their famous friends visited it, such as Vincent Price, Raymond Burr, Bobby Short, Governor Dixie Lee Ray, Ivar Hagland, Guy Anderson, Moby Grape and composer Allan Hovhness. The rock group, It's a Beautiful Day, the Gay owned Lux Sit Light Show Co. and Seattle's high society, after David opened an art gallery in apartment 101 in 1962. Mademoiselle Magazine featured the gallery. A young Mormon and closet Gay in #201 cut a secret trap door into the attic from his apartment and proceeded to cultivate fifty marijuana plants. Needless to say, he was evicted and took the plants with him. Later he committed suicide due to closet problems, family and church pressures. There were other shared housing at the time, such as Dan's in the University District and Skippy LaRue's house at 4010 Aurora and, later, a stately home at 1714 16th Avenue. Two renters, Vic and Don were AWOL from the Army and passed themselves off as hustlers so the Army would discharge them on a general discharge and not a dishonorable discharge if they were found to be Gay. They stole some house money and never paid the rent. After months of lame excuses, Skippy picked up his shotgun and fired two shots into the wall. It only left a small hole but when the charge came out the kitchen wall, the hole was huge and plaster was splattered all over the place. Ben and Vic fled. Another delinquent renter, who was in an upstairs bedroom, rushed down the stairs and yelled, "You could have killed me!" Skippy said, "Well, you're no good anyway.' When the house was demolished to make way for the Seattle Mental Health complex, he rented another house at 2316 85th N.E. with many bedrooms. A rock band lived there for two years and, when they moved out, the owners had to remove 6,000 pounds of trash. The bathtubs were full of beer cans and dumped ashtrays and Skippy had to take a hoe to scrape all the filth from under the tubs, mold and all. Skippy recalls: "When I took over the place, I discovered a girl in one of the filthy bedrooms. I'm the housekeeper she said. I said, Jesus Christ girl, I wouldn't admit it! You have two minutes to move out.' |
|
.jpg) |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
copyright Seattle Gay News - DigitalTeamWorks 2007