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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 2001)
august 3.2001 ». J ~ . ~ . 13 K 1 U J *>-1 m e w s T he U ntouchables this club to see some of the acts, completely unaware that they would also be seeing a gay act.” The politicians pressured the owner to stop the drag shows. And when they discovered the Music Hall and Back Stage were running under the same liquor license, both places were closed down. Another story about the Music Hall concerns Mayor Dorothy Lee’s 1949 campaign to shut down gambling and prostitution. The Women’s Protective Division, which was trying to protect women from going into prostitution, also was trying to protect women from being accosted by men. But somewhere along the line, the officers realized they needed to protect women from being accosted by other women. “They had heard that there were women picking up other women at the Music Hall,” The Burnside Triongle has a long history of controversy by P at Young s part of the ongoing effort to designate the Burnside Triangle as Portlands official gay district, historians are researching the neighborhood’s past brushes with local fame. “There are a couple of bars in the tri angle that are really important historically, and one of them is Derek’s Tavern,” notes Tom Cook, Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest co-founder. Located at 820 S.W. Oak St., the bar had several owners and names through the years. Just before it went out of business, it was the Family Zoo. Derek’s was part of the 1964 tavern contro versy in which the Oregon Liquor Control Commission tried to shut down the bars by denying them licenses. “In the mid-1960s there was a feeling that there was a proliferation of gay bars to an extent that people were becoming alarmed about it,” Cook says. The June 29, 1964, edition of the Oregon Journal reads, “The unmentionable people are virtually untouchable people and they are grow ing stronger each week, both in numbers and in the brazenness with which they flaunt their abnormality.” The article goes on to state that 10 years earlier the city had only three gathering places but that “today there are eight or 10 tav erns and saloons in this city which cater almost exclusively to this crowd.” A businessman called the news paper and said “that unless the mayor’s office took some decisive action soon to curb the public activities of the unmentionables, he and businessmen of his acquain tance were going to take vigilante action of their own. It’s getting so we can’t take our kids out in public without their seeing these people everywhere.” At the time, Cook explains, a gay or lesbian bar automatically was considered a disorderly premise and an illegal operation. If it was allowed to go on, it was because the police looked the other way. But during the mid-1960s, homosexuals were beginning to challenge the laws regarding gay bars and their right to congregate in them. “The attorney for Derek’s said The Oregon Journal published this photograph of cross-dressing entertainers c*p lains- And how that you can’t deny a businessman a license simply because of the people at Portiand's Music Ha" nightclub March 17, 1950 only guess. Probably some who frequent his establishment,” Cook says. owners tried to keep them out but they just kept body got caught by the police and mentioned the fact that lesbians were hanging out at the He was the only attorney in the Portland coming in.” tavern controversy who defended the constitu Music Hall.” Thanks to the work of Derek’s attorney, the tional right of homosexuals to gather in a public tavern remained open and became a popular Officers of the Women’s Protective Division place. “The other attorneys for the other bars hangout. went to the Music Hall looking to be accosted claimed that the owners didn’t know homosex Another bar with an interesting past was the by lesbians. But they didn’t have much luck. uals were hanging out at the bar, or they said the Music Hall located at 413 S.W. 10th Ave. Their Vice Squad report of February 1949 While Derek’s Tavern had mostly male cus reads: “We observed several women who were, fflffî i l tomers, this nightclub’s clientele was mixed. apparently, what we were looking for, but no :?■ :> <;■ :. •. 7 . • ■ , The Music Hall opened in 1937 and brought contacts were made. Sgt. Warren of the detec ic e q u a d eport some straight acts to Portland as well as drag tives said we would probably have to go there : shows. Connected to the back of it was a bar called several times until we were better known before the Back Stage. Both were owned by the same per we would be accosted.” « / “" \ n this date, Feb. 9, 1949, we visited the Music Hall. The master of ceremonies appeared to son and operated under the same liquor license. V - /b e a man, but later in the evening she announced that she was a woman. Cook notes: “A lot of the information about ‘T h e first performer was a female impersonator. One of the songs she sang was ‘Virgin Sturgeon.’ “At one point, the Music Hall brought in a those bars is just anecdotal. It just skims the sur professional drag show from San Francisco,” face. You hear something here and you hear There was reference to a lady codfish with codfish balls and the oyster that was pregnant but didn’t Cook says. “The MC of the troop was a woman something there and you kind of piece together diddle. who wore a tuxedo, and she was also one of the more of a story, hut it is not fully fleshed out. “The next song was about her new house but with no Johnnie, not even a pot. The singer jumped singers. Everyone in the act sang. They didn’t There are a lot more stories associated with around a lot, crossing his legs, etc. to give the impression that the need to defecate was urgent. “Next a huge man, dressed as a woman, did a Mae West impersonation and sang ‘Come Up and lip-sync. Their torch songs and jokes included those places that we could ever imagine.” JH lots of innuendoes that only gay people would See Me Sometime.’ This person had a smutty line of patter. Announcing her next song as ‘This get. You had to understand the slang to really The S exual M inorities R oundtable will dis Time It’s Love.’ Next time it will be $2. enjoy the show.” cuss the Burnside Triangle proposal during its next “We checked the Music Hall tonight from 10:45 p.m. to ... 12:15 a.m. We stayed this late because The Music Hall closed in 1949. As the story meeting from noon to l :30 p.m. Aug. 14 m the the crowd did not start coming in until about 11:30 p.m. goes, members of the City-Council came to the Chief s Conference Room at the Justice Center, “We observed several women who were, apparently, what we were looking for, but no contacts nightclub one evening to see a popular trio, the 1111 S.W. Second Ai>e. were made. Sgt. Warren of the detectives said we would probably have to go there several times until Mills Brothers. What they didn’t expect to see we were better known before we would be accosted. was a drag show as the opening act. “The cover charge was 50 cents apiece. We had three 7-Up and orange drinks apiece @ 20 cents P at Y o u n g , a Portland free-lance writer and gay “They were appalled by it,” Cook notes. and lesbian historian, is writing a book about plus 30 cents in tips. Total $3.10 out of $5.” “Obviously, there were straight people going to ' V ^ I992's Ballot Measure 9. V S R : ■ . • ■ • •• ' ' : .. 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