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
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