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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 2005)
august 19. 2005 ' I25 *THE CAMP* LOTUS CARD ROOM AND BAR LOWNSDALE PARK LITTLE BROWN JUG BUDDIE'S POST TAVERN Walk west on Yamhill 50 feet and observe the Franz Building at 122 S.W. Yamhill St., set in the midst of today’s Yamhill Marketplace. This once-hustling block was the site of pro duce markets, just up Yamhill from the Oregon Journal Building (where the fountain now cools summer youngins’). The Franz was the loca tion of the new Half Main, often just called “The Tavern.” Owner Ray Willitson operated the popular spot from 1960 until a suspicious fire gutted it in 1981. He opened a new bar on Broadway north of Burnside, calling it Ray’s Ordinary Bar and Grill (now the Tiger Bar). At the intersection of Third and Yamhill is the comer known in the ’60s through the ’80s as “The Camp,” where underage men headquar tered. Here, boys and men were cruised and picked up by mostly closeted men driving by, looking for anonymous sex for hire. Originally popular among Portland boys, word spread of this place, and soon guys from other parts of Oregon and even Idaho were frequently com peting with local trade any night of the week. Police turned a semi-blind eye toward this phenom enon, occasionally stop ping or arresting a fellow for loitering. It was this type of activity that caused organizations like the Second Foundation to form, with goals of giving young gays an alter native to selling themselves in order to come out. Several underage clubs also functioned in this pursuit, namely Stairs Down, 9th Street Exit and Epicenter on the east side and Evolution, the City Nightclub and Mildred’s Palace on the west side. The role “The Camp” played in Portland’s gay adolescence deserves a full chapter in Portland gay history. Several bœkstores, cinemas and bars occu- pied the two blocks south from this comer. Eros Discount books was at 725, Book-a-Rama was at 820, and Eros Adult Bwks was at 857. The Eros Theater was just off Third on Taylor, and Film Follies was at 915, across from the Hard Times bookstore at 926. Four taverns were in ___ the 900 block of Third. On the comer of Alder was the Reed at 901, called the Taylor Tavern until 1943. Next was the Rose City Club Tavern at 917, and across the street was Dinty Moore’s (in the 1895 Auditorium Building) at 924. The Lotus Card Room and Bar at 932 was and is on the comer of Salmon, operat ing continuously since 1928. From the Lotus, look south into the two parks separated hy Main Street and the famous Elk sculpture. You are closest to Lownsdale Park, which was infamous already by 1913 as a cruising spot, complete with a brick rest room. In order to protect women and children from exposure to un desirable contact with “inverts,” the city declared that Chapman Park, south of Main, was to be restricted to women and children only. This made Lownsdale a de facto men’s- only square. Apparently the city did not realize it had created the ideal recreational zone, complete with “T” room, directly in front of the Multnomah County Courthouse, and did not reverse the designation until the 1970s! It’s interesting to note the beautiful art deco bronze lettering set in the cement marking the restroom for “MEN.” You might walk up Salmon to Fourth and divert north on Fourth to find numbers 908 and 926, the respective locations of two 1960s gay bars, the Little Brown Jug and Buddie’s Post Tavern. TRANSFUSION INN OLD GLORY TAVERN VERITABLE QUANDRY AERO VAPORS MODEL INN Retrace your steps back to Salmon, then east past the Lotus to the corner of Second, where once stood the Town Pump, yet another popular ’60s bar. More significant, the parking lot at First and Madison by the Hawthorne Bridge on- ramp is the site of the Transfusion Inn, 1139 S.W. First Ave. This was the lesbian bar of its day, operating from the 1950s until 1964 and popular with working-class and leather-clad women. At 118 S.W. Madison St. stood the Old Glory Tavern, open from 1962 to 1964. Perhaps predictably, it was popularly called the “Glory Hole.” Across First, next to a grassy plot, is Veritable Quandry, open for 39 years under the same owner, who validates that the VQ was on the route between the Transfusion, Dahl & Penne’s and the Aero Vapors baths located two blocks west on Third at 1237, where you will find Terry Schrunk Plaza today. The Vapors provided many an afternoon s delight from 1958 to 1972. From 1962 until 1964 Mama Bernice ran her bar across the street at 1228, where she would watch and comment on her patrons entering and leaving the “tubs.” Her site is now the Federal Building. To complete your gay pilgrimage of Southwest Portland, you could visit two anti- climatic sites farther south on First. The Model Inn, another popular les bian bar of the ’60s, once stood at 1536 S.W. First Ave., now the Crown Plaza Building. More interesting and ironic perhaps is Keller Auditorium on Market. When it was built in 1918, pub- —— _— lie baths were located in its basement level. These were most likely eliminated with the reworking of the auditorium at the time the entire area was “revitalized” with the urban renewal frenzy of the 1970s. |F1 Look for more annotated gay walking tours in future issues of JUST OUT. K ohl is preparing a history of Metropolitan Community Church, to be published this winter in anticipation of MCC’s 30 th anniversary in January 2006. Research for this walking unir included works by Tom Cook, Peter Boag and the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest, housed at the Oregon Hisurrical Society. DAVE Northwest Owned and Operated Stylize Your Office Exclusive Mac Store Offer: Buy Microsoft Office, get a Brenthaven bag, FREE! 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