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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 2011)
J»U ° community AUGUST 5. 2011 503 . 719.7930 W W W .JU S T O U T .C O M Last Call Two LGBTQ landmarks shut down, tear down Dirty Duck razed to make way for homeless shelter 5011 N E 13 th Ave. | Portland, O R 97211 www.redniagnolia.salon.com rapid HIV testing for men into men. TUESDAYS 3:30-6:30 for more info: 503.655.8471 BEAVERCREEK clinic 1425 beavercreek RD Oregon City www.cascadeaids.org free. A N O N Y M O U S , no appointment needed. • • • The home o f one o f Portlands longest operating gay bars was torn to pieces the week o f August 1 with little fuss. The Dirty Duck Tavern closed two years ago this month after serving the bear and leather community for 25 years. Since then, the building has sat mosdy vacant on the cor ner of Northwest Third Avenue and Glisan Street, to some just another eyesore in Old Town. But former employees and clientele re member it fondly, even if they’ve moved on. Former patrons describe the Duck as “di- vey,” “gritty” and “grungy.” Mark Armstrong, a regular who was once named M iss Dirty (Se habla español! Cascade A/OSPn**ct >CAP caacadaa/dt org MOREL INK • • • • • «* • • • • * • t e e § * * • • • • • • • • WEB STORE NOW OPEN! Print anything, m ail a n y w h e re . Formerly Witham and Dickey P r im a r y C a re B a n d a g e D is p e n s e r M an y colors available. Duck o f America in the bar’s annual mock pageant, says he’d go to the bar to play pool and “bitch darts.” “We’d have little tournaments,” he recalls. “You had to try to get the other person out. I f you’d hit their number or their close out or something, they’d say, ‘You bitch!’” The property belonged to the Portland De velopment Commission, which chose to end the Duck’s lease in 2009. The PD C is swap- ping the property with the Blanchet House o f Hospitality, which has a soup kitchen next door. Blanchet House is building a new homeless center in the Dirty Duck’s place. The move was controversial to many in the city— notably preservationists who wanted to save the building. Formally known as the Kiernan Building, it is a contributing structure to the Chinatown National Regis ter Historic District. But protest from the gay community never came to a boil. The Duck’s former owner, Gail Kennedy, for the most part disappeared from the community. And the bar’s clientele had since moved to its new bear den, Pat Lana- gan’s the Eagle in North Pordand. “The bear community in Port- ° land has changed due to internet dating and the changing makeup o f Portland,” says Andy Mangels, a former employee o f the bar and ^ cultivator o f the Oregon Leather History Project. “The Dirty Duck was such a unique place in that nobody ever felt out o f place there or unwelcome.” Kennedy, for her part, has been on “vacation” in the two years since the Duck closed. She spends most o f her time on the Oregon Coast, where she does volunteer work. She says she needed some rest after the Duck, which had only been closed three days in the past 25 years. Kennedy was a third-generation bar owner at the Duck, and her family’s ties to the gay community run deep. Her mother, Margaret “M ama” Bernice, worked at the Duck and owned a handful o f bars prior, and her grandmother, Erma Anderson, co- -I Bernard Gasch, M D COSMETIC DERMATOLOGY B e a ta Rydzik, M D Cutting-Edge Treatments for Skin and Hair Problems Board Certified in Dermatology Holly Chandler, PA-C Laser Treatments Body Shaping Call for a Complimentary Cosmetic Consultation 503 297 - - Portland: 9427 S W Barnes Rd, S Hillsboro: 5880 N E Cornell, Suite www.centerdermlas facebook.com/pdxde Call Bob Kincaid for Your Marketing Needs! 503-736-0111 • morelink.biz om
