The system of payoffs to police officers was in place until the late 1960s when through the efforts of another tavern owner in cooperation with the FBI it was eliminated.Īs Seattle’s population exploded during the 1940s - 1960s, the Double Header was one of the more popular venues in town, known for drag shows and an all-female oompah band called the Cracker Barrels. Prohibition began in 1916 in Seattle and lead to a system of “protection” that allowed the bars to flourish. It opened in 1934 after the ending of Prohibition, and although it has never been gay-owned, it has always been gay friendly. Located on the street level of the same building as the Casino, the bar still known as the Double Header advertises itself as the oldest continually operating gay bar on the West Coast. They kissed everyone they met and hugged and embraced each other with complete abandon.” It was obvious that the gyrations were not being done in tune with the music, but from the sexual urge of the performers. Inside there were approximately five to seven hundred gyrating humans. Witness: “Men dressed in elaborate wigs and gowns mincing down the street in ill-fitting women’s shoes and women with mannish haircuts, slacks and jackets.
The following is excerpted from an affidavit of a 1965 case challenging Washington’s sodomy law, which described a scene at the Casino. Through an “underground railroad” of sorts, information about the nightlife and hot spots in cities was passed from Vancouver, BC to Los Angeles, CA. The Casino, located down a flight of stairs under this marquee, was a gay and lesbian gathering spot in the 1930s through 1950s- first as an after-hours club (also pool hall and card room) named the Casino and later known as Madame Peabody’s Dancing Academy for Young Ladies…or simply…“The Dance.” The Dance was one of the few places on the West Coast where same-sex dancing was allowed in fact, it was known up and down the coast for this very fact. Characterized as wild and bawdy, the Garden was like home to many of its patrons, fostering a sense of community and family among gays and lesbians in Seattle. The Garden's shows attracted men and women, gay and straight, and often featured nationally recognized performers. Entertainment at the Garden included vaudeville, burlesque, and variety shows with female impersonators as its main attraction. The Garden of Allah, Seattle's first gay-owned gay bar, was located in the basement of the Arlington Hotel at Post and Seneca from 1946 to 1956. Partly because of this injunction, women were able to dance together at the Madison. In 1958, MacIver Wells, owner of the Madison, sought and was granted a court injunction against police harassing his customers. While strict Blue Laws governed all the city's bars, both gay and straight, these laws were often used selectively by police to harass gay bars and to demand payoffs. Though men made up most of the clientele, some bars catered especially to women, including the Silver Slipper, the Submarine Room, and the Madison Tavern. This birthplace of Seattle's gay community was the location for many of the earliest gay bars, bathhouses, and other spaces. The gay community was a part of the wave of individuals who wound up calling Pioneer Square home, and until the 1970s Pioneer Square was the heart of gay and lesbian Seattle. As this happened, the area also became identified for providing services for people on the edges of Seattle society. By the 1930s, the term “Skid Row” was part of the national vocabulary, replacing the original reference to Henry Yesler’s “Skid Road” for the lumber mill. At the turn of the 19th century, Pioneer Square was the heart of Seattle’s downtown, but as the city grew, the downtown core drifted north and over time, Pioneer Square became a less desirable place.