The ‘Gay ’ World takes to the City Streets by Paul Welsh --> from LIFE magazine circa 1965 (part 1 of 5)
In New York City, swarms of young college-age homosexuals wearing tight pants, baggy sweaters & sneakers cluster in a ragged phalanx along Greenwich Avenue in the Village. By their numbers and by their casual attitude they are saying that the street – and the hour – is theirs. Farther uptown in the block west of Time Square, on 42nd Street, their tough-looking counterparts, dressed in dirty jackets and denims, loiter in front of the cheap movie theatres and sleazy bookstores. Few of the passers-by recognize them as male hustlers.
*By Chicago’s Bughouse Square, a small park near the city’s fashionable Gold Coast on the North Side, a suburban husband drives his car slowly down the street searching for a ‘contact’ with one of the homosexuals who drifts around the square. A sergeant on Chicago’s vice squad explains: “these guys tell their wives they’re just going to the corner for the evening paper. Why, they even come down her in their slippers!”
*In Hollywood, after the bars close for the night, Selma Avenue, which parallels Hollywood Boulevard, becomes a dark promenade for the homosexuals. Two men approach one another tentatively, stop for a brief exchange of words, then walk away together in the shadows that reach out beyond the street lights. The vignette is repeated again and again until the last homosexual gives up for the night and goes home.
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Homosexuality – and the problem it poses – exists all over the U.S. but is most evident in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans and Miami. These large cities offer established homosexual societies to join, plenty of opportunities to meet other homosexuals on the streets, in bars or at parties in private homes, and, for those who seek it, complete anonymity. Here, tolerance, even acceptance by the ’straight’ world is more prevalent than in smaller communities. Where the gay world flourishes and presents so many social compensations, even the persistent pressure of antihomosexual (sic) police operations can be endured. Also, in the big cities those professions favored by homosexuals – interior decorating, fashion design, hair styling, the dance and theatre – provide the most numerous job opportunities.
Homosexuals can find some or all of these advantages in many parts of the U.S. but, because of its reputation for easy hospitality, California has a special appeal for them. In the city of San Francisco, which rates as the ‘gay capital’, there are more than 30 bars that cater exclusively to a gay clientele. The number of these bars changes from week to week as periodic police drives close them down (their life expectancy is about 18 months). Some bars, like the Jumpin’ Frog, are ‘cruising’ (pick-up) bars, filled with coatless young men in tight khaki pants. They spend the evening standing around (there are few seats in ‘cruising’ bars) drinking inexpensive beer and waiting. As each new customer walks into the dimly lit room he will lock eyes with a half dozen young men before reaching his place at the bar. Throughout the evening there is a constant turnover of customers as contacts are made and two men slip out together, or individuals move on to other bars in search of better luck, As closing time – 2 am – approaches, the atmosphere grows perceptively more tense. It is the ‘frantic hour,’ the now-or-never time for making contact.
In contrast to the ‘cruising’ bars are the gay cocktail lounges, some of them just off the lobbies of the cities better hotels. They are frequented by local businessmen and out-of-town visitors plus occasional innocent heterosexual travelers.
A step or two from the cocktail lounges are the ‘gay’ bars where a single personality draws the customers. Until it closed recently, the Backstage was one of the town’s most popular because of José Sarria who entertained regularly on Sunday afternoons. Sarria winds up his routine – an interpretation of Salome – standing in full ‘drag’ (dressed and made up like a woman) and shouting to the audience: “All right you nellie queens, on your feet! United we stand, divided they’ll catch us one by one!”As San Francisco self-styled ‘dowager queen,’ José has achieved a certain notoriety – in 1961 he openly ran for city-county supervisor and polled almost 6,000 votes.
In San Francisco’s Tenderloin off Market Street, are the bottom-of-the-barrel bars where outcasts and misfits of all kinds hang out. Their bedraggled clientele include dope pushers and users, male and female hustlers. Most of the customers have been ‘busted’ (arrested) at least once. Here one finds the stereotypes of effeminate males – the ‘queens’ with orange coiffures, plucked eyebrows, silver nail polish and lipstick. There may be a man or two in ‘drag,’ a few Lesbians, some ‘gay’ prostitutes, drunks and cheap con men.
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Sorry folks - it's a long article - will try and write more tamarow - gotta hit the hay!