Elmira’s Gay Bars

 By Rachel Dworkin, Archivist

 

Since the 1600s, there have been bars and clubs catering to LGBTQ clientele in most major European cities. Today, such establishments are generally known as gay bars, even though they cater to more than just gay men.  In the United States, there are a number of bars all claiming to be the first gay bar, most of which date back to Prohibition and the 1920s or 30s. They are predominantly located in major East and West Coast cities like New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Elmira’s first known gay bar was Mary’s Grill at 112 Lake Street. It was owned by Mrs. Marion Stumpf and opened on November 2, 1967. The bar didn’t exclusively cater to the LGBTQ community, but it was welcoming of them. I recently interviewed two gay gentlemen who specifically mentioned Mary’s as their entry into the gay bar scene. Mary’s Grill remained in operation until around 1980.

Star-Gazette, September 29, 1972

 

The David, owned by John “Jack” Westervelt from 1972 to 1998, catered exclusively to the gay community. It was first located at 203 1/2 Railroad Avenue before moving down the street to 511-513 Railroad Avenue in 1975. Westervelt himself was gay and wanted to create a space where people could come and be themselves. One of the former patrons recalled it as a fun place to meet other members of the LGBTQ community. In addition to offering drinks and some food, The David hosted drag shows by the Legendary Children, a local troupe of drag performers.  The bar closed in 1998 when Westervelt retired.

Historically, gay bars across the nation were heavily involved in the gay rights movement. When the gay rights movement began in the late 1960s, homosexual acts were criminalized in every state except Illinois. Gay bars were frequently raided by police. In fact, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York, is the event which inspired the Gay Pride movement. Gay bars became a place, not just to drink and meet people, but to organize and resist. As the AIDS epidemic worsened in the 1980s and ‘90s, many bars became involved in fundraising and safe-sex education.

I haven’t been able to uncover any information about the extent to which The David or its clientele were involved in the gay rights movement. Bar owner John Westervelt was himself part of the movement. During the 1970s, he participated in a series of panel discussions about homosexuality and the gay rights movement at Elmira College.

In 1999, Steven West and Barry Johnson opened a new gay bar, Angles at 511-513 Railroad Avenue. It billed itself as an “alternative dance club” welcome to all and regularly hosted events like trivia and karaoke. It was huge in the drag scene, regularly hosting shows as well as the annual Mr. & Miss Southern Tier contests. It closed in 2008.

Angles bar, exterior, courtesy Star-Gazette

Angles bar, interior, courtesy Star-Gazette

 

Elmira’s last gay bar was Club Chill, owned by Clinton “Billy” Lewis from 2004 until his death in 2011. The club offered dancing, drinks, and regular drag shows. It took over the Mr. and Miss Southern Tier drag contest after Angles closed.  Club Chill management was invested AIDS relief, hosting charity benefits for the Chemung County AIDS Task Force. The club regularly participated in local Pride events as well.

Star-Gazette, September 24, 2004

 LGBTQ history is seriously under-documented. Everything in this article is based on a pair of oral history interviews and what I could glean from the newspapers. If you have stories you would like to tell about any of the above-mentioned bars or have images or artifacts associated with the local gay community, I would love to hear from you. You can reach me via e-mail at archivist@chemungvalleymuseum.org or phone at (607) 734-4167 ex 207. I look forward to hearing from you.

The Kings of Drag

By Rachel Dworkin, archivist

On the night of November 21, 2004, a group of talented drag kings and queens strutted their stuff at the annual Mr. & Miss Angles Pageant at Angles Ultimate Dance Club on Railroad Avenue. Contestants competed in the categories of evening wear and performance. While most people are familiar with the concept of drag queens, few are aware of the long history of drag kings, or male impersonators. 

The history of men dressing as women for theatrical purposes dates back centuries. The history of women impersonating men is nearly as old. Male impersonators have played an important role in Chinese opera dating as far back as the Tang Dynasty (618-907 C.E.) where The Butterfly Lovers, an ancient folktale of two star-crossed crossdressing lovers, was hugely popular. The golden age of Chinese male impersonators came during the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1369 C.E.). In 1364, author and theater enthusiast Xia Tingzhi wrote 117 biographies of some of the most prominent performers. They played a wide range of roles from military figures and brigands (complete with martial arts choreography) to tender young lovers. In the West, most male impersonators played teenage boys or women disguising themselves as men. The trend largely dated back to the early-1700s. By the mid-1800s, male impersonation for comedic purposes in vaudeville sketches had also become popular. 

Male impersonator Zelma Rawlston, 1894

 Locally, women performed male roles throughout the 19^th and 20^th centuries. In 1894, Miss Virginia Earl drew praise from the Star-Gazette’s theater critic for her role as the young prince of Siam in the operetta Wang. Several vaudeville performers including Ida LePage and Zelma Rawlston played men in comedic sketches or musical numbers. In 1935, there were two male impersonators working the Elmira bar scene: Buddie Warren and Buddie Brown. Warren was the M.C. and host of the Wonder Bar, 160 Lake Street, where she introduced various acts. Brown, meanwhile, was a singer at the Annex Grill, 62 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Ad for the Wonder Bar, September 6, 1935

 

The use of the phrase “drag king” to refer to male impersonators first became popular in the mid-20^th century. Much like drag queens, modern day drag kings tend to be members of the LGBTQ community. While historically that was not always the case, several prominent male impersonators have, in fact, been very queer. Julie D’Aubigny (1673-1707), was a French opera star and duelist who regularly played male roles and had lovers of both sexes. Annie Hindle (1840s-1897), the most well-known American male impersonator of her day, married her dresser Annie Ryan in 1886 under an assumed name.    

Modern drag kings often perform dance numbers and comedy routines which play up certain male stereotypes. They often take punny stage names like Mo B. Dick and Freddie Prinze Charming. Locally, there are a few places where you can catch a show including Angles Ultimate Dance Club, the Starlight Room, and the Clemens Center.

Take Pride: Charles Tomlinson Griffes

By Rachel Dworkin, Archivist

June is national LGBTQ Pride Month. For those who aren’t familiar with the acronym, the L stands for lesbian (women attracted to women), the G for gay (men attracted to men), the B for bisexual (people attracted to both sexes), and the T for transsexual (people who are a gender other than the one assigned to them at birth). The Q stands for queer, a blanket term which helps keep the acronym from becoming too unwieldy. Some of the identities covered under the Q include, but are not limited to, asexual (people who don’t experience sexual attraction), pansexual (those attracted to people regardless of their gender), intersex (people with the physical characteristics of both sexes), and non-binary (people who don’t identify as either gender).

Although a lot of the terms used today are relatively new, LGBTQ people have always existed. One of Chemung County’s most famous queer icons is pianist and composer Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920). Born in Elmira, Griffes studied piano and organ from a young age under the tutelage of Elmira College professor Mary Selena Broughton. In 1903, he traveled to Berlin where he studied composition. Returning to the United States in 1907, he took a teaching position at the Hackley School for Boys in Tarrytown, New York, where he worked until he died of the Spanish Flu in 1920.

Charles Tomlinson Griffes, ca. 1900

At the time of his death, Griffes was considered an up-and-coming composer with a unique voice which blended German Romanticism, French Impressionism, and Russian and Oriental styles. He composed over 100 songs for orchestra, piano, organ, chamber ensemble, and voice. He also wrote several pieces for stage productions, ballets, and pantomimes. His most famous pieces include White Peacock (1915), Piano Sonata (1917–18, revised 1919), The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan (1912, revised in 1916), and Poem for Flute and Orchestra (1918).

Griffes was gay. During his time in Germany, he became romantically involved with Emil Joèl, an older fellow student. During their years together, Joèl introduced Griffes to some of the famous European composures of the day and even supported him financially for a time. Due to the prejudices and laws of the day, Griffes kept his homosexuality a secret from his family and straight friends. Whenever possible, he would leave his lodgings in Tarrytown and head for the gay bathhouses of New York City. From 1907 to 1919, he kept detailed diaries, often in German, describing his experiences in New York City’s gay community. His favorite haunts were the Produce Exchange Baths, the Lafayette Baths, and the YMCA. Although he had two pianos at his home, he preferred to practice at the Y so he could meet other men. At the bath houses, he not only found lovers, but also like-minded friends who helped encourage his music career and find him lodgings. In his later years, he carried on a secret affair with John Meyer, a married New York City policeman.

Advertisement for the LaFayette Baths

After his death, his sister Marguerite destroyed a number of Griffes papers which dealt with his sexuality in order to protect his professional reputation. Despite her best efforts, his surviving diaries have proved invaluable to historians looking to study New York’s gay scene in the early 1900s.