Bars, Restaurants, & Taverns
DEMAS TAVERN
September 1967-1973; Darcelle XV Showplace aka Darcelle’s 1974-present. Walter Cole has been the owner of this establishment since 1967. A shrine to the art of female impersonation, and the “straightest” of the gay bars in Portland Darcelle XV Showplace is a world-renown drag venue in Portland, Oregon, opened and operated by drag performer Darcelle XV. In 1967, Portland Entrepreneur, Walter Cole was looking through the business opportunity section of the Portland, Oregon paper, The Oregonian, when he came upon an ad for a tavern for sale in Portland’s skid row neighborhood on the corner of NW Davis and 3rd streets. All of his former businesses had been scooped up in Portland’s urban renewal wave of the 1960s and he was looking for another place. It was called The Demus Tavern and was owned by a Greek family. Mr. Demus had run it for fifteen years and wanted to sell it and move back to Greece. Walter contacted the real estate agent, got the address, and went to see it. After stepping over two passed out drunks in the doorway, he went inside. Dear God, it was a mess. The room was long and narrow, half the size of the club today, with an old carved bar down one wall, some very worn booths on the other wall, and rickety tables and chairs in between. He bought it!!
CONTINUED BELOW
208 N.W. Third
prior to 1967 - beer/wine tavern
September 1967 - 1969 (tavern) 1969 - 1973 (drag club)
Darcelle XV Showplace aka Darcelle’s 1974-present.
1968 May 15 building at NW 3rd and Davis
There were no stage lights other than one spotlight … well, it wasn’t really a spotlight, it was an old slide projector that sat on the popcorn machine at the back of the room. Whoever happened to be sitting on the stool next to it became the operator. Walter, Tina, and Roc were nervous about the reaction … but the audiences went wild. It was no-holds barred from then on and as the OLCC eased up on its rules, the show grew and grew to the amazing Las Vegas-style review it is today.
As business picked up, it became apparent that they needed more room, so the wall between the two spaces had to come down. Every night after the show Walter, Roc, and whoever was around would chip away at the wall, fill garbage bags and drop them in other people dumpsters on the way home. When you visit the club today, the only reminder of that original wall is the weight-bearing columns that hold up the ceiling in the middle of the room.
On New Year’s Eve in 1973, the name Demus Tavern was changed after Walter stepped down from his year as Empress XV and renamed the club … The Darcelle XV Showplace.
Susan Stanley reviewed the club for the Willamette Week on September 22, 1975, which called the club “the best-kept secret in Portland”. That one review propelled audiences to begin flocking to the club.
Throughout the late ‘70s to the present day, Darcelle’s has hosted various acts that are either infamous or famous. The Oregonian in 1980 stated, “Darcelle’s at 208 NW Third Ave. brings singers occasionally and is still the city’s leading female impersonator club...including Maxene Andrews of The Andrew Sisters; Christine Jorgensen, and Johnny Ray.” In 1982 The Downtowner cited, "Our fair city has been blessed with list Pittock Mansion, Washington Park’s Rose Test Garden, and Darcelle XV, the outrageous Grande Dame of High Camp. The club has a proud tradition of celebrating and cultivating diversity on the stage and in the audience. It has served the city of Portland, as a place for fundraising, community outreach, education, and a training ground for young performers.”
It continues to remain in the same location since its beginning in 1967 at 208 NW Third Ave Portland Oregon.
During the COVID 19 Pandemic, Darcelle XV Showplace kept its doors open to serve the public and to keep employing all its staff. The club has a grand tradition of honoring and welcoming every person who comes through those doors. The Show Must Go On… and go on it does.
In 2020 the venue was nominated and received approval to be listed on the National Historic Registry status by the State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation, the first time an LGBT-related establishment considered in Oregon.
The club is the subject of a book by Donnie and Walter W Cole/Darcelle entitled Demas to Darcelle: This history of Demas Tavern to Darcelle XV Showplace with contributions by Kristen Minor.
Per article in the newspaper Northwest Gay Review, June 1977 written by W Holman “A Gay History – lest it be forgotten” sheds may stories on lesbians entitled Portland Lesbians, Where Are You? “Some relief from social isolation came during the late sixties when lesbians began frequenting gay male bars such as the long-since razed Harbor (Inn/Club). Making the step from the closet to the bards, risking discovery by fellow workers or neighbors or cops, had to be an act of desperation and courage. [continued in the same article on page 12] Women were first admitted to gay men’s bars by default. A new men’s bar would open causing a formerly popular bar to lose its clientele. The owners [straight, of course] would decide to let lesbians in. Since few gay women frequented the bars in those days, the owners would let anybody else in who would spend money, and since a bar that admitted lesbians were considered a degenerate dive, the new traffic would include a percentage of hardcore creeps. The place would often either close or be remodeled and reopened as a straight bar. The Magic Gardens (once The Club Northwest) has gone through at least two such cycles. About the only local establishment that was an exception to this patter was Dema’s, always gay-owned now Darcelle XV.”
MORE HISTORY COMING SOON
