citations & references:

Per the book A Curious and Peculiar People, “…was a hard liquor with a closet-sized stage. It began as a mixed bar but soon welcomed only a chosen clientele.”

·         Listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1969 under Bars/Clubs with notations * - Very popular note (Best after 1 am) NW 4th at Everett

·         Listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1970 under Bars/Clubs with notations * - Very popular- G – Gay, D – Dancing

·         Listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1971 under Bars/Clubs with no notations

·         Listed in GAY PLACES 1971 International Guild Guide –– telephone number: 227-8860 with the connotations of L,D,WE,RT Lesbian, Dance, Weekends, Rough trade

·         Article about party at The Hoyt Hotel in Oregon Journal May 4, 1971, page 3

·      Listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1972 under Bars/Clubs with notations G – Gay, D – Dancing and address as 217 NW 4th.

·      Listed in Guide to the Portland Area Gay Scene July 1972 – The Fountain

•       Mentioned in The Oregon Journal article, Thursday, August 31, 1972, “Among other bars that cater to the homosexual crowd are the Embers, Red Room at Dahl & Penne’s, the other Inn, Half Moon Tavern, Pink Cat, Club Northwest and Zorba’s The Greek.”

•     Listed in Guild Guide 1973 USA & International] NOTE: No drag is mentioned.

•     Ad in Darcelle XV “Green Book” 1973

•     Listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1973 under Bars/Clubs with notations * - Very popular- G – Gay, D – Dancing with note (liquor)

•     Cited in The Golden Businesses of our community – The Golden Awards Ball – Sunday, January 21, 1973, and Ad

•    Listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1974 WITH NEW NAME MAGIC GARDEN under Restaurant with notations * - Very popular- G – Gay, D – Dancing, R – restaurant with note: (Liquor)

•   Listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1975 WITH NEW NAME MAGIC GARDEN under Restaurant with notations * - Very popular- G – Gay, D – Dancing, R – restaurant with note: (Liquor)

•    Cited in Jeff Taylor’s Gay Guide for the Pacific Northwest – Summer 1975 edition, page 16 under Lounges – Opens 6 pm daily, restaurant, dancing. Very popular with women. And under Restaurants opens 6 pm daily. Reservations advisable.

•     Listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1976 WITH NEW NAME MAGIC GARDEN under Bars/Club/Restaurant with notations * - Very popular- G – Gay, D – Dancing, R – restaurant with note: (Liquor)

•    Listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1977 WITH NEW NAME MAGIC GARDEN under Restaurant with notations G – Gay, D – Dancing, R – restaurant with note: (Liquor)

•    Listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1978 WITH NEW NAME MAGIC GARDEN under Restaurant with notations G – Gay, D – Dancing, R – restaurant with note: (Liquor)

•    Not listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1979 or thereafter

Paper by Jamie R Walton – Gay and Lesbian Archives – Profession Ann Mussey December 1, 2000 Locations: (1) The Model Inn (2) Zorba the Greek Walton Page 2-5 CLICK HERE TO READ

      “Why don’t you come and eat your lunch with us at Zorba’s?” she asked further upsetting Sue. .. I went in the door and realized I could not see because of the poor lighting. There were people sitting at the bar and others at tables eating lunch. Most of them looked like people who worked in offices and just stopped in to have their noon meal. A cranky man was serving at the bar. He gave me a surly look, A waitress led me to a table.

I sat down and looked into a room on the lower level where I saw Kathy and Sure playing pool. I looked around and realized that there were others couples and groups of women eating there, having drinks, and playing pool.

I realized this was not an ordinary tavern. I also knew my life was about to forever.

How Other People Experienced Zorba’s

Sally Cohn, who had just spent 10 years living in New York, said that the thing that struck her about the décor of Zorba’s was the ceiling that appeared to be stucco. In New York all the Lesbian bars had stucco on the ceiling and, often, the Mafia owned the bar”.

Sally says, “I remember going in there for lunch. A lot of straight people ate lunch there There was this gray-haired Butch Dyke that worked there. She wore a regular waitress uniform. You know, the black skirt and white blouse. She looked like a man in a shirt and she tried to act as straight as possible”.

Susie Shepherd remembers Zorba’s as a place where she felt welcome. She visited it for the first time at the invitation of Kristin Aspen. It was Susie’s first visit to a Gay bar. Jimmy (His name is really Angelos Markantantos) the Greek manager was always kind to her. I told her I remember as a gruff and cranky man who did not seem to want us there. She reminds us that he knew they made him money so he was always kind. Later on, she recalled how was when a Pong electronic game was introduced to the bar. It was a very simple electronics Ping-Pong game and by today’s standard it would be considered primitive but, at that time, the women lined up to play it.

Later on, she was introduced by Larry Copelanchto the Portland Town Council which held a meeting at Zorba’s which Susie attended.

 Later on, Susie says that Oregon’s first Gay Lesbian election party was held at Zorba’s,  During the election of Vera Katz and Gretchen Kafouri.

Frodo Okuree remembers going to Zorba’s because it had a good dance floor and she like the pool tables that were down on the lower level. “was one of the places we would go to because we could get in so easily,” says Frodo…

Frodo and her partner, Marty Hoy (who was even younger), usually preferred “The Plastic Fern,” the name she uses for the Magic Garden. The(y) also like to go to Tasha’s which was run by Sally Bird who Sally says probably lives in Utah now. Frodo recalls a time when she and Peggy Norman stripped off their shirts, along with several other women, and danced away Summer heat until word swept through the crowd that the cops were on the way!

I asked Sally if she thought there was any level of classism of a sort. I told her my sense was that there was a division between Feminists who did not believe in “role-playing” and the women who where not college students and were often blue-collar workers Sally s, Sally agreed that those changes were playing out a Zorba…

I told Sally that my mother had told me that Zorba’s was once a popular nightclub. There is

was still a hatcheck room just off the entrance. Sally said that as a child her parents had often joined her uncle there for lunch.

 My mother told me that it had been a Gay bar before in the 1940s but I have no idea why she knew that. 

·         Cited in The Yellow Pages – through Nov 1996 page 1164 under Night Clubs with an ‘s’ Magic Gardens

History/Story: August 9, 2005: In a city long regarded as home to more strip clubs per capita than any other in the United States, Portland might have lost one of its jewels if not for the judicious work of an army of firefighters and their dozen trucks. The Chinatown building housing Magic Garden (217 NW 4th Ave., 224-8472) went ablaze just after breakfast May 4 while a construction worker was using a blowtorch to dry concrete. Owner Everett Moore described the firefighting as "phenomenal," and when the smoke cleared he invited everyone inside for a celebratory drink. No word if any blaze-busters joined the strippers to toast the occasion.  https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-4695-pdx-sex.html

Above article in The Fountain newspaper, January 1973. Below is a ad that states “Live on stage.” These were female impersonators - the only ad found that states this type of entertainment. The Fountain newspaper, May 1973.