Cited in Gay Bars, Vice, and Reform in Portland, 1948-1965 Beka Smith, Portland State University “This illustrated councilors' definition of gay bars as undesirable but not essentially threatening the city. For example, the city council had no questions for Johnnie Honegger, owner of the Harbor Club, in 1952 and voted unanimously in favor of his liquor license renewal. The council's unanimous approval of the renewal requests of Olga Polechrones and Roy Cope also demonstrated the return of council inattention to gay bars. Polechrones' Model Inn and Cope's Old Glory were later targeted as "homosexual hangouts" in the 1964-65 city crackdown.”

Per 7-2002 Gay Bars, Vice, and Reform in Portland, 1948-1965 Beka Smith Portland State University: Class influenced the location of Portland's gay bars less than historians have found in some other cities. Roey Thorpe notes that class often affected the locations and presentations of white lesbian bars in Detroit. Middle-class lesbians valued privacy more highly than working-class lesbians and used different expressions of gendered and sexual identity. For example, she notes that working-class lesbians were more likely to value fighting and swearing as components of butch identities than middle-class lesbians. Willingness to fight was important in high-crime locations and in limiting harassment from non-queer men. 327 Portland gay bar owner Ric King remembered that "street taunting in front of bars occurred and gay-bashing did happen."328 Portland's gay bars varied widely in presentation and clientele. The Model Inn, for example, reportedly attracted a tough crowd of butch and femme women, did not welcome men, and often hosted bar fights, both between lesbian customers and between lesbians and heterosexual men. "That was rare, you know, for a woman to be able to beat up a man," remembered customer Patti May. 329 While the Model Inn's chairs were unanchored car seats, Derek's Tavern was noted by the Portland police department to be "frequented by homosexuals of higher class and means."

Below, The Oregon Journal, December 11, 1964.

Per article in the newspaper Northwest Gay Review, June 1977 written by W Holman “A Gay History – lest it be forgotten” sheds many stories on bars including The Model Inn, “[date unclear but between 1960-1964] The Model Inn beckoned with Papa Scott.” [Papa Scott was a well-known lesbian bartender who also worked at The Cartwheel before working at Demas Tavern 1967-1970ish]

https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3978&context=open_access_etds Another part of her paper reads: “Model Inn, for example, reportedly attracted a tough crowd of butch and femme women, did not welcome men, and often hosted bar fights, both between lesbian customers and between lesbians and heterosexual men. "That was rare, you know, for a woman to be able to beat up a man," remembered customer Patti May. 329 While the Model Inn's chairs were unanchored car seats, Derek's Tavern was noted by the Portland police department to be "frequented by homosexuals of higher class and means."330 However, despite differences in clientele and presentation, Portland's gay bars varied little in location.

Some of the gay bars, such as the Model Inn and Old Glory, were later closed or relocated for urban renewal.  in Gay Bars, Vice, and Reform in Portland, 1948-1965  Beka Smith, Portland State University

https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3978&context=open_access_etds

The city acquired the property through condemnation proceedings in 1967 (Oregonian, Feb. 14, 1967, p. 18).

Paper by Jamie R Walton – Gay and Lesbian Archvies – Professor Ann Mussey December 1, 2000, Locations: (1) The Model Inn (2) Zorba the Greek

Walton Page 5 & 6

I asked Sally if she recalled anything about The Cartwheel. She recalls it had a different name after She did not go in before because she was living out of town. After 1962 it was called the Model Inn (It turns out that these were two different places). Sally said there was no theme in the décor that would lead one to know why it was being called the model, “it was a small dark place,” there was nothing special about its appearance, but it was fast becoming the place for PSU lesbians to frequent. The entrance was parallel to City Hall, and it was on the comer facing south. [Note this was the Cartwheel].

Sally says, “you saw the new preppy lesbians in there all the time. But you could tell them by the little white crew socks with the stripe across the top. And there was, of course, the inevitable Duck-Tail haircut.”

Sally said a lot of these women played semi-professional softball for the team that was sponsored by Irv Lind Florist Shop. “I am going to find Patti May for you. She will know 2 lesbian bartenders that ran The Cartwheel “She did some time for performing abortions at a time when abortions were illegal, and the only way women could get them was to go to someone like Papa Scott.”  [See Cartwheel Inn and Demas Tavern]

Later, I did talk to Patti May. She was very helpful. But she did not anything about The Cartwheel Tavern. She knew a lot about The Model Inn because it was her bar.

As I listened to Patti, I was struck by the similarities of her story to the stories found in Lesbian Woman (A fine book written by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon which was written in the 70s). Martin and Lyon described the ambiance of lesbian bars before Stonewall happened. Patti May told me that the place was small and depressing. She said role-playing was the only way to be a lesbian in those days.

“You were either butch or fem and that was it,” she said.

It was also a dangerous time. There were frequent bar fights between lesbians and more frightening, between lesbians and straight men

Patti May told me there was a woman, “Big Val,” who could “clean a man’s clock!”

“That was rare, you know, for a woman to be able to beat um a man,” she added with a laugh but still in ah.

I tried to get an interview with the owner, Nick Polechrones, but the party listed in the phone book with that name has not answered any of my messages.

Per https://www.pdxmonthly.com/news-and-city-life/2018/05/in-1964-portland-tried-to-crack-down-on-the-city-s-gay-scene-here-s-what-happened

By ’64, Schrunk had launched a Committee for Decent Literature and Films (!), and heated rhetoric swirled in city council meetings. Boag’s OHQ article culls some transcript gems: the police testified of women who “caress, kiss and fondle each other in public” at the Model Inn. Most riotously, 1 a.m. at the Harbor Club saw a huge crowd “packing it, with standing room only. From then on, all activities, such as males openly kissing each other, fondling each other, with no attempt to cover these activities.”

Schrunk and the council decided this would not stand (though one commissioner astutely noted that “these people are not going to disappear”). After a series of hearings in November and December, the city moved to shut down six bars, pressuring the OLCC to revoke their licenses.

Here’s a link to the interview