Ninth Street Exit Coffee House
215 SE 9th
The Centenary-Wilbur Methodist Church building.
Years: 1968-1980
Per a large three-page article about the Centenary-Wilbur church in The Oregonian, February 2, 1969, explains about the function of the space and talks about the beginnings of the Ninth Street Exit Coffee House.
citations & references:
History/Story: Per https://historycooperative.org/journal/music-on-the-cusp-from-folk-to-acid-rock-in-portland-coffeehouses-1967-1970/
In June 1968, as the Charix was colliding with local authorities, the Ninth Street Exit opened at Centenary-Wilbur Methodist Church. The Centenary-Wilbur community had changed since October 12, 1962, Columbus Day, when a furious and destructive storm knocked the steeple into the sanctuary, ripping a hole not only in the building but also in the congregation. A new sanctuary was fashioned out of the gymnasium, but the congregation was irreparably sundered. Guitarist Bill Wyatt, whose mother was the church’s choir director, remembered that “the more fundamental and radical elements hung on and the dressier folks moved on.”[61- Wyatt interview]
Centenary-Wilbur rapidly became a major countercultural center, housing not only the Ninth Street Exit but also antiwar and draft-resistance groups, an organic food collective, a counterculture information switchboard, and gay liberation groups. In 1968, some eighteen social and political organizations operated out of Centenary-Wilbur.[62 Rande Wilmarth, “2 Churches in Same Building Pursue Contrasting Theories,” Oregon Journal, July 12, 1968, 6J] During its twelve-year run, the Ninth Street Exit was the nursery for a variety of prominent 1970s bands, including the Sleazy Pieces, the heirs to the ebullience and eclecticism of the 1960s, and the wild jazz ensemble Upepo. But as baby boomers migrated to bars and taverns, the Exit slowly faded until it closed altogether in 1980.
Another place that states that this space appears to be the first attempt at a young gay/lesbian gathering place, other than Camp. Per https://www.ohs.org/research-and-library/oregon-historical-quarterly/oregonscape/Copy-of-oregonscape-fall-2020.cfm In 1970, the Willamette Bridge, a small, progressive Portland newspaper, turned down a classified ad for being sexual in nature, which read: “Gay, longhair, young, lonely, seeks meaningful relationship with same. Answer with an ad in the Bridge.” This inspired one of their staff members, John Wilkinson, to publicly decry the situation, and on March 24, 1970, the Portland chapter of the Gay Liberation Front had its first meeting. By that summer the group was meeting two nights a week at the Ninth Street coffeehouse located in Portland’s Centenary-Wilbur Methodist Church. Wilkinson, along with fellow Bridge staff member Holly Hart, continued to write articles in support of the movement — advocating for and providing resources and support for the Portland area LGBT community.
As was common at the time, writings on the topic of gay rights were widely shared and reproduced as inspiration for local chapters. The Portland GLF reprinted “A Gay Manifesto” by Carl Wittman in one of their first newsletters. Wittman saw the main goal of Gay Liberation as being to “free ourselves; that means clearing our heads of the garbage that’s been poured into them.” In conclusion, he ends with four “imperatives”:
1. Free ourselves: come out everywhere; initiate self-defense and political activity; initiate counter-community institutions.
2. Turn other gay people on talk all the time; understand, forgive, accept.
3. Free the homosexual in everyone: we’ll be getting a good bit of shit from threatened latents: be gentle, and keep talking & acting free.
4. We’ve been playing an act for a long time, so we’re consummate actors. Now we can begin to be, and it’ll be a good show!
The “Gay Manifesto” is mentioned above go to https://libcom.org/article/gay-manifesto-carl-wittman for the full manifesto. The logo of the manifesto is shown below Left. The article about Ninth Street in The Fountain - needs complete citation.
As part of the complex, per an ad in the March- April 1971 The Fountain newspaper, Portland Switchboard operated there [see ad Below]. An article in the May 20, 1970, Oregon Journal (below Right) clarifies more about the Portland Switchboard, however, the ad clearly states that the address is 215 SE 9th and along with the date which appears to be part of the Ninth Street Exit Coffee House or works in conjunction with the Ninth Street Exit Coffee House.
