citations & references:

• Paper written for a class: Gay/Lesbian Capstone Archives Course: The Resurrection of the Transfusion Inn, Did it Exist? James S. Loos  Prof. Mussey December 4, 2000

  There was a bar on 316 W. Burnside in the mid-seventies in Portland, Oregon, This I am sure of. As an investigator assigned to uncover any information on the what was supposedly called 316 by GLAPN [Gayl/Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest], I went in search of a place which had no real identity  in license, “name or directory. What below relies on oral testimony somewhat confirmed by information found in the Oregonian newspaper, the Portland Joumal, and OLCC file documents.

  The way Ron McCarty remembers it – it was called the Roaring 90’s or Valhalla’s or was it Natasha’s? Like any politician with a past, McCarty’s memory with respect to personal controversy gets a little cloudy. He owned it, the restaurant that housed Tasha’s - the little bar tucked way back of the American Museum Restaurant. McCarty remembers Natasha, the lesbian woman who managed the little bar in the back. “Yeah, she was nice.” [Ron McCarty referring to Natasha, a lesbian employee of his, in a phone interview on Nov. 124, 2000] And of the lesbians who frequented the beer and wine bar, “they were all nice people”. McCarty’s memory fades when it comes to when the bar existed. He thinks it was anywhere from 1969 to 1974 through an interview with Sally Cohn places Tasha’s a little later somewhere from 72 to 74.

  One thing is certain, both Cohn and McCarty agree, Tasha’s was a part of the American Museum Restaurant and thus had no liquor license separate from American Museum. Sally remembers seeing the license and Ron’s name along with American Museum on it. Clientele was able to enter the bar freely and then later, the bar was separated by a doorway. The clientele was mostly lesbian.

  According to Ron, he helped run the place. On occasion, if one of the women called in sick or did not show up for a shift, he’d have to work back there. He also remembers that straights were allowed to go back there” as long as they were not disruptive.  If they [ie- the lesbian employees) had any trouble, he’d be there to take care of the problem. Ron remembers being a support for the bar back then. However, his track record with both the OLCC and the employees seems to contradict this.

  Sally Cohn remembers hanging out at Tasha’s quite a bit. Sally Bird, a friend of  Cohn’s helped manage the bar. Cohn recalls Bird having to “put up with” quite a bit of What's called “Ron’s weirdness”. There were often Sundays when Rön had enough beer for the bar and they’d run out. It was then up to the lesbian employees to around to different bars to pick up beer so that they could still serve.

  “Sally Bird, either tired of working for the quirky McCarty or tired of working in a lesbian bar that allowed anyone to enter, quit and later opened the Rising Moon Tavern across the street from American Museum in 1978. She and her partner operated the controversial women’s-only bar until 1985 when the couple decided to split up and sell the place.

  Tasha’s, as an establishment of legitimacy for women, did not exist on any paper. The Portland City Directory at the Oregon Historical Society for the years of ‘Ainétican Museum’s operation does not have Tasha’s as a listing for the address. Tasha’s had no phone and thus, no vehicle for voice. In addition, the liquor license had Ron’s name and American Museum listed. And finally, the file on Ronald Dale McCarty at the QLCC lists American Museum as the establishment hosting a number of violations. 

  In 1974, American Museum was refused renewal of its Liquor license. Several changes and violations had already been logged from 1969 to 74. Some of the violations included serving alcohol to a minor (this was a repeat offense), serving someone who was already visibly intoxicated, sanitation conditions, failure to display liquor license, and finally for maintaining a “lewd, unsanitary establishment”.  Sally Cohn remembers the  OLCC charging in and “shining flashlights”. The agents demanded to see the entire establishment. Their reasons? To check for sanitation conditions in the basement. Apparently, Ron denied them entrance for whatever reasons – thus further exerting his control over the space. According to the Portland Journal, Ron McCarty sued the OLCC in 1974. [The Portland Journal ran an article on August 22nd, 1974 titled Taven Sues OLCC in section 3, page 6. ]

  As Sally Bind and her partner at the time dreamed up plans of the Rising Moon, McCarty’s weirdness took a wild turn. Possibly distraught over haranguing with the OLCC or perhaps he was having trouble with his new bar at 316 W Burnside (the Single Guitar Tavern), Ron put a gun in his pocket and on Christmas Eve stormed into the OLCC Headquarters on Milwaukie Avenue and demanded the name and address of a  specific agent. He was arrested and was sentenced for a short time in jail and community service. He described his armed threat as a “prank”. [This was his definition according to the article in the Oregonian on July 166, 1976. The article explained the outcome of his sentencing for the threat.]

  Tasha’s functioned and operated successfully – despite McCarty’s weirdness – solely as a word of mouth business. In those days, the clientele beat a path between the Magic Gardens, Dema’s, and Tasha’s. A positive note may be sounded to know that the bar did not closed down of its violation or lack of business. McCarty's long list of affronts with the OLCC indicates that he may have encouraged the conflict between himself and the agency. But who is to know the intentions of the OLCC? Tasha’s and the bar’s lesbian employees may have been somewhat at fault for some of the notations But then again, there is no establishment” to me.

  Bar’s lesbian employees may have been somewhat at fault for some of the violations. But then again, there is no one at the OLCC who was able to explain “lewd, unsanitary establishment” to me

   

  Per ad in The Fountain, July 1973, “Portland’s Newest Tavern”. It must have not lasted very long, as 316 was advertised in Darcelle’s 1973 Green Book as well as Ad in NW Gay Review March 1974

  o        Listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1974 under Bars/Clubs with no notation

  o        Listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1975 under Bars/Clubs with notation G – Ladies/Ms.

  o        Not listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1976 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

        “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 iust 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.

  A paper written Lucas Gamlin with an interview with Ann Mussey and Rev. Susan Leo for the fall class of Gay and Lesbian Archives

    The Magic Garden: Real Gay Bar?

  The Magic Garden is located at 217 NW 4th Ave. in the Old Town/ Chinatown area of Portland Oregon. The bar still runs by as it did in 1973, the year in which the owner changed the Northwest. Club Northwest was owned by James S. Cleve changed ownership to Mrs. Carmelita Swearingen. Carmen felt that some changes were in order at her newly acquired bar and in 1973 name to the Magic Garden. Carmen as she was known to her clientele did not herself identify as lesbian however, she did cater to a gay crowd, many bar owners in this area catered to marginalized crowds. Old town was known by the community as skid row and I am sure in the area would appreciate any business be it gay or straight. As  early as 1972 this bar had become known for being a meeting place for the gay and lesbian community. While not being able to contact Carmen herself I have identified a few people that frequented this bar in the 1970s and am attempting to recreate the importance in this location in creating a community for gays and lesbians searching for a place to meet others.

  The earliest recollection of this bar as a meeting place for gays and lesbians was in the first years of the 1970s when the bar was still known as Club Northwest. In 197 3there were only a small number of bars that were meeting places for gays and lesbians, all located in Old Town or just outside of Old town in the downtown. These bars included Tasha’s and Dema’s (now known as Darcelle’s XV)  as well the bar Rising Moon; there was a well-beaten path between these four bars to be sure. Tasha’s was more of a bar for a younger lesbian crowd, Dema’s was a location for all the gay community. As the change over from Dema’s to Darcelle’s XV the lesbians that I have spoken with remember feeling displaced and Darcelle searched for more tourist appeal. The Magic Garden was a bar that was catering to a different clientele others; the women who enjoyed the Magic Garden were a working-class lesbian crowd. This crowd presumably having been out longer have and were seen as rougher than the young politically optimistic lesbians I have interviewed. The working-class lesbian clientele stuck to more of the “traditional” roles that were created in the years between 1940 and 1970 in the bar scene. This bar culture developed norms of behavior and the tradition of utilizing masculine behavior to identify in lesbian culture culminated into the butch and fem dynamic.  Although this bar was known namely the lesbian clientele, those I have interviewed remember that in this bar – there were always a mix of men amongst the women here.

  The Magic Garden was not the most frequented bar of Susan Leo’s group of friends, instead feeling that Tasha’s was more certainly “their” crowd.  These young just out of college lesbians who “felt that the sun rose and set on them, according to Susan who only on occasion venture out to the destination of the Magic Garden. Whereas Ann Mussey and her friends frequented the Magic Garden more often, they still felt the Rising Moon to be their hangout. One of the draws of the Magic Garden ws that they served not only beer but mixed drinks as well.  The Magic Garden was felt to be a gay bar that “your parents would worry about you if they saw you” according to Susan. These types of locations are seemingly where the idea of a gay and lesbian community were first formed in the bars, those of the post-Stonewall age being already the second generation of this now semi-visible community. The Magic Garden then began to change slowly to the strip club now standing. In around 1975 the change had begun.

  The clientele of the Magic Garden while being primarily lesbian, certainly had no stakes in being a meeting place As far as I know the owner Carmen did not herself identify as a lesbian and could have possibly had a husband and kids. The changes and strip club was a gradual one. Beginning first with strippers only once a week. Those that I have talked to did not discuss going to these strip nights and the only information I have is that this began to drastically change the make up of the clientele. By the early 1980s the clientele was primarily straight men. It was around this time that there were other bars popping up around the city such as 927 Burnside, Judy’s on NE Broadway, and the Other Side of Midnight. Some of these were drawing away the crowds from the old town area. The bars had moved from the skid row area of downtown to the neighborhoods of the east side of Portland. The decline of the Magic Garden as a lesbian hangout certainly had to do with the change *club but I would imagine that it also has to do with the new bars were becoming options for the community. The lesbian community still being so small as to only support two or three bars according to Ann Mussey. It was not until the after 1976 that this bar had switched over to being strictly a strip club. The bar has remained a strip club until present day and in 1992 changed ownership was again. The bar was bought and is still owned by Everett Moore.