The Pruitts of Portland

citations & references:

*Oregon’s known first gay organization. [Not formally recognized by any governmental agency]

*Forerunner to the Portland Forum 1969/70 which was the first gay organization to register with the State of Oregon and be deemed a not-for-profit.

*Forerunner to the Imperial Sovereign Rose Court

Years: 1964-1969

Founders:

David Hamilton – Mame [founder]

Van Richards – Vanessa [co-founder]

From David Hamilton bio:

The question to when David started doing drag is one that many haven’t asked. As there weren’t many bars in Portland as far as anyone can tell that had drag performers.  It is stated that In his off-hours, he performed in drag at various bars around Portland such as The Side Door and Dahl & Penne along with Van Richards, ‘Vanessa’.  However, the Side Door didn’t exist until April 1972 with the  ‘announcement’ of the opening placed in the April 1972 in The Fountain newspaper, April 1972 edition, page 3 and page 5. Dahl & Penne was an established bar, but didn’t become a gay hangout until 1972, when a straight married couple from California, Sammy and Gene Landauer purchased it. With knowing that, where did David and Van perform? The time frame from 1960 – 1964 is a bit hazy. Here are some possible bars that operated at that time that might have had drag performances – only two are stated per Damron Address Book/Address Guides to have ‘drags’ – Buddies Post Tavern and The Model Inn.

Also during hearing for the closure of homosexual and lesbian clientele bars, there was a debate on just how many bars there were. , “The Oregon Journal claimed that Portland's gay bars were "encouraging their [queers'] …Councilor Grayson argued that there were nine gay bars in Portland, Lieutenant Crawford claimed eight, while Derek Akerson, owner of Derek's Tavern, countered that there were only two "strict" gay bars and two "strictly girl taverns." The actual number of gay bars was debatable, depending on whether mixed-customer bars were counted.

However, the contention that the number and presence of gay bars and queers in Portland had grown dramatically was shared by police, city councilors, newspapers, and citizens. "Either they're growing in number of I'm just seeing a lot more of them," reported a Portland police officer. It is possible that, prompted by Portland's recession and diminished revenue after the city's crackdown on gambling, bar operators increasingly welcomed queer customers as they struggled to find new sources of revenue.” Per Gay Bars, Vice, and Reform in Portland, 1948-1965 Beka Smith  Portland State University  February 2002.

Meeting with Walter W Cole/Darcelle on August 5, 2022, he answered the question. “Where were female impersonators performing in the early 60s?” His answer, “They didn’t perform. First of all they were not considered female impersonators and this is where confusion comes. Most back then didn’t have access to a lot of clothing, wigs, shoes etc. so they weren’t very attractive. So, many people called those who did dress up in opposite sex clothing were ‘cross dressers’ more than female impersonators or they were called ‘drags’. They would go into the bars that allowed gays and just be part of the ‘atmosphere’.”

The bars in Portland at the time were:

Buddies Post Tavern 926 SW 4th Years: (gay from at least 1962 to 1968) Listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1965 under Bars/Clubs with notations of M – mixed and RT – Raunchy Types [Hustlers, Drags, and other ‘Downtown Types’ [this is the way it was listed from 1965-1969]

Club Northwest 217 N.W. Fourth 227-8860 Years: 1968-1972 as Club Northwest,

The Fiddler’s 3  “old” Somebody’s Place 728 S.W. Ninth.

Years: 1966 – 1969 [the 1969 date is when it is stated Roman purchased the bar and renamed it Roman’s]

Grand Oasis Tavern (also The Last Resort), 243 S.W. Alder.   Years: 1940 – September 1982

The Harbor Club 736 S.W. First Years: 1946-1964 

[The] Model Inn, 1536 S.W. First. Years: 1964-1967 Listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1965 under Bars/Clubs with a notation: RT – Raunchy Types – Hustlers, Drags, and other ‘Downtown’ Types this is the way it was listed from 1964-1967]

Old Glory Tavern, 118 S.W. Madison, 1962-1964. Some called it The Glory Hole

Park Haviland SW Broadway and SW Salmon  Years: gay friendly from 1965 – 1975 ? possibly earlier in 1962- 1980

[The] Transfusion Inn, 1139 S.W. First,  Years: 1959 – 1964

There is this mention but it doesn’t say what bars…hmmm. 1968 – July 7 The Sunday Oregonian – Daytime it is tree green and concrete gray, a city of beauty and charm…BUT AT NIGHT “the first shows were starting on the small stages of the downtown bars. One of the bigger more expensive productions featured two female impersonators and two honest to goodness females.” Where this was? I don’t know.

Another question, did he know Queen Eugene I who crowned himself the Court of Transylvania who held court at The Half Moon Tavern or also known as The Tavern? It doesn’t appear that there were any drag performances there or were there? [none at this point have been identified].

Since coming back from the army in 1960 we do know that David traveled a lot for his job at Stevens & Sons because he was a buyer. He always expressed the fact that he loved San Francisco. In fact, when he was offered a job, he declined it saying, “I really wanted to keep San Francisco as my Oz.” That didn’t stop him from making multiple trips.

What is known that In 1964 he attended a semi-newly formed group calling themselves the Imperial Court de San Francisco under the rule of Empress of San Francisco José Sarria and an even called a Court Ball. * Per http://www.imperialcouncilsf.org/founder.html “In 1964 at Beau Arts Ball at the Hilton Hotel on O’Farrell Street that was hosted by the Tavern Guild of San Francisco, José was crowned Queen of the Ball.” Per same website “In 1965 Sarria founded The Imperial Court of San Francisco.” His reign as Absolute Empress I de San Francisco José was from October 31, 1965 - November 1, 1966 ]

Stated in sAD MAGAZINE  [SAD Mag is an independent Vancouver, BC  publication featuring stories, art, and design. Founded in 2009, we publish the best of contemporary and emerging artists with a focus on inclusivity of voices and views, exceptional design, and film photography.] an interview  dated November 14, 2014, with Ted Northe who established in 1964 the Dogwood Monarchist Society [the longest running LGBTQ society in Canada] and the Imperial Empire of Canada that David Hamilton/Mame dressed him up in drag and they went out on the town in San Francisco. When he got back to Vancouver, BC, he established the court system there. 

Per the article, “Histories of the gay rights movement in North America typically begin with the Stonewall riots in New York City in 1969. However, Vancouver, Portland ,and San Francisco, established strong gay communities years before the riots began, and were met with relative acceptance. In contract to the homophobia and police violence on the East Coast, on the West Coast community opened gay bars, hosted gay parties, and started fighting for equal rights much earlier with comparative ease. It should be noted, that back in 1912 when the Vice Clique Sex Scandal erupted in Portland, police from cities on the west coast were talking to themselves and again at other times. In the early part of 1960s when Terry Shrunk was mayor, he wanted to rule out sexual deviants very much as Mayor Dorothy Lee McCullough had tried in the early 1950s. A newspaper columnist Doug Baker, the Oregon Journal’s city gossip columnist, in one of his June 1964 columns wrote, ““The Unmentionable People are virtually untouchable people, and they are growing stronger each week.” He went on to say, ““A veteran police officer said last week, ’Either they’re growing in number or I’m just seeing a lot more of them.’” The unnamed sources kept coming: a Portland State student propositioned by another woman; a “businessman” vowing “vigilante” action. Baker noted the cops traditionally took a “hands off policy with respect to the Unmentionables.”  “[T]hese biological rejects cling tenaciously to the myth that they are, in some strange way, something special,” the newsman typed. “It’s time the mayor’s office had a new look at this old problem.”

Per By Zach Dundas  5/22/2018 at 12:41pm  Published in the June 2018 issue of Portland Monthly in his article Pride: The Prequel “More newspaper articles, Oregon police made a series of arrests for various sex and pornography offenses in 1963, which triggered a classic media panic, with Oregonian headlines like “They Prey on Boys.” Portland’s mayor, Terry Schrunk, decided the time had come for action.” “By ’64, Schrunk had launched a Committee for Decent Literature and Films (!), and heated rhetoric swirled in city council meetings.”” 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.” “The denouement, then, was classically Portlandian: no billy clubs, no bold riots in the streets, just two rival bureaucracies and a well-framed legal argument. The unlikely agent of progress: the OLCC, which essentially dismissed the City of Portland’s attempt to crack down on “the Unmentionables” out of hand.” “Schrunk sputtered. He wrote the governor, who ignored him. The only casualty, in the end, was the Harbor Club. When the city pulled its food license, the waterfront redoubt shuttered.”

Per a 2004 Oregon Historical Quarterly essay by historian Peter Boag stated, “In one odd (arguable) byproduct of the 1964 episode, the Portland bars’ survival may have muted activism. “In other cities, it was constant harassment*,” Boag says. “In Portland, after 1964, the bars were left alone, and as a result Portland gays tended to be more lethargic politically.” We never had a Stonewall.

*Bars in Portland were, for the most part were owned by people who ‘didn’t care about sexuality’ or as it soon would be, owned by gay people unlike the east coast where bars were owned and operated by the mafia.

David liked the “ball” concept so much that he brought back the idea. He along with others such as Van Richards/Vanessa met at a house in the west hills of Portland called Tara. [This has been mentioned, but never substantiated. However, in an insert The Fountain placed states “The Fountain staff has donated this page to all the bars and organizations in Portland that are doing any time of charity drive for Christmas we urge you to support all of the vents that you can.” So, for December 4, Saturday – year believe it’s 1971 states “Bingo Party at Tara from 8:00 pm till 11:00 pm. Bring your friends, food, fun, and refreshments.”] 

It is said that David presented what he saw and through those individuals a group was formed which they decided to call themselves The Pruitts of Portland.  Some have said this was a ‘theatrical performing group’- there is no record that anyone in the group ever performed in a local theatre production, so possibly the ‘theatrical performing group’ was them being wild and crazy at the bars?

It is believed that they were all gay and using the name Pruitt was a sign of solidarity and the word Pruitt in the dictionary means valiant one or brave little one. Some say that they may have also gotten their name from a popular 1966 ABC television show called The Pruitt’s of Southampton starring comedian Phyllis Diller however that show didn’t appear again until 1966 – two years after the group was formed.

During this time in Portland, Mayor Terry Schrunk along with the city commissioners and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission taking a hard look at bars and taverns in the Portland metropolitan area, especially eight known to have ‘homosexual and lesbian clientele’. Those eight bars were The Half Moon/The Tavern, Harbor Club, Old Glory Restaurant, Derek's Tavern,  the Transfusion Inn, Milwaukie Tavern, Model Inn, and Mama Bernice’s. This hasn’t been verified but it is said that the group formed because they were to be the semi-comic relief against Portland City Hall’s attempts to close the eight bars. It is unclear what comic relief they would provide or where, but as many will attest, David was always one with a smile on his face and loved to party. 

****By 1965 they started having themed ‘drag’ balls. This appears to be the first time that local performances were held that brought female impersonators/’drags’/cross dressers – in fact the whole community together. The first if you will, organized gay community event. The balls were designed as a beauty contest for the female impersonators twice per year – one in the spring and one in the fall. At first a new queen would be crowned but called Queen. They would give up their ‘crown’ six months later at another ball.  The way to become Queen was to dress-up, walk to a chair, sitting, then standing. The prettiest one that did this or the one whoever stayed in the chair the longest won the tiara and crowned "Queen for A Day" (that’s partially where the "Rose Queen" title emerged from). You didn’t have to talk or perform – nothing.

Balance of The Pruitts History is stated in The Imperial Soverign Rose Court history.