SEATTLE — A story you’ve probably never heard of in Seattle’s oldest neighborhood: It turns out much of its history is hiding in plain sight.
You’d be forgiven for not knowing about Pioneer Square’s rich gay history, when most people think of Seattle’s queer community first and foremost, Capitol Hill.
It turns out Seattle’s first neighborhood was actually its first “gay neighborhood.”
Pioneer Square’s queer history dates back to deep beneath Seattle’s surface.
“The Underground really provided a safe space for queer people to be themselves,” Terrilynn Johnson said.
Johnson is the owner of Beneath the Streets, a walking tour that takes you through a place that is itself a hidden piece of queer history.
“This was Seattle’s first gay community center in 1971,” Johnson said at the start of the tour. “It’s here in the basement of 102 Cherry Street. It was founded by four men. Their vision was to create a place that wasn’t a bathhouse or a bar, where the many queer people of that time could come and socialize.”
Coming out of the underground space is a metaphor in a way.
“That’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re out there, we’re out there,” Johnson said. “We no longer have to hide in the shadows. We’re free to be out there in Seattle, in the birthplace of Seattle, in Pioneer Square, in the gay community, in the oldest neighborhood in the city, everywhere.”
The tour then headed to 2nd Avenue.
“Second (Avenue),” Johnson exclaimed. “It was Main Street, pun probably intended. I wanted to point out this nail on the banister. This is very interesting.”
She walks up to the blue fence at 2nd and Cherry Streets.
“An officer from the Seattle Police Department put this nail here,” Johnson said, “It’s a deterrent to loitering. Young men, maybe older men, might be tempted to sit here and jeer at other boys who walk by, but this nail is a preventative measure.”
Did it work? “Probably not as well as I hoped,” Johnson said with a laugh. “Every now and then I’ll make a lewd comment, but we’re on TV. I’m not going to do that now. I’ll save it for when I’m on tour.”
Then we went to Smith Tower.
“Yeah, there was a bar in the basement (below Smith Tower) called the Submarine Room,” Johnson says. “In the early ’70s it was a gay bar. They had drag shows and performances and drinking and dancing and all the other things you do in a bar.”
Where the Fly Hotel Apartments are now, was once home to the Mocambo, also known as “The Mo.”
And then there was Occidental Avenue.
“On this corner was the Dollhouse Tavern,” Johnson said, pointing to a storefront that no longer exists, “and there was a gay bar called The Shield of Troy and a gay bar called Stage Door. And at the end of the block was the Atlas Steam Baths. There was a bathhouse scene all over this neighborhood.”
So it’s only fitting that the Emerald City’s first Pride event was held here exactly 50 years ago.
“Right now there’s nothing there to indicate this is a historic site,” Patty Hearn said.
Hahn is Seattle Pride’s new executive director.
“But we’re currently working with the Pioneer Square Coalition to install historical markers as part of their Trail to Treasure program,” Hahn says, “so when you walk through Pioneer Square or visit Seattle, you’ll see signs relating to that first day in 1974.”
History will soon be published for all to see.
In the 1970s, rising rents forced members of Seattle’s gay community out of Pioneer Square and into Capitol Hill, where rents were much cheaper at the time.
