Every day thousands drive by Mrs. P’s Bar & Kitchen in the Wylie Hotel at 551 Ponce de Leon Ave. and have little — if any — knowledge of its famous (or infamous) history.
But go back in time, and the restaurant had a dual (one might say “closeted”) existence. Located in what was the Ponce de Leon Hotel, the restaurant was a lunchtime favorite of workers in the nearby Sears Roebuck and Co. building (now Ponce City Market).
But when the 5 o’clock whistle blew, Mrs. P’s transformed into a gay bar and nightclub — some say the city’s first openly LGBTQ+ bar. Mrs. P’s drew a crowd wearing leather and western wear, featured some of the city’s first drag performances, including ones by the legendary Diamond Lil, and endured frequent police raids.
Mrs. P’s is one of dozens of landmarks that tell the story of gay Atlanta where, until 1969, homosexuality was a crime. Gays throughout the Southeast flocked here so they could balance between living in a straight world while finding comfort in community. Throughout Atlanta there were gay clubs, businesses, social groups, churches, stores, health clinics and even sports teams.
Credit: Jon Arge, courtesy of the artist
Credit: Jon Arge, courtesy of the artist
“You could come to Atlanta and find like-minded people and not have everyone necessarily know your business. You came to be anonymous,” said Randy Gue, assistant director of collection development and curator of Political, Cultural and Social Movements Collections of Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library.
While many significant gay landmarks are gone, others still exist or, like Mrs. P’s, are in another incarnation. Since gay life moved beyond the lenses of mainstream media for so long, its history is spottily chronicled and fleeting.
But with LGBT History Month being observed during October and the Atlanta Pride Festival coming up Oct. 12-13, it’s a fitting time to take a look at the places that help piece the quilt of Atlanta gay history.
Fortunately, there are repositories of that history available to the public in Atlanta. Anyone wishing to research aspects of it themselves can visit, in addition to Emory’s Rose Library, the Atlanta History Center’s Kenan Research Center, where its Activism and Social Change Collection documents the lesbian and gay rights movement of the 1970s.
Georgia State University Library’s Gender and Sexuality Collections were established in 2011 and include an extensive periodical collection, as well as 110 oral histories conducted by GSU staff and 46 interviews donated by others. There are other collections at Oglethorpe University, Atlanta University Center and National Center for Civil and Human Rights.
“It’s important to document queer history, which has been ignored for so long,” said Morna Gerrard, Women’s/Gender and Sexuality Collections archivist for Georgia State University. “Younger generations need to understand where their rights come from.”
Credit: Courtesy of Billy Jones Collection, Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center
Credit: Courtesy of Billy Jones Collection, Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center
Added Richard Eldredge, whose just-published book, “Bitch of the South,” tells the story of the late, prominent Atlanta drag queen Charlie Brown: “So many of the important places have been swallowed up by developers, and many just went out of business. There’s not as many queer landmarks being protected as I’d like. There’s still work to do.”
Though many places have changed identities, here is a tour of Atlanta spots that are home to gay history:
Bars still in existence
Credit: John Spink
Credit: John Spink
— The Atlanta Eagle, located at 306 Ponce de Leon Ave., was a leather bar where RuPaul performed often.
“We still have the original cage he used to dance in,” said Richard Ramey, owner and managing partner. “The Eagle meant so much to so many people and so many different segments of people. You came and we accepted. We weren’t only a place but a safe place.”
Well, not exactly.
In 2009, the Atlanta vice squad and Red Dog Unit — a SWAT-like team — raided the bar, forcing some 60 patrons on the floor for hours. Eight staff members (but no patrons) were arrested. The raid set off a firestorm of protests. The bar sued the city, winning nearly $2 million. Several of the police were either fired or reprimanded, the Red Dog Unit was disbanded and police underwent LGBTQ+ sensitivity training.
“They violated our rights,” Ramey said. “We were less concerned about money; we wanted change.”
The Eagle relocated to 1492 Piedmont Ave., and the city’s Zoning Review Board designated the original site as a historic landmark. The original Ponce location still stands despite a June fire. atlantaeagle.com
— Bulldogs, a Midtown bar popular with Black men, is the city’s oldest LGBTQ+ bar still in its original location, at 893 Peachtree St.
“It’s probably the only one still on the Strip,” Dave Hayward said, referring to the Midtown stretch famed for hippies, head shops and clubs in the 1970s. Hayward co-founded Touching Up Our Roots, a nonprofit contributing to efforts to document and save gay history. Touching Up Our Roots can be found on Instagram at @bulldogsbaratl
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
— MJQ Concourse, a dance club at 736 Ponce de Leon Ave., still attracts a large gay clientele. “We never had a target demographic core audience,” co-owner Ryan Murphy said. “We just had cool people come who wanted to dance. Everyone could go and not feel excluded.” mjqofficial.com
— MSR My Sister’s Room at 104 Crescent Ave. was founded in 1996 and has been the city’s premier lesbian bar since. mysistersroom.com
— Mary’s East Atlanta at 1287 Glenwood Ave. is a gay bar but attracts a diverse crowd thanks to special events, drag shows and karaoke. marysatlanta.com
Bookstore still in business
— Charis Books & More, the first lesbian/feminist bookstore in the Southeast, opened at Little Five Points in 1974. It’s now affiliated with Agnes Scott College and located at 184 S. Candler St. in Decatur. charisbooksandmore.com
LGBTQ+ theater
Credit: Courtesy of Out Front Theatre
Credit: Courtesy of Out Front Theatre
— Out Front Theatre Company, at 999 Brady Ave. in West Midtown, opened in 2016 and produces theatrical experiences that focus on the community’s voices. “For some people, we’re they only theater they feel comfortable at,” said Paul Conroy, founder and producing artistic director. outfronttheatre.com
Former bars and drag shows
Sweet Gum Head, a gay club and premier drag venue on Cheshire Bridge Road, became the go-to place for gays of all persuasions. Drag queens including Rachel Wells and Lavita Allen attracted straight clientele as well as Hollywood stars. Located at 2284 Cheshire Bridge, it is now the location of the Allure Gentlemen’s Club.
Gallus anchored the Cypress Street cruising corridor in Midtown. The upstairs was a respectable restaurant; the basement was notoriously frequented by hustlers and older men.
Credit: Backstreet
Credit: Backstreet
— Backstreet was a main hub for drag in the late 1980s and 1990s. Open 24 hours, it was also the home of Charlie Brown’s Cabaret, which launched in 1991. “Backstreet was so important,” said MJQ Concourse co-owner Murphy. Located at 845 Peachtree St., Backstreet closed in 2004 and is now an apartment building. Its giant disco ball is in the Atlanta History Center’s permanent collection.
— Cotton Blossom was a popular gay club located in the Winecoff Hotel at 176 Peachtree St., now the Ellis Hotel. It was also the home of the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America, the earliest known gay-affirming church in the country, established in 1946 by Bishop George Hyde.
— The Lounge, located at 79 Forsyth St., was perhaps the earliest known LGBTQ+ space.
Lesbian bars no longer in business
— “We used to go to the Tower Lounge, 735 Forrest Ave. (now Ralph McGill Boulevard),” said Lorraine Fontana, founder of the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance. The owner of the Tower, a blue-collar lesbian bar, also owned the Sports Page at 2069 Cheshire Bridge Road, a favorite for disco dancing.
— Otherside Lounge, 1924 Piedmont Road, primarily catered to women and was bombed in 1997 by Centennial Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph.
Other landmarks now part of history
— The Silver Grill, at 900 Monroe Drive, opened in 1945 and served a large gay clientele with respect. Diamond Lil wrote a song, “The Silver Grill Blues.” It was renovated and expanded to become the location of La Hacienda Midtown restaurant.
— Alpha House was started in 1972 by a group who broke away from the Atlanta Women’s Liberation Center. “We wanted a space only for women, not just lesbians,” said Fontana, one of the founders. “We had a house at 1190 Mansfield Ave. in Candler Park because some of us lived together. The downstairs became the meeting/event space.” A second location also opened.
— Ansley Mall Mini-Cinema was showing Andy Warhol’s movie, “Lonesome Cowboys,” a homoerotic underground comedy, on Aug. 5, 1969, when it was raided. The raid helped spur Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ civil rights movement.
— Michael Harwick was arrested in his bedroom on Ponce de Leon Place for sodomy in 1982. The case, Bowers v. Hardwick, was a landmark Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of a Georgia sodomy law.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Philip Rafshoon
Credit: Photo courtesy of Philip Rafshoon
Bookstores for the history books
— In 1993 Philip Rafshoon opened Outwrite Bookstore and Coffeehouse at 991 Piedmont Ave. It closed in 2012 and is now Casa Almenara restaurant. “We were a bookstore, coffeehouse and de facto community center,” Rafshoon said. At the time Outwrite opened, he said, “we were the only major city that did not have one. People knew they would be welcomed. We were a melting pot.”
— Christopher’s Kind, a gay bookstore, opened at 70 13th St. in 1980.
A final thought
While so many LGBTQ+ landmarks have been lost, activist Hayward puts his focus on what has been gained by the community over time.
“We could go on about, ‘Poor us, we lost so many of our places,’ and there’s some truth to that,” Hayward said. “But the other truth is that we’re victors. The community is successful. When you think that some people were killed by their activism, we’ve not only survived but prevailed.”
If You Go
Atlanta Pride Festival
Featuring live performances, marches, parades, food and drink vendors and more. Marches and parades begin Oct. 12, with the main event, the Atlanta Pride Parade, kicking off from the Atlanta Civic Center MARTA station at noon Oct. 13 and ending at Piedmont Park’s Charles Allen gate. Oct. 12-13. Free. Charles Allen Drive and 10th Street, Atlanta. atlantapride.org.
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