One night, a drunk man on Castle Street, asked May for a light. Sometimes they ventured to the bars in Scollay Square but their bars were Playland and The Empty Barrel on Broadway in Bay Village. Thelma and May liked to promenade up and down Tremont and Washington Streets, looking for men. If life was not easy, it could at least be glamorous with just the right touch of make-up and attitude. One time, they got so hungry, they captured a swan in the Public Garden and attempted to cook it in their room until the landlady found out and stopped them, or at least that is how the story went. They have trouble paying the meager rent and often spend what money they have on drinks and makeup. Charles shares the room with another man, Peter Seifried, whose drag name is May. He applies mascara and lipstick, puckering his lips and widening his eyes, he slowly turns into his drag persona, Thelma. On Washington Street, you could take in a floor show at the Hoffman Grill, which specialized in the “Finest Italian American food.” In was perfect for anyone who wanted to live anonymously.Ĭharles Gautreau stands in front of his mirror over the sink in his room in the New York Streets area of the South End.
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Prostitutes mingled with bookies at joints like the Junee Café (“When It’s Thirst, Come Here First”). The South End in the 1940s was a densely populated neighborhood of bars, restaurants, cheap hotels, and rooming houses.
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What was it like to be queer in 1940s Boston? It’s impossible to fully capture the diverse experiences of LGBT people at any given time, much less a decade as momentous as the 1940s, but by reaching into the archives of The History Project, Boston LGBT archive, we can get a glimpse into the lives of five people who lived in a place and time that is at once familiar and alien.
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Little material evidence survives to tell the unique stories of the people who visited the bar in the early days of Boston’s gay liberation movement. These stories, however, are precisely those we must actively seek to preserve and share.Wellesley House Party 1940s/Courtesy: The History Project. Elite’s historical value is mostly obscured by the building’s perceived lack of architectural value. Today, the unassuming building that once housed Elite’s remains, providing services as a Rent-A-Center.Īlthough the building at 38 Warren Street still stands, its rich history is largely forgotten. Without the flashing neon signs boasted proudly by other local gay bars (like the Punch Bowl, Boston’s foremost gay bar in the 1970s), Elite’s vernacular architecture gave little suggestion of the social hub behind its facade. However, bar-goers were not deterred and continued to gather at Elite’s for several years after. There was one early incident where several locals attempted to burn down the building with people still inside. Elite’s was regarded as a space without discrimination. With its prime location near Dudley Square-now called Nubian Square-the club drew both local Black men and women.
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38 Warren Street, Roxbury-With a flourishing LGBT subculture, post-Stonewall Boston was a hub of gay activity and activism. Boston’s first and only exclusively Black gay club, Elite’s, thrived from 1970 to 1973 in the neighborhood of Roxbury. Elite’s specifically celebrated and served the Black LGBT community.Įlite’s was founded first as a daytime bar and was later transformed into a nighttime gay bar by the son of Elite’s owner.