Famous Door

From the Famous Door's later incarnation as a gay
male bar in the 1970s

Famous Door

Location: 1786 Madison, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Opened: 1969

Closed: 1969

As far as I can tell, Famous Door was a (predominatly) lesbian bar for only a few months in 1969. However, even that history is buried in the location's subsequently more famous history as a gay male bar known as George's. 

From a book called Carryin On In the Lesbian and Gay South, specifically the chapter called "Softball and Alcohol: The Limits of Lesbian Community in Memphis from the 1940s through the 1960s" by Daneel Burring: 

Memphis's first primarily lesbian bars opened in the late 1960s. Nancy, one of the narrators, entered into the lesbian bar business in 1969 when she took over the lease for a bar named the Famous Door. She subleased the Famous Door from a lesbian couple who had previously owned the Raven and the Aristocrat [two mixed gay private clubs in Tipton County, Tennessee].The bar had originally opened as the Twilight Lounge Tavern. At the time, the Twilight Lounge catered to both gays and lesbians; however, when Nancy took it over lesbians predominated. After a short time Nancy gave up the lease on the Famous Door and opened the Psych-Out, which legally changed names several times throughout the 1970s but always referred to as the Psych-Out by patrons.

Later on, the article adds:

None of the butch narrators who participated in this study was ever prosecuted for cross-dressing, but several remember the anxiety they felt about going to the bars.

"If you pulled up in front of the Famous Door, and this was done many times, and you saw a police car there, you drove around and around and around. If you were in there when they came in and . . .you had your arm around somebody, you dropped it. If you sere sitting a little bit closer, you immediately tried to act straight. You wouldn't dare talk back."

This selection from an article at Memphis Vive Magazine adds a few more details. Notice that once again, we see a familiar theme: how gay men take over lesbian space and make it their own. And how the lesbian usage of that space is effectively erased from that history, so that only a few random individual women remain--even "Nancy,"the one who took over the lease for a time and made it into a lesbian bar, has disappeared. Also notice that this article on the history of George's and gay bars at that location (if you look it up) includes no photographs of women or lesbians--just drag queens and gay men. 

It was way back in 1960, a long time before gay acceptance by society was even a dream, that a woman remembered only as “Lou” opened a little, dumpy beer bar at 1786 Madison called The Twilight Lounge. In those days the term “closet” meant “dungeon.” Sharon Wray (an owner or partner in many gay and lesbian bars in Memphis) used the phrase, “Gays were allowed to come in.” Gathering places were rare and usually far from town such as Ben’s, near Lehigh, AR, and the Raven, across the Tipton county line. Lou discovered that the gay crowd was a well-behaved crowd and that they spent money and kept coming. Thus was the location established.

The name changed for the first time to Cookie and Blanche’s in a year of two; no one remembers whether the two women were actually lesbian or not but the crowd was still encouraged to come. Mike Rollins took over the ownership in 1965, took back the original name and it was a bartender who leaned over the bar to kiss a sailor which caused the bar to be busted and closed. The newspaper story read, “Twilight Kiss Closes Twilight Lounge.” In order to smooth things over, a lesbian was produced and the two people involved swore that they were a couple. The ruse worked and a much more discreet Twilight Lounge reopened.


George Wilson


The ownership passed to two women named Kay Thornton and Sarah Forbes in 1969 and the name changed to The Famous Door. Several times that year, the establishment changed hands, even once belonging to Sharon Wray and business partner Carolyn Marbury. In those days beer and setups were sold. The laws were very exacting: a bar could be cited for allowing a patron to stand up to drink; they had to be seated. Beer could be sold until 12 AM, then later up until 1 AM. Sharon remembers that water setups had to be poured from a pitcher, as there was no sink behind the bar.

George Wilson had moved to Memphis and opened an antique business. He was persuaded to become involved with the long-time gay hangout at the end of 1969. He finally obtained ownership and called it merely The Door. After the new year, an old acquaintance named Dennis Belski moved back to town and was hired to tend bar. George had also acquired a new lover/partner from Canada, Don Rossignol by name. The sun was about to rise in an explosion of glitter and sequins.

In a history written by and/or interviewing lesbians, somebody would know who "Lou" and "Cookie" and "Blanche" were, and whether they were lesbians. Here they are merely ciphers. Of course, lesbians would pay attention to such things. To gay men, they are merely background figures in the scenery. 

In addition, notice that this article on this history of the Memphis white gay male community makes no mention of this location's previous existence as even a short-lived lesbian bar. 

Clara Conway Institute

Clara Conway Institute

Clara Conway Institute

Location: Poplar Street (near Orleans Street), Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Opened: 1877

Closed: 1893

From a website documenting the Pioneers of Education in Memphis. Clara Conway was quite obviously a devoted feminist and very committed to the creation of women-only educational space. Note how the school came to an end because the trustees saw Conway as having "too much ambition" in terms of creating a college preparatory curriculum for her young women students:

Miss Clara Conway  ... and the Conway Institute

Clara Conway

Clara Conway was born in New Orleans on August 14, 1844.  She was educated at St. Agnes Academy, Memphis, but her main education was by her own study at home. She traveled extensively in the United States and in Europe and her special gift was to prepare girls for college – primarily Vassar and Wellesley.

Early in her career, she was principal of  the Alabama Street School and the Market Street School.  In 1877 she left a prominent position in the public schools to open a high grade school for girls. 

She began with 50 pupils, one assistant, and $300 of borrowed money. In 1884-'85 a number of public-spirited citizens of Memphis came to her assistance, organized a stock company, incorporated the school incorporated, and a building erected. Miss Conway proposed to call the school the Margaret Fuller School, but instead, the trustees named it the Clara Conway Institute. From the small beginning the institute became very successful and continued until 1893. 

Her school claimed a fine reference library, a well-equipped gymnasium, a science lab, and a complete arts studio.  There were courses in voice, piano, theory, and public speaking.  Over the years she won the friendship of famous artist, musicians, authors and scientists.

Clara Conway

Clara Conway had hoped to found a school that would make women economically independent and she believed a solid education would do this.  She became one of the most prominent figures in education in the South and her school held a unique place in the region as a major preparatory school for young women.  The circumstances of the school's demise in 1893 are somewhat unclear but appear to have stemmed from conflict between Conway and her trustees.  She was determined to carry out the college-preparatory idea over the opposition of her financial backers who wrote about "too much ambition on the part of the principal"

After the closure of her school, she continued to teach for a few years on a much smaller scale, with herself as the sole teacher.  Her influence on students was deep and lasting.  Clara Conway died in 1904.

Huddle Tavern

219 Cumberland Avenue (2010) - Now a vacant building

Huddle Tavern

Location: 219 Cumberland Avenue, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

Opened: 1940, possibly later?

Closed: 1981

According to an article in Metro Pulse On-line, the Huddle Tavern was "housed in a basement at the corner of Gay and Cumberland between 1940 and 1981."  It is also a place of literary significance, as it is "mentioned in Cormac McCarthy's Knoxville-based novel Suttree."  Additionally, we hear that that there was a sign out front announcing the Huddle was the "gayest spot in town."

Kelly Robinson at Out & About tells us more:

Before there were explicitly gay clubs, the Huddle on Knoxville's Gay Street was doing business in the 1950s.

“It was popular with gays, lesbians, transvestites, prostitutes, newspapermen, and other fringe sorts who didn’t always feel quite as comfortable at, say, Howard Johnson’s.” says local historian Jack Neely. (A patron at Club XYZ remembers it as a place where “you could go without gettin’ your head busted open.”)

The Huddle is near-legendary to literature fans, as Cormac McCarthy immortalized it in his novel Suttree. McCarthy writes about a “cool and dark” dive with “the door ajar,” where one could observe the patrons on the downtown end of Cumberland as “they came down the steep street and turned in two by two.” He describes a “group of dubious gender” in the corner booth at the Huddle, where drinkers could have beer in a fishbowl or whiskey from a jelly jar.

Cormac McCarthy fans should definitely check out this site, which identifies and provides photographs of some of the Knoxville locations referenced in Suttree, including the Huddle Tavern. Here it is claimed that the Huddle didn't open till 1952 or 1953--not 1940, as reported above.

According to Tony Carlisle--known as Knoxville's "Talk of the Town"--the Huddle didn't become primarily lesbian until her later years:

The late Seventies and early Eighties saw several gay and lesbian bars come and go: Europa, the Factory, the Pepper Tree and the Back Office Lounge, among others. The Huddle was still plugging along, though Carlisle recalls the latter-day crowd being primarily women.

“Sometimes if the first show at the Carousel didn’t go well,” he says, “We’d all go to the Huddle, put a quarter in the jukebox and perform for tips, then make it back to the Carousel for the second show.”

Or as another commenter adds (with just a sniff of disapproval), "Ann Brummet and her girlfriend and daughter ran the lesbian bar 'The Huddle' 'Few Queers & no straights allowed'. Not my words, hers."

More recent lesbian bars seem to start out as lesbian bars and then become more "diverse" over time--to the point where they are no longer lesbian bars in any meaningful sense. But then there are a few that apparently started out as more diverse, and then became more lesbian-identified territory overtime. This is more likely to happen when the neigborhood becomes less "desirable" (i.e. less commercially viable as retail space), which is what happened to the Gay Street area over the 1960s and 70s.

Madison Flame

Madison Flame

Madison Flame

Location: 1588 Madison Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Founded: late 1990s

Closed: July 2007

1588 Madison Avenue has a long history as a club space. Before "a lady named Sharon" opened up the Madison Flame at this location (sometime in the late 1990s), it was the Antenna Club, which claimed to be the "second oldest punk venue in America" (the first was CBGB's in New York). Before that, it was the Well (the Ramones once played there). And before that, back in the 60s, it was the Psych Out Club. And after Madison Flame closed down, the Nocturnal Club set up shop.

But we're concerned with the time period in which this was lesbian space, when it was Madison Flame.

Here's what Memphis.com said about her:

While Madison Flame caters to the ladies, it certainly does not exclude the XY contingent that flocks to the bar for its legendary karaoke nights. Unlike San Francisco, New York and other gay "meccas," the Madison Flame is a city bar that welcomes all genders, regardless of the ability to perform.

And here's clubplanet's take:

Madison Flame - Let’s call it what it is. Madison Flame, at 1588 Madison Ave, is a good place to pull. The crowd is good looking and the ambiance is sexy, so if you can’t meet someone here, well, keep drinking and try again. Liquid courage always helps. Look, we’re not guaranteeing anything, but at Madison Flame you should have plenty of options.

And GayCities (which gave her five stars):

Mostly lesbian dance bar.
Young and trendy lesbian hotspot where everyone with an open mind is welcome.

Here's how a patron from Mississippi characterized "the Flame":

Well known Lesbian Hangout in Midtown. Not a bad place to hang out if your a single girl looking for a girlfriend. Has pool tables and a dance floor.

Here's a patron review from December 2004, in which Madison Flame was praised as a "Lesbian danceateria":

If you're gonna dance and you're a lesbian, this is the place to go in Memphis. The inside looks like you are in a microwave (tin foil wallpaper - no, I'm not kidding) and they only serve beer but it is a fun old school place to hang out. They desperately need a new DJ though. Real real bad.

• Pros: friendly bartender, pool tables, spacious
• Cons: need better music, smoky

But by June 2007, Madison Flame was not getting very high reviews from her patrons:

Unfortunately whoever said the south is friendly and the Lesbian crowd is too didn't go to the Madison Flame. They shouldn't be charging a cover for what's inside that dump, I could understand if they had a helluva a DJ but come on now. You could bring in your cd's from your car and hand them to the bartender and ask them to play track 8 and it would be better. The pretty girls that "can dance" go to Backstreet a few blocks away. oh yea even the owner and mgr are sorta snotty too. Better off finding quality gay women at the fox&hound during the sports games on the zillion TV they show on the screens they have.
Need to do some remodelling with all the money you gank those women from weekly.

• Pros: the only dance bar for women
• Cons: the only dance bar for women (crappy part of town,no real security)

One month later, in July 2007, the Madison Flame was gone, with a big "for lease" sign out front.

Interior photo of Madison Flame

Mary Sharp College

Mary Sharp College (1851-1896)

Mary Sharp College

Location: Winchester, Tennessee, USA

Founded: Chartered in 1850, opened in 1851

Closed: 1896

This account is by Tara Mitchell Mielnik, and appears in The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture:

Formerly the Tennessee and Alabama Female Institute, Mary Sharp College was chartered in Winchester in 1850. Opening in 1851, the school was named for an early benefactor. Under the direction of Dr. Z. C. Graves and the Baptist Church, Mary Sharp College, which opened ten years before Vassar College, was the first women's college in the United States to offer degrees equivalent to those offered at men's colleges.

Graves patterned the classical curriculum at Mary Sharp College after those offered at Amherst College, Brown University, and the University of Virginia. He emphasized religious and moral training and required every student to attend chapel. Students at Mary Sharp, unlike those at other female colleges and academies, studied algebra, geometry, and trigonometry; Latin and Greek; English literature, grammar, and composition; ancient, English, and American history; philosophy and rhetoric; geography and geology; and botany, chemistry, astronomy, and physiology. Graves believed that not only were women physically and mentally capable of obtaining a liberal arts education, but also that such courses contributed to their personal improvement and that of their families. Three women received the first A.B. degrees in 1855.

Mary Sharp's influence was far-reaching. Dana Slaughter Miller, a missionary and teacher at Shanghai Baptist College, and Florence Skeffington, first woman faculty member and second dean of women at the University of Tennessee, graduated from Mary Sharp, as did many of Franklin County's early teachers. Although most students were from Tennessee, girls came from as far away as Vermont, California, and China. Over 4,000 girls attended Mary Sharp between 1856 and 1896, and 350 girls graduated during the college's forty-year history. Mary Sharp College closed in 1896, a casualty of the financial depression of the early 1890s. Mary Sharp Elementary School in Winchester stands on the site of the former college.