Duchess

Duchess

101 Seventh Avenue South today

Location: 101 Seventh Avenue South (at Grove Street), New York, New York, USA

Opened/Closed: late 1970s/early 1980s

This is actually a bar I remember personally. My friend Bonnie and I would sometimes make the haul down to New York for dinner and a trip to the Duchess. Ah, the good old days....

A gay history timeline for Greenwich/West Village says this about the Duchess: 

1980    Popular late '70s/early '80s lesbian hangout Duchess (101 Seventh Ave. South at Grove St.) begins coming under attack from state liquor license inspectors, reportedly refused service after they charmed the bartender with refrains of "Come on girlie, give us a drink."

Radical Walking Tours New York City (2011) provides additional detail:

One hundred-one Seventh Avenue South was a famous lesbian bar called the Duchess, until then-mayor Ed Koch took its liquor license away in the 80s by using the anti-discrimination laws against it, effectively closing it down. 

Interesting paradox here, in that Ed Koch was widely rumored to be a closeted gay man--even in the day. Of course with his recent death, the rumors flew once again.

In a book of essays called Love, Christopher Street: Reflections of New York City, reviewer Andrew Holleran mentions a piece by Christopher Bram with the following Duchess reference:  

Christopher Bram gives us a more recent history by simply describing the tenants of his apartment building on Perry Street over the last thirty years, and, in his introduction, some of the changes the rest of the Village has undergone. Take, for example, the genealogy of a lesbian bar called The Grove. The Grove amounted to salvation for the Scottish mystery writer Val McDermid when she came to New York from a country where there were no bars for women, much less anything like the Village. The Grove, which later became the Duchess, Bram tells us, is now a vitamin store.

It appears the former vitamin store is now a cupcake place. The beat goes on....

Cloud Nine Lounge

Cloud Nine Lounge

Location: 7126 Sterling Road, Davie, Florida, USA

Opened: At least as early as 2007

Closed: Spring 2012?

Gay Bars Fort Lauderdale is pretty much to the point. Cloud Nine Lounge is a "Lesbian Neighborhood Bar, Mixed Crowd." 

From sunny.org: "Lesbian-friendly nightclub with nightly drink specials such as 2-4-1 everything everyday 12pm-8pm, Fri Ladies Night, Sat Free Drinks 11pm-1am, and Sun Karaoke 9pm-1am."

From SouthFlorida.com: "Cloud 9 offers entertainment and mingling for gay women in South Florida."

And from lesbian night life:

Run by women for women, this lounge features two pool tables, dartboards, and beer-pong tables, a dance floor with a pole and a friendly staff.  

Cloud Nine (2008)

Cloud Nine won "the Best Cheap Thrill in Broward" award in 2007. (Woo Woo!) Here's how Voice Places described it: 

Cloud 9 is lesbian hangout that's also the kind of place you turn to for good conversation -- and when you're in need of a stripper pole. The understated interior is disguised by a generically painted/decorated exterior that might lead many a passerby to drive on, ignorant of the genial friendliness inside... And of the amateur strip contests like Dare 2 Bare.

This description is derived from a longer piece (by a dude) on Cloud Nine published on November 15, 2007:

Cloud Nine Lounge 

You can learn a lot about women at Cloud 9 Lounge, a local's bar in Davie where on many nights the majority of the patrons are lesbians. Cloud 9, with its many faces, can act like a dive bar one night, then put on its dancing shoes and act like a naughty schoolgirl on her way to the sock hop the next night. Cloud 9 is not exclusive. It doesn't pretend. It's functional — two bars, three pool tables, TVs, a dance floor, a stage, and, oh yeah, a stripper's pole. And it's the kind of place you turn to for good conversation. The understated interior is disguised by a generically painted/decorated exterior that might lead many a passerby to drive on, ignorant of the genial friendliness inside, ignorant of the stage with the stripper's pole and the few of us guys taking notes. What we're learning is that too often, guys neglect these good traits (functionality, good conversation, humility) for the sake of being a hunter. For the sake of being a "man." You see, here, the hunt is futile, making for excellent practice on how to become better-rounded. Social classroom or not, after a few Corazon tequila shots, it's still a bar (full of women) famous for its amateur strip contests, like this week's Dare 2 Bare, in which someone will take home $150. Friday is ladies night, which means $5 Jäger bombs. On Saturdays, get $3 Long Island iced teas and get spun by DJ Buttafingaz all night.

If you want a sense of the atmosphere, here's a 40-second video from 2008. 

Earlier customer reviews from citysearch are fairly upbeat. 

From September 2008: "it's very crowed, but all the girls are fine."

From January 2010: "fun times.... great time with friends. cozy atmosphere and friendly people."

So are the ones from the yellow pages: 

From December 2007: "Regulars and bar staff alike are always happy to see you and are friendly. just soak up the good vibe. There are some interesting house specials. it feels inviting."

From February 2011: "Although my recent visit to Cloud 9 was during the morning, as one of the few places open during those hours, I could tell it was a cool place to hang out anytime, 24/7....The people and staff were friendly, so it was naturally inviting. Yes, this bar is known to be a favorite of a certain type of female, but who cares?....everyone is there to have a good time, and so will you."

Yelp features four later reviews, though, and all of them are pretty negative. 

By 2010 - 2011, a lot of problems with general quality were apparently starting to develop at Cloud Nine. 

Admittedly, some complaints were of the whiny variety--the "eh" music that was too "ghetto" along with the empty dance floor. That the bartender had an "attitude" and "dressed like an early 90s stripper- not cute."

But not all of the complaints were whiny or minor. For example, we're informed that the bathrooms were both "disgusting" and "horrifying." And it sure sounds like they were.

From July 2011: "One toilet had no seat, and the other was covered in vomit.  Ugh. I probably get herpes just thinking about this place."

In addition, we now had lots of boundary problems with men--a sign of incompetent and/or indifferent management, particularly at a bar that identifies itself as a place for lesbians.

From July 2011:  "The locals were a small handful of local lesbians, and a TON of straight guys, just staring at them (and us).  Not exactly what I want in a bar.  I'm all for mixed crowds, and I rarely enjoy all-lesbian clubs. But cmon guys, don't come just to stare.... pick  your jaws up off the floor, and stop being creepy."

From another reviewer, also July 2011: "full of horny old men who stalk you."

There were also, unfortunately, (barely veiled) racist reactions to Cloud Nine's mostly African-American clientele. 

From September 2010: "I was excited to go here because it was a "club" and so close to home. It was when I arrived when I began to have a mood change. This is a lesbian lounge but obviously you dont have to be homosexual to go. There is not girls all up on each other it is just a place to hang out. The crowd was mostly black, not that this is a bad thing but my friends and I received faces as if saying, "what are you doing here?"

According to jumponmarkslist, Cloud Nine is now closed, but no date is given. However, the last visit regarding health code violations was April 2012 (the reported violations started in November 2010, which more or less coincides with the beginning of the poor customer reviews). 

Hotel Ritz Ladies' Bar

Fifty Million Frenchmen (1931)

Hotel Ritz Ladies' Bar 

Location: 15 Place Vendome, Paris, France 

Opened: The Hotel Ritz opened in 1898, the Hotel's first bar (the male-only bar known as Bar Cambon) opened in 1921. When the Ritz Ladies' Bar opened is not real clear, but it apparently began its life as the ladies waiting room next to to the Bar Cambon.

Closed: What is now known as the Ritz Bar (the bar that was formerly the male-only Bar Cambon) went coed in 1936.  The Ladies' Bar then became Le Petit Bar, and then Bar Hemingway. The Hotel Ritz (along with all its bars) closed for a two-year renovation project in 2012. 

This is yet another case of pure serendipity. I stumbled upon this story about the Hotel Ritz Ladies' Bar in an old newspaper article published in the Oelwein [Iowa] Daily Register, May 9, 1931. The context was the opening of a new movie, Fifty Million Frenchmen. This is some of what it said: 


When "steam room" is mentioned it brings to the average mind a picture of a Turkish Bath with sheeted figures wiping dripping brows in a dense fog. But to a Parisian, the steam room spells something entirely different--the ladies' bar!

Jed Kiley, prominent figure in Paris night life, owner of Cafe Boulevardier, and more recently technical director on Warner Bros. production "Fifty Million Frenchmen," showing at the Galaxy Theatre, Sunday and Monday, coined the phrase. He called the ladies' bar a steam room because at the cocktail hour in Paris, it is so hot and bothered with cigarette smoke that it resembles a steam room. The name stuck and from then on the women's salon of the bar was the "steam room."

An exact duplicate of the Ritz bar in Paris with its accompanying steam room was built on the Warner Bros. lot for the making of this rollicking farce adapted from the stage play of the same name.

Bar Hemingway, the former Hotel Ritz Ladies Bar

From what I can tell, the men's bar began in 1921. It was initially known as the Cambon Bar because the entrance was just inside the Hotel's Rue Cambon entrance.

Colin Peter Field explains the rest:

Just opposite the bar was a very small 'salon de correspondance' with lovely wooden walls. This became the ladies' waiting room, where ladies waiting for their husbands would while away the 'minutes'. (Ladies, at this time, were not allowed in the bars.) In 1936 the principal bar was transformed to receive both sexes, and at the same time a second bar was created. This was 'Le Petit Bar', over which Bernard 'Bertin' Azimont was to preside until his retirement in 1975. The little bar was to become Ernest Hemingway's favourite haunt. He had discovered the Ritz Paris in 1925 after meeting Scott Fitzgerald in the 'Dixies Bar', a drinking hole for ex-patriot American artists and writers. The Dixies no longer exists, but Le Petit Bar, now known as the Bar Hemingway, continues to thrive.

A Frenchwoman invades the male-only Ritz Hotel Bar (1931)

If you watch the first few minutes of 50 Million Frenchmen, you get a rare glimpse into how these various male and female spaces functioned within a high-class hotel of that era. I'm not going to summarize the whole film, but it begins with an American man managing to steal a Frenchwoman's money. She tracks him down to the Ritz Hotel bar, which is obviously male only. She barges in anyway in order to confront the man. The men within the bar treat her with utter derision and contempt. We later see a small sign by the entrance which states that ladies are not admitted. However, we see gentlemen passing in and out of the so-called Ladies Bar with no problems at all. In fact, there are at least as many men in the Ladies Bar as ladies. 

This conforms with what many women observed during that time period. And it's the same double standard regarding boundary enforcement that we still see around womyn's spaces today. 

La Villette

Parisian seamstresses at the
House of Worth (1907)

La Villette

Location: Paris, France

Opened: 1907

Closed: ?

It's kind of peculiar to find information about Parisian women's hotels in a Spencer, Iowa newspaper. But that's where this article showed up (though it originally ran in the New York Sun). From the Spencer Clay County News, March 21, 1907:

PARIS WOMEN'S HOTELS
          ___________

Another Home for Business Girls at
Low Prices Opened--Run at a Profit .

From the New York Sun

Another women's hotel of the cheaper sort has been opened in Paris. It is called La Villette and has been built and is to be managed by the Societe Philanthropique.

This is the society's third venture in the women's hotel line. The first was opened in 1902, with funds bequeathed by the Baroness Hirsch de Gereuth and Dr. Margolin. It was such a success that the society began a campaign for funds for the new enterprise.

Hotel at Rue Saint-Sauveur in Paris (1907)

These were provided in 1903, when Jaques Stern died, leaving 1,000,000 francs ($200,000) for the purpose, and in October, 1904, the second hotel was built in La Roquette quarter. It had seventeen large and ninety-seven small rooms. It cost 356,000 francs, or $76,200, and every room in it has been continuously occupied since it was opened, with a waiting list.

The new hotel is of about the same size and cost about the same amount. The two Hirsch endowment buildings, on the opening day of the second, sheltered 217 women and young girls working for their living, including saleswomen, clerks, governesses, and holders of small government situations. It is said that even society women without escort have found shelter there for brief periods.

A special point is made of having the hotels nicely decorated and prettily furnished so that they may be attractive to young women for other reasons besides their moderate prices. They all have ample bathing facilities--not a common thing in cheap French lodgings--and roof gardens, where boarders can enjoy themselves in fine weather.

One of the larger rooms cost at the rate of 20 cents a night; one of the smaller ones 12 cents. A bath costs 4 cents, a douche 2 cents. In the restaurant the price of portions varies from 3 to 6 cents; the fullest meal that can be made up, including soup, meat, vegetables, and sweet bread and wine, foots up just 17 cents.

Both of the older hotels are not only paying their expenses: they are making money. The society hopes in a year or so to build another one.

The Societe Philanthropique still exists, and still provides housing for a wide variety of "people in difficulty"--everyone from seniors and persons with disabilities to students and "young workers" and "mothers and children in situations of rupture." There are around 20 residences in all. 

But none of the housing today seems to be dedicated to young working women. 

The Bismarck Cafe Ladies Restaurant

The Bismarck Ladies Dining Room (Restaurant)

The Bismarck Cafe Ladies Restaurant

Location: Mercantile Library Building (414 Walnut Street), Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Opened: 1904

Closed: After 1915

According to Cincinnativiews, the Bismarck Cafe (also known as The Bismarck or Bismarck's) was originally located at 612 Vine Street and then moved into the Mercantile Library Building at 414 Walnut Street in 1904. The president and manager of the Bismarck, at least from December 1904, was the legendary Cincinnati "master" of the restaurant business, Emil G. Schmitt. Here's what Cincinnati Views says about the Bismarck:

Mercantile Library Building (1910)

It was the largest establishment of its kind in Cincinnati and served the higher class trade. It was divided into three large departments -The Lady's Grill Room, Grill Room, and Gentlemen's Cafe. They were well known for their German food and there were around 150 chefs, cooks, and waiters serving it. 

As we can see, the drinking/dining spaces at the Bismarck were very much separated and distinguished by sex. However, it does not appear that these various spaces at Bismarck's were consistently named or identified. Either that, or they evolved over time. 

More specifically, the "Ladies Grill Room" was also referred to at various times as the "Ladies Restaurant" or the "Ladies Dining Room."

Ad for the Bismarck Cafe, Hamilton Sun,
February 10, 1906

The 1906 ad reproduced from the Hamilton Sun (left), for example, only mentions a "Grill Room" and the "Bar" (which were apparently reserved for the gents) and the "Ladies Restaurant." No "Ladies Grill Room" or "Gentlemen's Cafe" as such. 

Ad for Bismarck Cafe (Pre-1904)

The (gorgeous!) ad reproduced at the Cincinnati Views site (right) also mentions at the very top that there was a "Ladies Restaurant" and that it was located (where else?) on the second floor. This was from the days when the Bismarck was still located on Vine Street. (Also note the surprising variety of foreign and domestic beer.)

Just to add to the confusion, a 1915 ad in the Lancet (not reproduced here) states that there was a "Grill Room", a "Gentlemen's Cafe" and a "Ladies Dining Room." The photo at the very top also refers to the "Ladies Dining Room."

So at any rate, Bismarck's Cafe was a place where the ladies were sequestered into their own space, separate from the men. Whatever it was called. Though, predictably, the gentlemen had more spaces. And spaces that varied from the quite formal to the relatively casual (for the upper crust of the early 20th century). 

Photos of the men's spaces are reproduced below. 

Gentlemen's Dining Room, Bismarck Cafe

Gentlemen's Bar, Bismarck Cafe

Bismarck Cafe - apparently the Gentlemen's Bar (1915)



(Men's?) Grill Room, The Bismarck

Port in the Storm



Port in the Storm



Port in the Storm (Also called Port in a Storm)

Location: 4330 East Lombard Street, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Opened: Routinely referred to as one of the city's oldest lesbian bars, but I have found no date as to when it was founded

Closed: Late 2010?



Here's what Baltimore Gay Life (GL) had to say about Port in the Storm:

One of the few lesbian-centric bars in Baltimore, Port in a Storm is known for its very affordable drinks and ever-popular pool tables. In 2007, Baltimore City Paper named it the Best Lesbian Bar.

And here's what City Paper said about it when it won that award:

Highlandtown's corner bar Port in a Storm--uninviting on the outside, comforting inside--is where all the Gallagher's ladies have migrated since the Baltimore institution shut its doors, and it's easy to see why. The brick and wood front room features a pool table and a long bar that curves around in a horseshoe to the joining room where all the action is. Blue lights hang above the mirror-paneled far wall in front of the disco floor where ladies groove and everybody sings along with the loud dance music. As decked in Baltimore-festive décor as the physical space is--it's not exactly the Planet from The L-Word--there's a solid energy at Port in a Storm, even on the chill side, where a lovely lady may light your cigarette and ask your name, and a diverse crowd made up of all ages, colors, and styles chats at the tables.

A random review from GayCities:



Elijah's Fundraiser (2008)

Take cover with the wild nights at this lesbian bar
Port in the Storm is one of Baltimore's oldest lesbian bars, but they keep thing current for the ladies. Flippin' Fridays promises a night of the popular college game of Flip Cup.

And Guidemag:

Port in a Storm (4330 E Lombard St) the city's most established lesbian bar with Tuesday pool tournaments, weekend games and summer cookouts.

We know that Port in the Storm was open at least as late as June 2010, as a (male) reporter from the Baltimore Sun visited the place and filed a report. Apart from some odd obsession with a piece of string tied to the front door handle, this was his description of the place:

We enjoyed our ice cold $2.25 Buds (mine still had chunks of ice stuck to the outside of the bottle), and soaked in the scene. The bar is bigger than it looks at first glance, and square, which I love.

Port in the Storm softball team (no date)

Last night, there were only a scattering of people inside, enough to fill one side of the place. The walls are wrapped in wood paneling, and, last night, pop songs from Justin Timberlake and Rihanna played overhead.

Port in a Storm is one of the city's few lesbian bars, and it's been there a while. I'm not exactly sure where "there" is. It's kinda in the no man's land between Highlandtown and Greektown, way out at 4330 E. Lombard St. Maybe that's part of the reason why it's lasted so long. Or maybe it's the vibe. I rolled in there with two other dudes, and we didn't feel left out.

Go Magazine also stopped by for a visit in June 2010:

The outskirts of Canton are also home to Baltimore’s oldest lesbian bar, Port in a Storm (4330 E Lombard St, 410-534-0014), a friendly dive where the butches kick butt at billiards, then treat you to a beer.

Yelp reports that this place is now closed, but no date is provided. However, their last review is dated August 2010. The closing is also confirmed at Citysearch, also with no date.

The Other Side

1345 Half Street (2004). Building demolished in 2006
for Nationals Fields.

The Other Side

Location: 1345 Half Street, Washington, DC, USA

Opened: Mid 1970s (1978)

Closed: Late 1980s

In a September 2011 article on the plans for a new lesbian bar in Washington DC (Phase I of Dupont), we are treated to a brief history of lesbian bars in that city. Unfortunately, this is all we're told about The Other Side, which was owned by Allen Carroll--a gay man who also owns, or has owned, many other lesbian bars in Washington, including the long-running Phase I, which opened in 1970:

For over a decade, from the mid-1970s to the late-1980s, Carroll owned The Other Side, a lesbian club in the original Ziegfeld's space in Southeast D.C. where Nationals Park now sits. ''I've dedicated my career to the women,'' he says. ''They've been very good [to me].''

The address for Nationals Park is 1500 South Capitol Street. According to this source, the former The Other Side (later the gay male bar Ziegfeld's) was located somewhere in what is now left-center field.

The Other Side also gets a short mention in this February 2012 article on the grand opening of Phase I of Dupont:

''Chris [Jansen], my late partner, and I had always wanted to open up another women's bar,'' Carroll said earlier this week during an exclusive tour of the new space, which is still under construction. About a decade after opening Phase 1 in 1970, Jansen and Carroll launched The Other Side in the Southeast D.C. space that subsequently housed the original Ziegfeld's/Secrets complex. ''The Other Side was the main bar for lesbians in its day,'' says Carroll.

We get just a bit more information on The Other Side in this February 2010 article on the 40th anniversary of Phase I: 

So why and how did two gay men happen to open a lesbian bar in 1970? Carroll and Jansen, veterans of the Marines and Air Force respectively, had been dating a few years and worked at adjacent bars on Eighth Street, S.E., a D.C. gayborhood before Dupont Circle was gentrified. Carroll was at Joanna’s, a lesbian bar. Its brother bar was Johnny’s, where Jansen worked. They were owned by the same person but Joanna’s was closing so Carroll and Jansen sensed a need. Carroll says the Phase is the oldest continually operating lesbian bar in the country.

Carroll and Jansen had always had lots of lesbian friends — many from Joanna’s — so it didn’t feel a stretch to open a women’s bar. They eventually opened the Other Side, a larger lesbian venue that was more a club than a bar, which eventually morphed into the male-focused drag/strip club Ziegfeld’s/Secrets in the mid-’80s. It eventually closed when the Nationals stadium was built but reopened a year ago on Half Street.

Phase 1, though, has been the constant. It’s still at its original location. Carroll says there have been ups and downs over the years but he and Jansen never thought of closing it.

It made sense, for instance, to transform the Other Side into Ziegfeld’s because several D.C. bars by that time had started lesbian nights and had stolen some of Side’s thunder. The Phase, though, “always felt like home base,” Carroll says.

One of the best summaries of Washington, DC women's spaces is the Rainbow History Project Women's Tour. Make sure you check it out, as it's absolutely fascinating and quite comprehensive. This is what the Women's Tour had to say about The Other Side: 

The Other Side — 1345 Half St SE Owners Carroll and Jansen opened a popular women's’bar in 1978 on the site of early gay male dance clubs.  This was their second lesbian club (after the Phase One).  The Other Side was a popular women's dance bar and restaurant for a decade, adding weekend drag shows in the 1980s.

I'm sure Chris Jansen and Allen Carroll are very nice men and all that. At least all their women employees vouch for them, for what it's worth. However, it is indicative of the perpetual ongoing economic struggles of women in general--and lesbians in particular--that nearly all the lesbian bars in Washington, DC have not been owned by women but by men. Says a lot about our ongoing problems with lack of access to capital, political connections, and all the other resources necessary to get a business going in the nation's capitol. Or elsewhere for that matter.

Go here for an earlier post on Jo-Anna's and other former lesbian bars in DC.