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It accused a handful of police officers of harassing customers and alleged officers participated in “a campaign of terror, intimidation, harassment and abuse.” In 1983, a club called Angles on Northwest 39th Street filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Oklahoma City.
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“You had to be careful when you came in and careful when you left,” said John Gibbons, co-owner of The Boom nightclub. Not long ago, Oklahoma City’s LGBTQ clubs and their patrons faced the constant threat of being raided or arrested.
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“All Of A Sudden, There’s 30 Cops Everywhere” Tony Sinclair, one of Oklahoma City’s best known female impersonators, performed there in the regular show “Les Girls Revue.” Sinclair imitated celebrities from Mae West to Diana Ross to Marilyn Monroe. Oklahoma City’s first permanent “drag bar,” The Inferno, opened in 1958. Some claim Johnny Carson mentioned The Mayflower on The Tonight Show when it closed around 1964 after suffering a bad fire. According to former customers, The Mayflower’s leaky roof caused pieces of wallboard to fall from the ceiling into patrons’ drinks, so management tacked a military parachute on the ceiling. The Mayflower Lounge, in a dingy former office building on the northeast corner of Northwest 23rd Street and Classen, was Oklahoma City’s most popular gay bar in the late 1950s, Bachhofer said. Places like Bishop’s Tap Room, across from the Skirvin Hotel on North Broadway, or along Grand Avenue (now Sheridan), spots like The Circus Room, Talk of the Town, The It’ll Do Club and The Mirror Lounge. “There were known spots-areas where gay and lesbian folks could congregate,” Bachhofer said. And these were not gay clubs, they were just regular bars,” said Aaron Bachhofer, Associate Dean of the Social Sciences Division and Professor of History at Rose State College.īy the the 1940s and 50s, a number of downtown businesses catered to LGBTQ customers. “They came sometimes for two to three weeks at a time. Clubs like The Garden of Allah, later known as Louie’s 29 Club, staged impersonation shows, and The Jewel Box Revue traveling group also made regular stops in the city. Female impersonator Julian Eltinge performed at the Overholser Opera House about a decade later. Oklahoma City hosted traveling female impersonation shows as early as 1908, when a Lyric Theater performance by Lou Bates was advertised in the newspaper. “There’s gonna be everybody from every walk of life,” said Lauren Zuniga, president of the Oklahoma City Pride Alliance.īut 39th Street wasn’t always an LGBT gathering place. It also hosts the city’s annual Pride festival. Some residents fondly call the area “The Strip” or “The Gayborhood.” The district features a handful of gay bars and nightclubs, with regular drag shows and RuPaul’s Drag Race watch parties.
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Oklahoma City’s Northwest 39th Street has been a local LGBTQ hotspot since the 1980s. So he asked How Curious: Was Oklahoma home to one of the country’s most renowned drag scenes? Listener Daniel Humphrey heard Oklahoma City’s drag performances used to be famous nationwide and that celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Johnny Carson visited the city to see shows.