Friday November 17, 2006 SGN.org |
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Volume 34 Issue 46 |
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Sunday, Mar 21, 2010
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SEATTLE GAY HISTORY - Death and murder on First Avenue (circa. 1930 - 1970s) |
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| SEATTLE GAY HISTORY - Death and murder on First Avenue (circa. 1930 - 1970s) | ||
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Unless it's thoroughly documented, all recorded history is hearsay. Even then, there is a story behind a story. In 1885, Seattle thugs, citizens and vigilantes hung three thieves from a Maple tree at First and James. It is not known if one of them was Gay who stole some poor straight boys virginity, but such could happen in a town where men out numbered women three to one. With so many men Gays and 'seamstresses' must have had a field day. There is no known account but I suppose their seduction techniques were similar to today's, but a hell of lot more circumspect. A French revolutionary group, Os Cangacieros stated, "We don't just talk about violence, it is our element, our everyday fate, the conditions we are forced to live in." In it's last engagement at Seattle's Showbox Theater, the fabulous 1965 Drag show the "Jewel Box Review" advertised, "twenty men and one woman." One male impersonator (Storm De LaViere) and twenty female impersonators. Art West, an old ex-vaudeville showman was the comedian on the show who talked like an exaggerated society matron with a deep caustic tone. To him everybody was an "evil queen" or a "nasty queen." Art West, like a lot of female impersonators, was not about to take a homophobic remark lying down. Someone made one outside the Showbox Theater. Art snapped back and the guy hit him, knocking him to the sidewalk; where he hit his head and died. The newspapers hardly mentioned it and no one was ever charged. One of the "Queens of Pioneer Square," Vilma, recalls: "We had to protect ourselves in the 1930s. Lots of people were killed for being Gay. In 1935, a friend of mine was killed by two sailors in the hotel above the Garden of Allah. He wouldn't hurt anybody but he was the one who had to die." There is an alley between First and Pike Street to Union Street called 'Blood Alley' because there were so many homicides there. Au Sing was a beautiful Asian classic Chinese opera performer and female impersonater at the Garden of Allah, as well as a Princess in Seattle`s Seafair Celebration in the 1950s. Au Sing rode on Ruby Chows Float. He picked up someone in front of the Garden of Allah and was found dead in his car the next day. A prominent interior designer met with the same homophobic/robbery fate. So did the Doorman at Madame Peabody`s. His best friend went out the same way sometime later. Jimmy Kelly recalls a story in the 1940s about two homophobic men who picked up this young Gay guy named 'Happy' who was always on speed. "They also picked up an older guy who they killed but they didn't kill 'Happy' because he was too young. I don't know if the men were ever caught," said Kelly. There was a space under the sidewalk next to the Arlington Hotel near the back door of the Garden of Allah where a Native American was found dead, one of many alcoholics who died on the streets over the years. In the 1970s, a young man was murdered on Post Alley behind the Garden of Allah. The killer was never caught. Jimmy Kelly remembers a young First Avenue teenage hustler in 1960 who robbed his trick, then, cut his throat. "He was such a beautiful and nice boy and why he would do such a ghastly thing mystified everyone. He was convicted and probably met with sexual violence in prison," he recalled. Gays cruising in and out of cars were not immune to violence on the Penny`s block. One guy who weighed 300 pounds picked up a trick at the peep shows who strangled him in his apartment above Spaggs Tavern and the body was not discovered for days. Another guy was tied up and also strangled but he survived. Another Penny`s Block victim was killed and the police found him in the trunk of his car below the Viaduct -- with his penis in his mouth. A number of people have died at the South End Steam Baths on lower First Avenue, either from bad dope or physical problems. One customer who was into rough trade was found dead in his home. And of coarse there are always the domestic accounts. Jimmy Kelly recalls: "A manager of an apartment house on upper First Avenue complained to a friend that his lover was cheating on him. 'Do you know a good lawyer? I`m going to kill that son of a bitch!' A week later, he shot him dead. The defense was an argument over back rent when the victim pulled a gun on the manager who fired back in self defense. The manager spent a short time in jail and it cost him $5000 and five years probation. I was completely surprised because he was such a sweet person. We never spoke again for years." |
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