The GAY COMMUNITY: 1960s was a time when gay people had no name for themselves. The word “homosexual,” originating in the 19th century, was foisted upon them. The term “Gay” was not yet commonly used and “queer” was considered a pejorative, used as an insult by homophobes toward members of the community.
Pre-Stonewall gay life in Cleveland was mostly centered around bars, house parties and cruising spots in the 1960s. It was an apolitical time when gay men and lesbians were more socially integrated than they were in the 1970s. Homosexual activities were illegal in the state of Ohio in the 1960s and were considered vice, open to local prosecution. Nonetheless, the city and state were not overtly hostile to gay bars, which were seldom raided, unless they were after-hours clubs, which were illegal for everyone, straight or gay. Some in the gay community assumed that gay bars were paying off local police, but this cannot be confirmed.
Gay bar life in the 60s was mostly focused downtown and on the Upper East Side, which at the time was a racially mixed neighborhood. Op Art was popular in Cleveland then and there were many art galleries up and down Euclid Avenue. Jack’s was initially a straight bar owned by Estelle and Joe Bruno and located at East 105th and Euclid Avenue (10555 Euclid Avenue, to be exact). Someone suggested the Brunos switch it to a gay bar in the early 1960s. By 1964, Jacks was Cleveland’s most popular gay bar, attracting people from all over Northeast Ohio. Parking was behind Jack’s where the main entrance was. A long narrow bar punctuated the space with a dance floor at the end where a sign hung, reading “Camp Room.” Jack’s was open to all sorts of queer people, including gay men, lesbians (blacks and whites, drag queens, and street hustlers). Jack’s came to an end by the dawn of the 1970s but the Brunos continued gay bartending with the 620, their new bar downtown at 620 Frankfort Avenue. Their clientele lost its diversity and became a popular men’s only cruising club.
Other bars included the Orchid Room, which was owned by Bob and Bill Emerson and established in July 1964 on the ground floor of a building at East 14th and Chester Avenue. This location was next to a straight bar, ironically named the Gay Nineties. Mostly gay white men frequented The Orchid Room, which served as a dance and cruise bar. The Emersons later moved their bar to 1510 Prospect Avenue. The Orchid Room’s name was then changed to the Change and then to Vaults, which later moved to West Ninth Street.
The CADILLAC LOUNGE at the corner of East Ninth and Euclid Avenue was one of Cleveland’s earliest gay bars, opened in 1946 by Gloria Lenihan. Its most notable decorations were a set of eight murals painted by WILLIAM C. GRAUER depicting tropical scenes. These murals have been retained by the WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY and are a prominent feature of its LGBT archives. In the 1960s the Cadillac Lounge was a piano bar, mostly frequented by older gays and lesbians. A jacket and tie were required.
Cadillac bar piano players were considered bold, as they might be refused other community music contracts. Gloria Lenihan the owner, had a claque of patrons who were very loyal. The Cadillac bar was a who’s who of Cleveland gays back then.
The Raiz-Ell at 2380 East 83rd Street was a Black-owned bar for Black and white gays and lesbians. It was a relatively small bar with a jukebox and dance floor to match. Measured drinks were dispensed from a machine.
Anonymity was quite prevalent at the bars, where people tended to stick with their social peers.
The Gay Ways ’69 International Bar Guide listed the following gay bars in Cleveland in 1969 with accompanying clientele:
Adele’s Lounge 11105 Euclid Ave. “Mixed, collegiate”
Botega Room by fire station at East 12th and Chester Ave. (downstairs)
Cadillac Lounge 2016 East Ninth Street: Elegant coat & tie; older men
The Club Steam Bath (“rated good!”) 1448 West 32nd Street (South of Detroit Ave.)
Coral Bar: 1988 East 105th Street “Colored; at your own risk; rough trade”
Fishbowl: 9110 Kinsman “Colored, weekends; at your own risk”
Flair Café 1216 Prospect Avenue “Colored, gay, hustlers and dance”
Glen’s Café: 2164 East Ninth Street
Jack’s Bar 10555 Euclid Avenue “Dance, hustlers”
Jo-Ann’s Nite Club 1630 Payne Avenue, also known as Zanzibar
“Mixed, dance, hustlers, lesbians, rough trade”
King’s Room 2172 South Taylor Road (at Cedar)
Orchid Lounge Bar 21093 Center Ridge Road in Rocky River “elegant coat & tie, Show”
Orchid Room 1510 Prospect Avenue “Gay, dance, semi-private members”
Raiz-Ell Club 2380 East 83rd Street “Colored, lesbian, hustlers”
Sixth City Sauna & Steam Baths 1293 West 9th Street
Villa Lounge East 105th & Chester Ave,. behind Park Lane Villa Hotel “Gay, dance, lesbian”
Public cruising spots were often a primary way gay men met other gay men. In the 1960s this included the MALL downtown, EDGEWATER PARK by the Wagner statue, SHAKER SQUARE and UNIVERSITY CIRCLE. The cruising area in University Circle was in a park-like space behind the Cleveland Museum of Art. The administration tried to eliminate cruising there by removing the building housing restrooms, but that had no real effect.
The Terminal Tower was also a major cruising spot because the UNION TERMINAL was a Cleveland train station in the 1960s. Cruising occurred both in the public bathrooms and where people waited for arriving and departing trains.
Gays also made contacts at straight movie theaters around East 105th and Euclid, e.g. the Alhambra and Clark’s restaurant. Leonella’s, a high end restaurant, in SHAKER HEIGHTS also a popular meeting spot.
Jack Campbell and Charlie Fleck founded the first gay bathhouse in Cleveland in 1965. Club Cleveland was the first in a national chain, which soon followed. Bathhouses for straight people were around in the 1960s; but Club Cleveland was a first for the local gay community. Sixth City Sauna & Steam Baths soon followed.
Cleveland’s gay community in the 1960s had no gay movie houses, sports leagues, or GAY PRIDE, as we know it today. Like in the pre-AIDS 1970s, major health issues included syphilis, CLAP, and gonorrhea; nasty, but treatable diseases.
Cleveland gays in the 1960s were scattered all around the city and suburbs. The only real concentration of gays was at the Gold Coast in LAKEWOOD.
Gays had to be careful with displaying their homosexuality, but even if people knew, especially in the monied, arts class, it was acceptable to be to be gay. Cleveland could be remarkably tolerant. While Cleveland was generally progressive when it came to social issues, gay people were very closeted. One lived two lives as a gay person in the 1960s. Even when young and aware of their difference, a gay person did not did not disclose who he or she was. College was an eye opener for those who went; not so much with any organizations, but simply by seeing and being with other gays. There was no such thing as “coming out” in the 1960s. No one was publicly forthright. Gays had their friends, but generally lived their lives in two separate worlds.
Older gentlemen hosted friends at house parties, sometimes through professional contacts. House parties did not turn into orgies and were always of mixed social classes. Gays often used female acquaintances to join them at employer or other social events.
Trans people were not on the radar screen in the 1960s, although performing drag queens were not uncommon. Bisexuals were thought to be closeted homosexuals. Husbands took their rings off when they went to the bars or other places.
It was a huge stigma to be gay in the 1960s. Gays were told by “society” to hate themselves. Shock therapy was a primary mode of “treatment.” There was housing discrimination against local gays. In 1968 at Indian Hills Colony, off of Shaker Square on Kemper, two men could not live in a one bedroom apartment. The landlord directly said, “We don’t rent to homosexuals.” On the other hand, the Chesterfield apartments downtown was accepting of gays, as were some private landlords.
A Mattachine Society chapter was established in Cleveland during the 1960s, contributing to the development of the city’s gay community. Founded in 1950-1951, it was one of the earliest homophile organizations in the United States. The primary goals of the Society were to:
1) Unify homosexuals isolated from their own kind.
2) Educate homosexuals and heterosexuals toward an ethical homosexual culture, paralleling the cultures of the Negro, Mexican and Jewish peoples.
3) Lead the more socially conscious homosexual to provide leadership to the
whole mass of social variants.
4) Assist homosexuals who are victimized daily, as a result of oppression.
John Nosek and Leon Stevens