Chicago, Ill.
Hull-House
800 South Halsted Street
In 1889, Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr, intimate companions since their college days, founded one of the most famous social experiments in this country’s history, Hull-House. It was their intention, Addams wrote later, “to rent a house in a part of the city where many primitive and actual [...]
Archive for February, 2009
A Room with a Big Bed
Posted in Illinois, gay and lesbian, reformers on February 26, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Found Image
Posted in New York, found images, gay and lesbian on February 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
For a change of pace, I thought I’d include this found image that I bought for $1.50 at the 26th Street flea market in New York, probably about 10 years ago. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I’m as fascinated with found images as I am with historic sites; friends of mine have [...]
More Than 15 Minutes
Posted in artists, filmmakers, gravesites on February 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Andy Warhol grave
St. John the Baptist Cemetery
Route 88 and Connor Road
Pop artist and avant-garde filmmaker Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh; he grew up in the East End neighborhood of Oakland (3252 Dawson Street), attending Schenley High School. A devout Byzantine Catholic, he is buried in his family’s plot in this [...]
A Passing Woman
Posted in Oregon, passing woman on February 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Lebanon, Ore.
Ray Leonard grave
Lebanon Pioneer Cemetery
200 Dodge Street
Buried in this cemetery are the remains of Ray Leonard (1849-1921), an Oregon pioneer who was, in fact, a passing woman. Born “Rae,” Leonard was a cobbler who emigrated to Oregon with her father in 1889, and who, with his apparent approval, began wearing men’s clothing [...]
Young “Vincent”
Posted in Maine, bisexuals, historic sites, poets on February 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Camden, Maine
Edna St. Vincent Millay memorial
Whitehall Inn
52 High Street
A local girl born at 200 Broadway in Rockland, Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) used to work at this tourists’ inn during the busy summer season. In 1912, “Vincent,” as she preferred to be called, did her first public reading here for guests and employees [...]
Beale Street Blues
Posted in Tennessee, bisexuals, historic sites, singers/performers on February 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Memphis, Tenn.
Daisy Theater
329 Beale Street
Beale Street Historic District
Before emancipation, Memphis was already home to many freedmen, and after the Civil War, the area around Beale Street became predominantly black. By the late 19th century, Beale Street was the acknowledged capital of African-American Memphis and of the mid-South, also achieving [...]
Handsome Monty
Posted in New York, actors, gravesites on February 11, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Montgomery Clift grave
Brooklyn Friends Cemetery
Prospect Park
Born in Omaha, Montgomery Clift (1920-1966) began his career as a stage actor, before becoming a leading film star of the late 1940s and 1950s. He starred in such now-classic movies as A Place in the Sun, Suddenly Last Summer (both with Elizabeth Taylor, who was unrequitedly in love [...]
Lush Life
Posted in Pennsylvania, composers, gay and lesbian, historic sites on February 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Billy Strayhorn marker
Westinghouse High School
1101 North Murtland Street
Billy Strayhorn home
7212 Tioga Street Rear (demolished)
Born in Ohio, composer Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967) lived in the Homewood section of Pittsburgh from his early years until he left for New York as a young adult. In those days, white families lived on the main [...]
Langston Hughes: A Solitary Boyhood
Posted in Kansas, gay and lesbian, poets on February 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Lawrence, Kan.
Langston Hughes home
732 Alabama Street (demolished)
Langston Hughes statue
Elizabeth Watkins Community Museum
1047 Massachusetts Street
Poet and memoirist Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was born in Joplin, Missouri, but his earliest memories were of living at his grandmother’s house in Lawrence, Kansas, at 732 Alabama Street after his parents’ marriage fell apart. The [...]
The “Magic Time” of Caffe Cino
Posted in New York, gay and lesbian, playwrights on February 6, 2009 | 1 Comment »
New York, N.Y.
Caffe Cino
31 Cornelia Street
From 1958 to 1967, Joe Cino ran a coffeehouse at this address that has gone down in performance history as the place where both gay theater and Off-Off-Broadway were born. The Beat generation cafe was not intended at the beginning as either a theater or a [...]
