The LezQueer World before Bars, 1920s-1930s

Before the first lesbian bars, there were queer worlds built in rented rooms, smoky clubs, and parlor parties. In our premiere episode of Our Dyke Histories, host Jack Gieseking joins historians Lillian Faderman and Cookie Woolner trace the roots of lesbian and queer nightlife to the 1920s—a time before the first official “lesbian bars” in the 1930s, when parties, salons, and underground theaters created fleeting but fierce shindigs as sanctuaries. We visit spaces like Harlem’s rent parties and salons, Los Angeles Jane Jones’ Club and Tess’ Café Internationale, San Francisco’s Finocchio’s, Eve Adams’s legendary Eve’s Hangout in Greenwich Village, and even fly off with Amelia Earhart to South Dakota. Through stories of performers like Gladys Bentley, Bessie Smith, and A’Lelia Walker, we reveal how queer women of color shaped nightlife, pleasure, and possibility even under segregation, censorship, and prohibition. These were the rooms and places where we made dykedom public. ** Join Our Community Want to be part of our community? We'd love to have you. 😏 Come comment, connect, and get your gayme on! Newsletter to your inbox: Jack's Queer Geographies newsletter with detailed takes on each episode, & more about lezbiqueertrans spaces across time Instagram for more dyke visuals and stories @ourdykehistories Read and follow our co-producer and collaborator, Sinister Wisdom Email us questions and comments at [email protected] ** Credits Producer, Editor, Host, & Creative Director: Jack Gieseking Co-Producer: Julie Enszer & Sinister Wisdom Co-Producer & Co-Editor: Cade Waldo Assistant Editor: Mel Whitesell Social Media: Audrey Wilkinson Interns: Michaela Hayes, Syd Guntharp, Sophie McClain, Paige LeMay, and Sarah Parsons Consulting Producer: Rachel Fagen Music: Our theme song: "Like Honey" by Kit Orion https://www.kitorion.com/ CC-BY-NC-ND 2025. Write to us at [email protected] for permission to use any of our content.