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Sunday, Sep 07, 2008
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BARBARY LANE NORTH |
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| BARBARY LANE NORTH | |
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In our tales of the city, an apartment House affectionately known as 'Sodomy Flats' at 12th and East Pike is one of the Gems of Gay housing. The building began in a flurry of apartment house building on Capitol Hill around 1900 but resented by surrounding family homes, some with backyards with a vegetable garden, apple tree and a swing set for the kids. Parents were concerned as they thought the new apartment houses attracted lower class citizens. Origin of the Sodomy Flats name is unknown but typical of Gay humor in the 1960s. A local sex adviser joked, 'When I was young, I experimented with shoving different things up my ass and after a while it broke into full blown sodomy.' There`s a definite justice in disempowering foolish words that keep people in chains. Originally, Sodomy Flats was a three story building, it was raised for street level business and moved back leaving a wide deck the length of the building, giving ample space for breakfasts, brunches, parties and residents most cherished rendezvous; tons of people watching from the deck the start of the Gay Pride Parade. People would assemble here for breakfast before entering the parade. Resident Greg Albert said 'We displayed from the balcony every different flag we could find, especially the Rainbow flag. I would say when anyone asked, this is the 'international consulate to anywhere and everywhere!' For Gay Pride week it was 'Castro Street N.W!' Gays who lived in the building and friends all gave each other names like Pearly, Frieda, Patty, Maxine and Laverne, etc. Sodomy Flats has a Mediterainian feel; potted plants, outdoor tables and chairs and elegant spaces~the seven units have an entry, dinning and living room, kitchen/pantry, bath and two bedrooms. Slated to be sold and restored with high hopes that it will be treated with special care as you would with any fine antique.' Fred Braymer, another resident, said, "I`ve lived here for 40 years and gradually it became all Gay. For years we had resident potlucks and invitational theme parties such as Pajama Dancing night, where everyone came in pajamas, and Easter Brunches with flowers on the tables and handmade bonnets of paper flowers and sumptious epicurean dinners.' As Greg expressed it: 'Gay men don`t like to be isolated, they like to belong and when they pool their talents a high level of creative energy emerges and amazing things can happen.' 'We had many open parties. We printed up flyers and took them down to the gay bars and as many as 100 people showed up. Food was served in one apartment, beer and wine in another and we cleared out one of the rooms for dancing. Everyone would visit from one apartment to another. It was always special when celebrities from the Ice Capades and the Joffrey Ballet showed up. Sodomy Flats really got wild but except for a rare noise complaint we had no trouble from our guests or the police,' Fred commented. 'It was well behaved because for the most part everybody knew one another. It was a time when gays were more socially friendly, courteous and available,' Greg stated. 'But it got too wild (cigarettes snuffed out on oriental rugs, plants and items stolen or damaged) By the late 1970s, the Gay community was getting too large for open parties but we still had our private parties and especially our brunches. The Gay crowd doesn`t do brunches or parties like they used to. It`s all changed now, noone knows each other anymore. In addition to our activities at Sodomy Flats we organized a group we called the 'Seattle Committee' of 30 to 40 Gays for weekend outings; camping, hiking, back packing and a couple times a year we`d charter a Greyhound bus and go to Vancover, Canada or Portland, Oregon. There was always some campy guy who served Bloody Mary`s or Screwdrivers down the aisle. We got some strange looks from the driver," Fred remarked. |
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