The Mocambo, located at 203 Yesler Way, was the "go-to" bar for men from the early 1950s to the late 1970s. The 1976 Gay Community Center Guide described "the Mo" as having "roomy facilities yet an intimate atmosphere decorated with warm color schemes and accented with subdued lighting."
Although it has been reported that the building survived the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, according to the Washington State Archives, it was built in 1895 (though some historical records indicate a slightly earlier date of 1891). In 1937, it had one story, five storefronts, and a basement cabaret. It housed Don's Alaskan Log Cabin Tavern ("Dine, Dance, Music, Fun") on the corner and Don's Café and Oyster House (opened 1898) next door. The basement cabaret may have been a speakeasy during Prohibition.
Don's Oyster House (209 1/2 Yesler Way, also known as Don's Café, according to a notation in the Seattle Public Library's Menu Collection) -named for Frank Ehle's son -was one of Seattle's earliest seafood restaurants in 1898 (possibly the first). The first mention of the restaurant in the Seattle Times was in 1911, when it was on the honor list for selling whole milk. (There was a milk scandal at the time in which restaurants were serving skim milk to their customers but not informing them of that fact.)
Located at the corner of Yesler and Second Avenue S., the building -which served an important role as a "safe gathering space and hosted the meetings of early LGBTQ social and business groups," according to Richard Freitas) -no longer exists, replaced now by the Quintessa Apartments.
First LGBTQ liquor bar
The Mocambo is believed to be the first Gay-identified bar in Seattle to legally serve hard liquor. With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) was established. It took over the liquor business; heavily regulated all aspects of the liquor, beer, and wine business; and did not allow liquor to be sold by the drink. The net result was the conversion of many speakeasys to, and the opening of, new "bottle" and "private" clubs, where gambling and bottle service (with patron-supplied bottles) were allowed. The Casino (1930-64), which became known as Madame Peabody's, probably started as an underground speakeasy but became one of the most famous LGBTQ-frequented spots on the West Coast.
In 1949, after many years in control, the WSLCB permitted liquor by the drink, and in 1951 started issuing licenses based on population (one per 1,500 people, so roughly 300 licenses in Seattle). The "Mo" got one of the few.
"In 1949, George Wagner, who was straight, bought the space, opened the west dining room, and birthed the new Mocambo tavern and restaurant. The restaurant catered to all stripes, and a private dining room played host to the founding of many of Seattle's most influential Gay organizations, as discussed below.
"'The Mo' was considered elegant, but a few said it was the place for the 'cufflink' crowd and the 'piss elegant queens,'" according to Don Paulson (SGN, 10/24/2008). But it also drew an "average Gay crowd: clerks, office workers, decorators, Boeing workers, and a healthy smattering of Seattle's Gay elite-
Time of day partly determined the clientele at the Mo. As Bill Parkin, a dishwasher there, recounted in the SGN article, "The Mo was a mixed crowd until 1955, when it became mostly Gay -except for daytime, when office workers, courthouse workers, lawyers, and judges came in for lunch... The menu was sophisticated: Coquille St. Jacques- and roast loin of pork, stuffed with prunes, etc. for $1.30."
Rules
The WSLCB had many rules that had to be followed. As remembered by Jimmy McLane (Paulson 2008), "One had to sit down to drink in those days, and it was strictly enforced. Suit and tie were required at the Marine Room, but the Mocambo was less strict, and you could camp a little, but they still had the red velvet rope at the entrance. Sometimes you stood in line in the rain for an hour waiting for someone to leave before you could go in and be seated at a table." But the rules also resulted in a distinctly different atmosphere compared to the many taverns. As told by Stan (Paulson 2008), "I loved the Mocambo; it was a relief from the sometimes-rowdy tavern crowd."
Why did one have to wait? At that time, WSLCB rules said a patron could not carry a drink from the bar to a table; they could not stand up and drink; women could not be seated on bar stools, only at tables; no drinking of liquor could be visible from the street, but beer drinking had to be visible; and no restaurants or taverns could be open on Sunday, which forced them to close at midnight on Saturday night! (Many of these rules were in place until 1969.) With all its rules and regulations, the WSLCB had a major impact on Gay bar history in Seattle. (And on top of all that, the Mo was on the Armed Services' blacklist for many years due to "homosexual patronage.")
Armand Delmage, a bartender in many of the early bars, recalled in an interview conducted by Northwest Lesbian Gay History Project: "Back in those days all the Gay bars, except for two of them, were right very close together in Pioneer Square. You could get out and walk to every bar that was in town."
As summarized by Richard Freitas in his thesis on the Pioneer Square Queer landscape: "By the 1960s, the Mocambo was part of a social circuit as LGBTQ patrons navigated the neighborhood's Queer landscape - Pioneer Square was a destination for queer socilaizing and provided a mix of places to gather -The owners of the Golden Horseshoe opened at 6 a.m. when The Casino closed, effectively extending the temporal and cultural overlay of Gay Pioneer Square" to 24 hours a day. (For other firsthand accounts of early LGBTQ life, see "Mosaic 1: Life Stories" by Ruth Pettis and transcripts of various oral histories at the Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project.)
A central role in shaping Seattle's LGBTQ community
The Mocambo played a pivotal role in forming "the nucleus" of Seattle's LGBTQ community that we enjoy today. It had a series of owners including George Wagner, Ivan Prather, and Robert ("Bob" or "BB") Bedord, who owned it from roughly 1969 until its closing in 1978.
Bedord, the last owner, was instrumental in founding and forming Jamma Phi, Seattle's first Gay social group, by customers of the Mocambo, in 1959. He served as its first president and organized its activities, including Seattle's first Gay picnic in 1960, attended by two hundred people. Other Jamma Phi events attracted up to seven hundred participants from the Pacific Northwest and California.
Bedord was also instrumental in the forming of the Queen City Business Guild (which morphed into today's GSBA) and served as its second president, as well as the Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle (he organized and served on the board and was one of its first members). He also launched a campaign to prevent the city council from forbidding Gay men to dance together in public (women were always permitted to).
Bedord also provided free meeting space to the United Ebony Council, the Knights of Malta, the Imperial Sovereign Court, the Dorian Society (which later became the Dorian Group and a powerhouse for legal and social change; it also spurred formation of the Pride Foundation), and many other groups.
The First Empress (Olympia I "Scotty" 1971 aka John Scott), Second Empress (Olympia II Della 1973), and Fifth Empress (Olympia V "The Lady Graytop" 1976 aka Jim Torchia) all worked at the Mo: Scotty as cook, Della as bookkeeper, and Jim as long-term manager. (Jim's 1985 murder is still unsolved.)
As reported by Bob Kus in the SGN (8/18/78), his "unselfish generosity resulted in hundreds of dollars in bad checks written to him and his businesses as well as thousands of dollars in defaulted loans... Having come from being a waiter to a successful businessperson by pulling himself up by his bootstraps, BB gives all of us something to think about and strive for."
Kus also wrote that Bedord was a very dynamic person in the Gay community, who used "every talent [he possessed] to make Seattle a better place for all Gays to live," "a very warm person who is a Horatio Alger figure in the community," and "a well-known and deeply committed member of the Gay community for many years, confidant to many Gay couples, and a self-made businessperson. He moved to Seattle from Montana and started as a waiter at the Mocambo. Bedord went on to own not only the Mocambo but the Golden Horseshoe, Seattle Uniform Company (SUC), and the Caper Club. Many of his accomplishments and his important role in creating and nurturing Seattle's LGBTQ+ community have been ignored by more recent accounts.
The central position the Mocambo played in early Gay Seattle is exemplified by a story from 1959 as reported by Don Paulson in another article in the SGN (1/6/06). One of the world's most out and wealthy Gay bachelors was James ("Jimmy") Paul Donahue Jr., heir to the Woolworth fortune (who, according to Adorable Times #76, was joined in a notorious affair with Wallis Simpson, wife of Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor). In 1959 he visited Seattle and took a suite at the Olympic Hotel, where he also rented all the surrounding rooms for privacy. He held court at the Mocambo, where the Gay crowd would bribe the maître d' to be seated at his table. With a purported budget of roughly $5,000 a week (Editor's note: Over $50,000 today), he dazzled Gay Seattle, according to Bill McClane (Paulson 2006), with a "non-stop week of alcoholic dinner parties and social engagements. He absolutely loved Madame Peabody's and couldn't believe its freedom."
Seattle's Stonewall: Dismantling the police payoff system
In 2024, most of the world has heard of the Stonewall Riots by New York City's Queer community in 1969, but few know about the rebellion by Seattle's Gay bar owners in 1966.
Seattle's early LGBTQ community developed in the libertine atmosphere of Pioneer Square. Due to an embedded system of corruption in the police department and aided by other local and state bureaucracies, Queer nightlife was not only tolerated but encouraged by local law enforcement agents -but always for a hefty price tag. This resulted in nationally famous bars that allowed dancing and often raucous merriment and entertainment starting as early as 1930 at The Casino. Some of these locations, including the Double Header and the Golden Horseshoe, may have been some of the earliest "out" Gay gathering spots nationally. Unlike other cities, the police gladly looked the other way even when they were stationed at the doors -as long as the owners paid "the rent."
As documented by various authors, the payoff system was active throughout Seattle and targeted all establishments, not just Gay ones, as is sometimes reported. It also overlapped and interacted with other methods of controlling bar and tavern operations, which often involved payoffs.
The sums of money were substantial. One vice squad officer testified that his share was $1,800 a month (approximately $17,000 today). Police reportedly would "bid" for certain beats, with the amounts going as high as $100,000 for certain areas, usually with high densities of strip clubs and bars, such as the area behind the current-day Sheraton Hotel.
This system functioned smoothly as long as it was well lubricated by money from the many establishments that were targeted. It allowed Seattle's early "alternative" cultures to develop not only for the LGBTQ community but for other minorities, as well as for straight locations offering gambling, strippers, risqué entertainment, and bawdy houses.
Everything was fine until "the rent" got too high and nonpayment started resulting in the potential loss of operators' licenses. As "the rent" got increasingly expensive -and with constant threats of raids and other business interruptions -the Gay bar owners rebelled.
And as they did, the police and media suddenly reported that the "homosexual problem" in Seattle "was out of hand." As reported in the Seattle Times, Police Chief Frank Ramon stated that "the city was going to move against establishments catering to homosexuals. We're not going to let this city get like San Francisco." Assistant Police Chief M. E. Cook said the "word got out that Seattle is soft on homosexuals," which resulted in "the number of 'Gay bars' doubling between 1958 and 1966 to 15 establishments." The plan was to come down full force on them: city licenses would be revoked, the police would work with the WSLCB to close the bars, and the military would place them on "off-limits" lists.
MacIver Wells, along with his life partner John Chadwick (owners of the Madison Tavern, 611, and 614), was the lead instigator of the rebellion against the police extortion scheme. The Mocambo's Robert Bedord, along with other Gay bar owners, played a major role in the exposure and the eventual dismantling of the payoff system and in prosecuting the officers involved.
As a result of Bedord's work with the FBI and his testimony in the early 1970s, a contract was put out on his life, as proven in court. Fearing for his life, he lied to federal agents when they asked his name. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to six months at McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary. The conviction was appealed in San Francisco, where it was overturned.
Closure
The Mocambo closed unexpectedly and suddenly on June 25, 1978. Bedord had been in the hospital dealing with a possible cancer, which ultimately killed him years later. The business was plagued by mismanagement in his absence and forced to close by various taxing agencies. In his later years, Bedord felt that the community had abandoned him, so he moved to Everett, and worked for the state.
He died on April 13,1991, at the age of 52, from adenocarcinoma of the lung, which had metastasized to his brain. Even though his funeral was well attended by coworkers and friends in Everett, only three members of the LGBTQ community showed up: Steve Nyman, Nathan Benedict (both of whom owned Thumper's and currently co-own Union), and Paul Slick (a longtime patron of the Mocambo and a friend of Bedord). He is buried in Missoula, Montana.
The "Mo" is still missed and fondly remembered by many of the elders in Seattle's Queer community. If you are fortunate enough to know any, ask them about the "Mo" and the early Pioneer Square scene.
If you would like to share your memories and pictures of the Mocambo, visit https://ComeOutSeattle.org or email at [email protected].
The authors are indebted to the excellent history reporting and recording done by Bob Kus, Don Paulson, Richard Freitas, Ruth Pettis, Lawrence Knopp, Michael Brown, all the other people who worked on the Northwest Lesbian & Gay History Museum Project, Gary Atkins, Judith Dern, all the LGBTQ elders who have taken the time to do oral histories, the reporters at the Seattle Times in the 1960s and 70s who held official feet to the fire, and of course George Bakan and the other SGN owners, editors, and writers, who have kept a priceless record of Seattle's LGBTQ community over 50 years.
Support the Seattle Gay News: Celebrate 50 Years with Us!
As the third-oldest LGBTQIA+ newspaper in the United States, the Seattle Gay News (SGN) has been a vital independent source of news and entertainment for Seattle and the Pacific Northwest since 1974.
As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, we need your support to continue our mission.
Your contribution will ensure that SGN remains a beacon of truth and a virtual gathering place for community dialogue.
Help us keep printing and providing a platform for LGBTQIA+ voices.
How you can donate!
Using this Link
Text "SGN" to 53-555
Or Scan the QR code below!