Tin Angel
On-The-Levee
Restaurant information
Previous owner(s)Peggy Tolk–Watkins (1953 to 1958),
Kid Ory (1958 to 1961)
Street address981 Embarcadero,
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Coordinates37°48′11″N 122°24′06″W / 37.803175°N 122.401589°W / 37.803175; -122.401589
Active dates1953–July 1961

The Tin Angel was a lesbian nightclub, live music venue, and restaurant in operation from 1953 to 1961, on the Embarcadero at 981 Embarcadero (near Pier 23) in San Francisco, California, U.S.[1] The venue and its founder were credited as "spearheading the 'Jazz on the Waterfront' movement" in the 1950s.[2] In 1958, the club ownership changed and it was renamed On-The-Levee, before its closure in July 1961.

History

It was owned and managed by self-taught painter Peggy Tolk–Watkins, who worked in partnership with bordello owner and former Sausalito mayor, Sally Stanford.[3] Tolk–Watkins had previously opened a similar venue also named Tin Angel at 588 Bridgeway Boulevard in Sausalito, California from 1948 to July 1951.[1][4][5][6][7] Tolk–Watkins was referred to as "queen of the dykes",[8] and Tin Angel was considered a lesbian nightclub.[9]

Folk singer Odetta got her start performing at the Tin Angel in San Francisco.[1][10] A short while later Odetta joined the duo of Odetta and Larry and they performed at the Tin Angel for about 8 months. The Odetta and Larry duo released a self-titled album on Fantasy Records, recorded in 1953 and 1954 at the Tin Angel.[11] Other performers at Tin Angel included Bob Scobey, Turk Murphy, Kid Ory, Muggsy Spanier, George Lewis, Bob Mielke, Claire Austin, and Lizzie Miles with Wally Rose.[12]

The album cover for Turk Murphy's When The Saints Go Marching In (1954) features an image of the interior of the club.[12]

In total, a collection of San Francisco LGBT venues opened and flourished in the early 1950s, including the Tin Angel, Paper Doll Club, The Beige Room, Tommy's Place/12 Adler Place, Miss Smith’s Tea Room, Dolan's, and Gordon's.[3] In 1954, Tolk–Watkins opened another venue in San Francisco named, The Fallen Angel at 1144 Pine Street, the building was formerly the Sally Stanford bordello.[4][13] In June 1958, Tolk–Watkins sold the Tin Angel club to Kid Ory, and it was renamed On-The-Levee.[12][14] The bar closed in July 1961, and was demolished in 1962 because of the creation of the Embarcadero Freeway.[12]

It was featured in the Kim Anno art exhibition "Lost and Found: A Museum of Lesbian Memory, Part 1" (2000) shown at "The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Historical Society of Northern California," and at the San Francisco Public Library.[15]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Purple Reign". Bay Area Reporter. May 7, 2017. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  2. ↑ "Around Town with Ivan Paul". The San Francisco Examiner. September 18, 1954. ISSN 2574-593X. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 Boyd, Nan Alamilla (2003-05-23). Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965. University of California Press. pp. 82–83, 132–133. ISBN 978-0-520-20415-7. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  4. 1 2 "Self-Taught Painter Shows at De Young". Daily Independent Journal. December 31, 1960. ISSN 0891-5164. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Tin Angel Sold; Glad Hand To Take Its Place". Daily Independent Journal. July 6, 1951. ISSN 0891-5164. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Duncan, Stephen R. (2018-11-01). The Rebel Café: Sex, Race, and Politics in Cold War America's Nightclub Underground. JHU Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-4214-2633-4. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  7. ↑ Flanagan, Michael (July 23, 2017). "Saucy Sausalito". Bay Area Reporter. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  8. ↑ "A Brief Literary History of Gay and Lesbian Bars". Literary Hub. 2021-02-19. Archived from the original on 2022-12-06. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  9. ↑ Isenberg, Alison (2010). ""Culture-A-Go-Go": The Ghirardelli Square Sculpture Controversy and the Liberation of Civic Design in the 1960s". Journal of Social History. 44 (2): 379–412. ISSN 0022-4529. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  10. ↑ "Should Folk Singers Be Entertainers First?". The San Francisco Examiner. October 14, 1956. ISSN 2574-593X. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Cohen, Ronald D.; Donaldson, Rachel Clare (2014-09-15). Roots of the Revival: American and British Folk Music in the 1950s. University of Illinois Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-252-09642-6. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Tin Angel - On the Levee". The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Collection - Spotlight at Stanford. Stanford University. 2018-08-09. Archived from the original on 2021-11-28. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  13. ↑ Boyd, Dick (2010). "Before the Castro: North Beach, a Gay Mecca". FoundSF. Archived from the original on October 18, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Days of Peggy and Helen". The San Francisco Examiner. July 8, 1973. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ Ford, Dave (2000-11-10). "Berkeley Artist Helps Create 'Museum of Lesbian Memory' / 2-site exhibition uses art, artifacts to illuminate past". San Francisco Chronicle. ISSN 1932-8672. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
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