He lives in LA now he moved away from Seattle in 2000. But the presentation of the music, having a DJ and the bar and the dancing…”īarer trails off. “The significance of Shelly’s Leg was that it was the first successful gay nightclub in Seattle, but I bet if you go back historically you can find the equivalent the previous decade. “The problem with history is that the people at the time weren’t paying attention,” says Burl Barer, a former radio DJ who was one of the first to play at Shelly’s Leg. It was unprecedented before and has been unduplicated since. It was the nexus of outlandish fashion, pop music and disruptive politics in Seattle, a place frequented by gays and straights, men and women, white and black-anyone seeking cutting-edge culture with a flair for the surreal. It hosted live bands from all along the West Coast and rock-star entourages after Seattle concerts.
Shelly’s featured Seattle’s first professional DJ sound system, back when mixing records with two turntables was a youth-culture novelty. You’ll find almost-identical verbiage posted at currently flourishing Capitol Hill nightclubs like Pony, Neighbours and R Place. The original now hangs at MOHAI for reasons greater than posterity: It’s a prototype for similar displays seen today in gay establishments from the Castro to Chelsea. How open? A huge, hand-painted sign above the bar proclaimed “Shelly’s Leg is a GAY BAR provided for Seattle’s gay community and their guests.” A photo of the sign ran in Billboard magazine in 1975. Opened in Pioneer Square in 1973, Shelly’s Leg was Seattle’s first disco and Seattle’s first openly gay nightclub. This particular disappearance, however, involves a gasoline-fueled firestorm.
Like the story of Shelly’s Leg, which veers from a freak parade-float accident to a crystallization of an era and then-like a half-hearted local band or a low-rise building in South Lake Union-disappears under the heavy bootheel of progress. Both camps collide in the best Seattle stories, the stories that are simultaneously emblematic and idiosyncratic. When your vision is forever aimed ahead, ridiculous personal whim might turn into legend behind your back.įew cities sustain the delicate, critical balance of Utopian misfits and dependable cynics that have long populated Seattle. Preoccupied as we are with its current convolutions, we forget that history has often been made here and cultural amnesia can be as much an asset as an affliction. History, it seems, is easy to make in this place. In the last two years, Seattle has evolved so far so fast that the hyper-progressive trinity of marriage equality, legal weed and $15-an-hour minimum wage is already a just another bullet point on the city’s permanent record. We don’t ask for money, but if you’d like to find out how you can help the site in more organic ways, click the button below.Seattle’s first disco nudged the city toward its left-leaning future. We love the knowledge that our content keeps you adventuring.
But we do it because we love it – we love providing epic and free content. We’re a big site with a big team and this job isn’t always easy. Seattle’s location is extremely convenient for all sorts of activities, too - from whale watching, to hiking up an active volcano, and visiting a world heritage site. This may be an extremely busy city, but its landscaping theme has ensured that residents and tourists have easy access to untouched nature - the best kind of nature. From wine-tasting in Woodinville to taking a yoga class with goats, things to do in Seattle are endless! Seattle is a multi-faceted city that has almost too many activities on offer for tourists.
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