Lost and found washington dc gay bar

Subject Gay bars--Washington D. Description Donn Culver on left. Lost and Found was Culver and Bickford's second venture. They had opened the Pier, a popular club at Half St. SW, in The Lost and Found lasted 27 years at its SE location; from to it was renamed Quorum, but in the old name was resurrected. Bill Bickford is credited with creating the name of the club.

The club's colors were black and mandarin orange with chrome yellow accents.

GREEN Lantern

Fanny Brice, head of the Henry Street drag house, was the Lost and Found's first production director, directing shows and special productions. Lost and Found got off to a rough start in the autumn of when its admissions policy which appeared to exclude African-Americans, women, and people wearing drag came under attack.

Two years before the city passed its human rights law, Title 34, a coalition of local organizations formed the Committee for Open Gay Bars and began picketing the new club. One of the club managers was famously quoted by in the Gay Blade as having claimed that the club was catering to its clientele who were mostly bigots.

Picketing and discussions with the owners carried on for several months before a compromise was reached on the club's admission policies which still excluded customers in drag. Within a year, though, the Lost and Found was already an institution sponsoring spectacular shows, winning grand prize for its float in the Mardi Gras parade, and the place to go for Sunday brunches and tea dances.

Donn Culver died in a fall from the roof of the Lost and Found in the summer of while putting up balloons for the Gay Pride festival. Bill Bickford later was involved with the creation of the Remington's club Pennsylvania Ave. SE on Capitol Hill. Rights Reproduction and use of this material requires permission from the copyright holder.

Please contact the Rainbow History Project for more information. Collection Gay Businesses and Venues Collection. Tags gay bars and clubslost and found. Output Formats atom dcmes-xml json omeka-xml. Embed Copy the code below into your web page.