By Riley Cunningham
On a brisk day in the historically Queer city of Seattle, our class went on one of the most informative tours you will ever go on. Even as an historical Queer city, there is a lot of history many people are not fully aware of. Julian Barr, our tour guide and instructor at the Seattle University, did an excellent job explaining the history of Pioneer Square. We started the tour at 2nd and Washington Street for a very specific reason; this was the meeting point between two gay men, John Collins and Ben Layton, who would go on to be a part of a trial where the idea of being gay could be seen as a “psychiatric diagnosis” (Barr). Following their trial, this street corner would become a common meeting spot for Queer people. Pioneer Square itself is not big in size, probably only a few blocks to be exact, but its history is immense.
The tour consisted of 24 major points which were discussed by Barr. Some of these spots included Columbus Tavern, one of the first same sex bars, Smith Tower, a secret meet up spot for LGBTQ+ organizations, Silver Slipper, a popular lesbian bar and Garden of Allah, a garden that often hosted drag shows. We also learned about the police pay off system happening in Pioneer Square. This was a very unfair system, as it essentially forced businesses into paying the police. This was the case for many of the Gay businesses in Pioneer Square.
We were able to make a full circle back to our starting point on 2nd and Washington, or should I say square, hence the name, Pioneer Square. Overall, this was an amazing tour. I didn’t expect to learn as much as I did in such a short period of time, but Julian Barr proved me wrong. Barr allowed us to see special sites of Seattle that were historically Queer and filled with stories. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone who goes to Seattle.
Works Cited
Barr, Julian. Pioneer Square and the Making of Seattle. UW Special Collections. April 19, 2024.
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