Evening Crowd at Kirmser's: A Gay Life in the 1940s in Queereaders

Jan 22, 2015 Nancy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: gay, history, award-winners, bio-and-memoirs, shelf-inflicted, library-books, outlaw-reviews, queereaders-group-read

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After reading Jeb and Dash: A Diary of Gay Life, 1918-1945, I decided to look for other books about gay life before and found this little treasure at the library. As much as I enjoyed Jeb鈥檚 observations of the world, the historical details, and glimpses of famous personalities, I found his story somewhat dry, plodding, and lacking in personality.

I breezed right through Ricardo Brown鈥檚 story of his early sexual experiences, his brief Cross-posted at and at

After reading Jeb and Dash: A Diary of Gay Life, 1918-1945, I decided to look for other books about gay life before and found this little treasure at the library. As much as I enjoyed Jeb鈥檚 observations of the world, the historical details, and glimpses of famous personalities, I found his story somewhat dry, plodding, and lacking in personality.

I breezed right through Ricardo Brown鈥檚 story of his early sexual experiences, his brief military career and dishonorable discharge for disclosing his homosexuality to his superiors, his family, the friends he made, and the bar they hung out at. Owned by a German couple, Kirmser鈥檚 was the only sanctuary for the gay and lesbian working-class inhabitants of St. Paul, Minnesota in the 1940鈥檚. Even with the daytime crowd safely at home, one had to be careful entering the bar in order to avoid being seen. In those days, it was essential to live a double life, or risk abandonment, harassment, termination of employment, or arrest. Among friends, it was still necessary to be cautious. No one wanted to disclose too much personal information, or to be seen together outside of Kirmser鈥檚. Engaging in subterfuge and lying was the only way to survive.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 always trust one another at Kirmser鈥檚, but we did have a feeling of kinship. We had been brought up in stable, family-oriented, religious homes, and we tried to apply the values we learned there to the small brotherhood and sisterhood at Kirmser鈥檚. We might be jealous of one another, suspicious, even hateful at times, but there was no denying our blood bond. We were family.鈥�

In a time where men and women were expected to adhere to rigid gender expectations, deviating from the norm resulted in humiliation and punishment by well-intentioned family members.

鈥淎fter Ruth introduced us, we stood there for a few minutes talking. It was hard for me to concentrate on what the mother was saying, because I was trying not to stare at Ruth. Her cheerful, unassuming confidence was gone. She stood there, stricken, our stocky little packer from Kirmser鈥檚, in a pink dress with a lot of buttons on it, in ladies鈥� shoes and nylon stockings, her face pink with embarrassment, her lips painted. She was almost cowering, as if she were trying to draw in upon herself, to somehow conceal this awful exposure.鈥�

When things were bad and people needed an escape, there was always the movies.

鈥淢ovies gave us an enchanted, shared sensation, like sex without the body parts. It was something you could almost feel embrace you, a ghostly encounter, and we responded, tense, expectant, enthralled. We were manipulated toward the cinematic climax with emotions so strong, of such rarely touched depths, that we alternately laughed or cried until finally, at the end, an involuntary shudder and a profound relief spread through the audience like an immense ejaculation. It was escape. It made anything seem possible. It was a feeling so breathtaking we never wanted it to end.鈥�

Though this is a short book, it is well written, engaging, and comprehensive. The intimate style exudes humor and warmth. While there is a glimmer of happiness for some of the characters, all of them suffer hardships and carry on with strength and dignity despite the prejudice that was a fact of their lives. ...more

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Feb 23, 2011 Erastes rated it really liked it

Shelves: gay-historical

Whist a little rustic, I would consider this to be essential reading for anyone thinking about writing about small-town gay America in the 1940鈥瞫.

A personal memoire, without being overly personal, The Evening Crowd at Kirmser鈥檚 is a snapshot of something that definitely shouldn鈥檛 have existed at the time, a gay bar in Wabasha Street, St Paul, Minnesota. At the time it was a run-down area, not one one would like to be alone at night, today (looking at Google Maps) it鈥檚 a airy, clean shopping dist Whist a little rustic, I would consider this to be essential reading for anyone thinking about writing about small-town gay America in the 1940鈥瞫.

A personal memoire, without being overly personal, The Evening Crowd at Kirmser鈥檚 is a snapshot of something that definitely shouldn鈥檛 have existed at the time, a gay bar in Wabasha Street, St Paul, Minnesota. At the time it was a run-down area, not one one would like to be alone at night, today (looking at Google Maps) it鈥檚 a airy, clean shopping district smug in its pristine-look.

Ricardo learns his sexuality young, very young in fact. There鈥檚 no description of this, but it鈥檚 clear he鈥檚 in Junior school when he gets his first experiences. By the time he鈥檚 18, he鈥檚 well aware of himself, and in fact gets himself 鈥渦ndesirably鈥� discharged from the army by outing himself to his superiors, being unable to hide himself any longer.

What I liked was the 鈥減ostcard鈥� way of presenting the events. There is no stream of narrative, as it were鈥搄ust segments dealing with this character or that. One chapter talks of his relationship with Lucky, for example鈥揾ow they met, how they continued to maintain that relationship; another deals with 鈥淔laming Youth鈥� 鈥� an overweight queen who, whilst in a long-term relationship 鈥� 鈥渟teps out鈥� with others. (a delightful term.鈥�

What is charming is the way that, although the 鈥渜ueers鈥� as they call themselves, flock together in this peculiar place鈥搒traight by day, queer by night鈥搕hey hardly mix. They know each other by sight, and by name鈥揳lthough they keep a coded life of discretion and nicknames鈥揵ut they are hardly linking arms and can-can-ing around the bar. They slink in, hiding outside until the coast is clear, and they aren鈥檛 spotted by neighbours and friends, and they retreat to the dark black booths, made sticky and ebonised by decades of varnish. Hiding, almost from each other.

Ricardo鈥揵efore discovering Kirmser鈥檚鈥揺scaped to Greenwich Village but he didn鈥檛 stay long. He had a dream that it was going to be full of aethetes and queers, walking in the sunshine, but he soon found that the scene that he was introduced to, a dingy underground drag bar full of what seemed to him to be unpleasant stereotypes, was not his cup of tea at all, and he fled back to Minnesota, and found Kirmer鈥檚 shortly afterwards.

It鈥檚 hugely interesting to see how baffled everyone is with everyone else. The lesbians use the gay men for accompanying them in dodgy areas鈥揳lthough both are uneasy with each other鈥檚鈥減erversions鈥濃€搕he menage a trois threesome, nicknamed 鈥淭hree Kind Mice鈥� for their quiet appearances in the bar, baffle everyone and indeed creep the gays and lesbians out, as Ricardo says, they can鈥檛 understand the relationship, the warping of the marriage act, and what they don鈥檛 understand, they distrust.

A menage aw twah Lulu Pulanski pronounced it, then grandly explained to us what the expression meant. It boggled our minds. Most of us were in one-to-one relationships of whatever kind for whatever period of time, but here was the husband and wife and the husband鈥檚 boyfriend carrying on God-know-what-kind of perversions. We were naivey offended at this flouting of conventions, this mockery of marriage, this awful ambiguity. Most of us were defined, even confined by our sexuality, and these three seemed to move fluidly from one partner the another. It confounded us. Marriage, we鈥檇 always been led to believe, was for two people only. What these three were doing was more scandalous than divorce. At least people had heard of divorce.

It is actually sad to see that bigotry runs in all directions鈥揳nd of course, such bigotry still exists on all sides today.

Most of the anecdotes are veined with pathos, and one is positively sad鈥揳lthough the death involved isn鈥檛 homophobic鈥揵ut although overall, you are left with the image of a group of people clinging to a place鈥�(if not each other because even in the relative safety of the bar, which isn鈥檛 very safe, they absolutely do not show affection, or give themselves away)鈥搃tis heartwarming, that each and every one of them has the grit to continue on with their lives and make the best of the restricted way they are forced to live. There鈥檚 the two men who have been together for 14 years, both over 40 who live with one of the men鈥檚 parents, even sleeping in the same bed. There鈥檚鈥渢he man with crabs鈥� (again another nickname) who is the pariah in the bar because of rumor, who finally brings a new boyfriend into the bar with him, and there鈥檚 Ricardo himself who has an inner strength that really shines through.

This is a short book, but I highly recommend it. It鈥檚 not a perfect book鈥揑 found it a little too jumpy and disjointed, and the memoire style won鈥檛 be for everyone鈥揵ut if you do try it, and you enjoyed books such as 鈥淚t Takes Two鈥� by Elliott Mackle 鈥� you鈥檒l enjoy this.

It is a great shame that this book didn鈥檛 get published until after Brown died鈥揳lthough he was working towards publication鈥揳nd a greater shame that he never got to write about what happened next, because I鈥檓 sure his entire life would have been as full as great characters as this book. ...more

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Feb 23, 2015 Joseph Longo rated it it was amazing

This is an excellent piece of gay history. It is a compelling memoir about the life that gay men built for themselves after WWI. As is stated on the back cover: "A fascinating portrait of working-class gay male life in the post-war period." I agree. It is pretty interesting. ...more

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