Miss Smith's Tea Room

Miss Smith's Tea Room
Map
Restaurant information
Established1954
Closed1960
Street address1353 Grant Avenue,
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Coordinates37°47′58″N 122°24′27″W / 37.799471°N 122.407496°W / 37.799471; -122.407496

Miss Smith's Tea Room was a gay and lesbian bar in operation from 1954 to 1960 in the North Beach neighborhood at 1353 Grant Avenue in San Francisco, California, U.S..[1][2][3] It was a lesbian pickup spot,[4] known for its Wednesday poetry nights and was a hangout for Beat poets.[5] It is considered a pioneering gay bar, and had historically faced legal issues in order to maintain operations.[6][7]

History

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It was owned and managed by LaVeta "Connie" Smith (1928–1995).[5][8] Smith had previously waitressed at the Artist's Club, a 1940s lesbian dive bar in the city,[5] and had also operated a jazz record shop on Grant Avenue.[6]

Miss Smith's Tea Room served wine and beer, but no tea.[6] Patrons would carved their names into the tables,[9] and sawdust covered the floors.

Smith had legal issues around 1958 and was unsuccessfully charged under the statutes, and the bar had its beer and wine license revoked by the State Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control in an attempt to disrupt it from operating.[8] In total, a collection of San Francisco LGBT venues opened and flourished in the early 1950s, including Miss Smith's Tea Room, the Paper Doll Club, The Beige Room, Tommy's Place/12 Adler Place, Tin Angel, Dolan's, and Gordon's.[5]

Closure and legacy

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After the Miss Smith's Tea Room closed it became the Coffee Gallery (1954–1980), and later it became the Lost and Found Saloon (1980–2000).[10] The former building is now Maggie McGarry's bar.[11]

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.[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Beemyn, Brett (2013-05-13). Creating a Place For Ourselves: Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community Histories. Routledge. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-135-22240-6. Archived from the original on 2023-04-17. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  2. ^ Flanagan, Michael (July 25, 2018). "Beats, Bohemians and Bars: Jack Spicer, Allen Ginsberg and their circle's San Francisco haunts". Bay Area Reporter. Archived from the original on 2022-10-14. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  3. ^ Peters, Erica J. (2013-08-22). San Francisco: A Food Biography. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-7591-2153-9. Archived from the original on 2023-04-17. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  4. ^ Atherton Lin, Jeremy (February 19, 2021). "A Brief Literary History of Gay and Lesbian Bars". Literary Hub. Archived from the original on 2022-12-06. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  5. ^ a b c d Boyd, Nan Alamilla (2003-05-23). Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965. University of California Press. pp. 82–83, 123, 132–133. ISBN 978-0-520-20415-7. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  6. ^ a b c "Laveta Connie Smith". SFGATE. 1995-04-29. Archived from the original on 2023-04-17. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  7. ^ a b 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. Archived from the original on 2023-04-17. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  8. ^ a b "Hunt Miss Smith In Holdup Plot". The San Francisco Examiner. March 12, 1958. Retrieved 2023-04-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Roland, Jane (May 10, 2019). "Life in the City" (PDF). Cedar Street Times. p. 14. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 17, 2021. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  10. ^ Richards, Rand (2002). Historic Walks in San Francisco: 18 Trails Through the City's Past. Heritage House Publishers. p. 289. ISBN 978-1-879367-03-6.
  11. ^ Boyd, Dick (2010). "Before the Castro: North Beach, a Gay Mecca". FoundSF. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
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