Garden of Allah (cabaret)

The Garden ran two shows on weeknights, with three shows on Fridays and Saturdays. Performances often started with pipe organ music and Wanda Lester Brown and Billy DeVoe emceeing. The following acts included comedy, strip shows, songs, and revues, together lasting 45 minutes. A finale called Cowgirls was also very popular. Many of the entertainers came from the vaudeville and burlesque scene, and some had performed in all-girl revues, including The Rockettes. However, they were careful to pass in these groups because they often performed in places where cross-dressing was illegal. == Space ==

There were separate sections in The Garden designated for women and men: women were allowed to dance with each other, but men could not dance with men. At the same time, the venue advertised to Seattle tourists, similarly to Finochio's. == History ==

Seattle's queer community began to create public spaces for themselves in the 1920s and 1930s. These tended to be formed only in certain neighborhoods, because "police found it convenient to keep the marginal types in one nicely packaged ghetto". More queer women joined The Garden's community after they had worked at Seattle factories during World War II, when opportunities for women increased. After the war ended, queer soldiers returning to Seattle frequented the club. Patrons report that the cabaret became like a "family" or "support group", and Don Paulson, author of An Evening at the Garden of Allah: A Gay Cabaret in Seattle, noted that he believes the sense of community and group consciousness produced by the Garden was what made the gay rights movement of later decades possible. Closure The McCarthy era brought heavier restrictions on the LGBTQ community, and locally, new regulations on drag performers added rules like wearing men's underwear under costumes and carrying ID at all times. The U.S. military prohibited servicemen from visiting the Garden, and gay bars had to pay off the Seattle Police Department but still dealt with harassment. Kim Drake, who performed at The Garden, recalled that it got less popular after 1954. Beyond the restrictions the bar faced, drag styles were changing and lip-synching was growing more popular than older styles of female impersonation. The Garden closed in 1956, when a combination of a rate raise from the musicians' union and a raise in city taxes on locales that provided both entertainment and alcohol put it out of business. == Legacy ==

In 1996, Don Paulson and Roger Simpson wrote a history of The Garden: An Evening at the Garden of Allah: A Gay Cabaret in Seattle. It included oral histories and photos of the establishment. The book inspired Ian Bell and Scott Bradley's play Return to the Garden of Allah, staged in 2000 by the Open Circle Theatre. ==References==