Tin Angel (San Francisco)

The Tin Angel was a lesbian nightclub, live music venue, and restaurant in operation from 1953 to 1961, on the Embarcadero at 981 Embarcadero (near Pier 23) in San Francisco, California, U.S.[1] The venue and its founder were credited as "spearheading the 'Jazz on the Waterfront' movement" in the 1950s.[2] In 1958, the club ownership changed and it was renamed On-The-Levee, before its closure in July 1961.

Tin Angel
On-The-Levee
Restaurant information
Previous owner(s)Peggy Tolk–Watkins (1953 to 1958),
Kid Ory (1958 to 1961)
Street address981 Embarcadero,
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Coordinates37.803175°N 122.401589°W / 37.803175; -122.401589
Active dates1953–July 1961

History

It was owned and managed by self-taught painter Peggy Tolk–Watkins, who worked in partnership with bordello owner and former Sausalito mayor, Sally Stanford.[3] Tolk–Watkins had previously opened a similar venue also named Tin Angel at 588 Bridgeway Boulevard in Sausalito, California from 1948 to July 1951.[1][4][5][6][7] Tolk–Watkins was referred to as "queen of the dykes",[8] and Tin Angel was considered a lesbian nightclub.[9]

Folk singer Odetta got her start performing at the Tin Angel in San Francisco.[1][10] A short while later Odetta joined the duo of Odetta and Larry and they performed at the Tin Angel for about 8 months. The Odetta and Larry duo released a self-titled album on Fantasy Records, recorded in 1953 and 1954 at the Tin Angel.[11] Other performers at Tin Angel included Bob Scobey, Turk Murphy, Kid Ory, Muggsy Spanier, George Lewis, Bob Mielke, Claire Austin, and Lizzie Miles with Wally Rose.[12]

The album cover for Turk Murphy's When The Saints Go Marching In (1954) features an image of the interior of the club.[12]

In total, a collection of San Francisco LGBT venues opened and flourished in the early 1950s, including the Tin Angel, Paper Doll Club, The Beige Room, Tommy's Place/12 Adler Place, Miss Smith’s Tea Room, Dolan's, and Gordon's.[3] In 1954, Tolk–Watkins opened another venue in San Francisco named, The Fallen Angel at 1144 Pine Street, the building was formerly the Sally Stanford bordello.[4][13] In June 1958, Tolk–Watkins sold the Tin Angel club to Kid Ory, and it was renamed On-The-Levee.[12][14] The bar closed in July 1961, and was demolished in 1962 because of the creation of the Embarcadero Freeway.[12]

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.[15]

See also

References
  1. "Purple Reign". Bay Area Reporter. May 7, 2017. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  2. "Around Town with Ivan Paul". The San Francisco Examiner. September 18, 1954. ISSN 2574-593X. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. Boyd, Nan Alamilla (2003-05-23). Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965. University of California Press. pp. 82–83, 132–133. ISBN 978-0-520-20415-7. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  4. "Self-Taught Painter Shows at De Young". Daily Independent Journal. December 31, 1960. ISSN 0891-5164. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Tin Angel Sold; Glad Hand To Take Its Place". Daily Independent Journal. July 6, 1951. ISSN 0891-5164. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. Duncan, Stephen R. (2018-11-01). The Rebel Café: Sex, Race, and Politics in Cold War America's Nightclub Underground. JHU Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-4214-2633-4. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  7. Flanagan, Michael (July 23, 2017). "Saucy Sausalito". Bay Area Reporter. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  8. "A Brief Literary History of Gay and Lesbian Bars". Literary Hub. 2021-02-19. Archived from the original on 2022-12-06. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  9. Isenberg, Alison (2010). ""Culture-A-Go-Go": The Ghirardelli Square Sculpture Controversy and the Liberation of Civic Design in the 1960s". Journal of Social History. 44 (2): 379–412. ISSN 0022-4529. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  10. "Should Folk Singers Be Entertainers First?". The San Francisco Examiner. October 14, 1956. ISSN 2574-593X. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Cohen, Ronald D.; Donaldson, Rachel Clare (2014-09-15). Roots of the Revival: American and British Folk Music in the 1950s. University of Illinois Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-252-09642-6. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  12. "Tin Angel - On the Levee". The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Collection - Spotlight at Stanford. Stanford University. 2018-08-09. Archived from the original on 2021-11-28. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  13. Boyd, Dick (2010). "Before the Castro: North Beach, a Gay Mecca". FoundSF. Archived from the original on October 18, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
  14. "Days of Peggy and Helen". The San Francisco Examiner. July 8, 1973. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. 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. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
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