This paper will circle in on the importance of the Atlantic House by first looking at the importance of gay bars as a way for gay men to make friends, lovers, and build a family of support, particularly when it was illegal for them to publicly and openly embrace their sexualities. From there, the idea of the “gay lifestyle” will be discussed. It is a term used to describe how emerging subsets of gay men were trending in terms of their vacation and leisure activities in the 1970s (Hilderbrand 2013, 377). This trend will focus particularly around the Cape Cod, Massachusetts town of Provincetown, which is one of the largest gay-friendly tourist towns in the US. Finally, this paper will highlight how the gay bar, The Atlantic House, is at the center of this established group of people and important geographical locale.
Throughout history, gay bars have been important locales in the gay community as establishments where gay men are free to be themselves. While they sometimes served “as starting places for meeting people or getting to know a city”, they were also places where gay men could discover their sexualities in an accepting environment – particularly when it was illegal to do so (Hilderbrand 2013, 386). In fact, until 1973, to be gay meant to have a psychological disorder (Gieseking 2017). Though Joan Nestle was speaking about lesbian bars in her piece “Restriction and Reclamation: Lesbian Bars and Beaches of the 1950s”, the sentiments were the same. “Silenced and policed, we congregated in allotted spaces…what could not be controlled was what enforced the creation of these spaces in the first place – our need to confront a personal destiny, to see our reflections in each other’s faces and to break societal ostracism with our bodies. What could not be controlled was our desire,” (Nestle 1997, 61). At this time, it was illegal for people of the same-sex to even dance with each other, but these “allotted spaces” offered temporary safe havens to people who were otherwise horribly ostracized.
Gay tourism in the 1970s had reached a point where a small subset (primarily wealthy, white men) could travel together. Numerous publications took note of this trend, portraying these travels as “sex vacation[s]” (Hilderbrand 2013, 377). As a result, there was increased visibility around the “gay lifestyle” because there was an emerging population of people that were shaping to be a new consumer group (370).
This lifestyle, however, was “not simply a world of sex or eroticism” (Devall 1979, 181). There were other forms of leisure and ways to form close connects and friendships within the community. The lifestyle included sports leagues, gay tourism, nude beaches, drag shows, and – the pinnacle of early gay public culture – gay bars.
There are numerous travel logs written about Provincetown due to the town’s beauty and social scene. It is the last town at the end of Cape Cod, and features sand dune walks, oceanfront views, miles of beaches on the Cape Cod National Seashore, and all forms of boating activities. It has “60 galleries, 170 restaurants and cafes and dozens of inns, bed and breakfasts, and hotels are within walking distance” (Austin 2011). Many families visit the town during the summers, though the tourist economy is primarily supported by gay and lesbian tourists (Gross 1999). A large part of the attraction to the town is the art and galleries it features, because Provincetown has a long history of artist’s colonies. They are described as “permissive places where artists can let down their hair, paint or write with less worry about critics, and socialize with like-minded people” (Austin 2011). This community included contemporary artist John Dowd, abstract expressionist painter Hans Hofmann, painter Robert Motherwell, playwritght Tennessee Williams, painter/teacher Charles Hawthorne, modernist painter Jackson Pollock, painter/teacher Selina Trieff, playwright Eugene O’Neill, painter Franz Kine, author Norman Mailer, modernist painter Mark Rothko, and writer Jack Kerouac. The inclusivity that the colonies promoted also fostered a community that was less heteronormative that most other places at the time. The privacy that the far-off beach town provided geographically coupled with the lack of societal judgment resulted in the beginning of a flourishing LGBT community.
This community was – and still – very observable at Provincetown’s Atlantic House, which is arguably the United States’ oldest gay bar (The A-House 2017). Called the “ground zero of Provincetown night life”, its clientele primarily includes gay men, though all are welcome (Gross 1999). As a club, it welcomes many groups of people with its three bars. The “Dance Club” is open every day, year-round for all people to come to dance to music provided by a longstanding DJ. The “Little Bar” is more meant for drinking and conversing. It is clear that here is where support networks are formed because the website says that it is “a local hangout, so don’t be surprised if the whole room breaks into song at any moment” (The A-House 2017). The last bar – the “Macho Bar” – is meant for cruising, a historically important part of gay bar culture.
From a physical location standpoint, it is landmark for who it served and welcomed. For one, the barstools in the establishment are well known because Pulitzer Prize-winner Tennessee Williams and Eugene O’Neill both fell off of them (Austin 2011). Secondly, O’Neill’s Provincetown house collapsed due to beach erosion so it cannot be visited or commemorated. However, it is definitively known that he was a frequent patron at the Atlantic House. The place where he sat is even famous. In this way, the Atlantic House is a monument to O’Neill in a way that no other place in Provincetown can ever be (Gross 1999). The A-House therefore stands as more than just a long-standing bar; rather, it is a historical locale.
Finally, for added charm, the club’s former owner, Reginald Cabral was known for his art collections and charitable donations (Thomas 1996). The establishment is therefore associated with a number of themes – multiple forms of socialization for the gay community, a historical monument, an art museum, and a philanthropic establishment.
Edited Paper Topic Proposal
My original questions were the following: what dangers were Atlantic House patrons subjected to? Why did so many artists flock to Provincetown? What could it mean for a component of the gay community to be officially recognized and celebrated by the US government? Through my research of what the Atlantic House is explicitly written about (via its website and previous owner’s obituaries), Provincetown travel logs, studies on gay culture and discussions of gay bars, I have found a way to explore how the Atlantic House is representative of larger cultural values.
The club is the hub of a longstanding, gay-friendly geographical location. The town in which is resides invites in the artists, bohemians, and gay people that may have otherwise been rejected or less accepted in mainstream societies. They were a group with a lifestyle that was gaining greater visibility that continues today. However, even with this societal improvement in some cases, The Atlantic House offered a protection that, for a long time, was not offered in many places in the US. Gay bars were a getaway from heteronormative life, and they are a part of culture that offered a sanctuary to a multitude of people when their families and governments may not have even protected them. They could socialize, flirt and come to understand their sexuality in a safe space, but furthermore, the patrons of gay bars such as the Atlantic House could form political cultures and strategize their forms of resistance to their oppressions. This is the very reason why one should be honored. They are monuments to the “outsiders”, safe houses for the oppressed, and the longest-standing one – at a time when gay bars were only meant for gay people – would be a very logical one to be created as a monument.
Additionally, The Atlantic House is also a historical site for some of the most famous American playwrights, painters and artists. Many established themselves in Provincetown, were welcomed in, and now their work is icon in American culture. A monument celebrating where a large collection of these creative people congregated would also be important for promoting artist tourism and appreciation.
To summarize, my questions are more focused on how gay bars helped to provide safety and community to a marginalized group of people, and how does the Atlantic House epitomize this. I still would like to research places like the Pulse night club in Orlando to show how gay people are still unsafe, but also to demonstrate the wide-reaching support of a very prominent community in this country. This community is comprised of many important activists and organizers, so it could be beneficial to find evidence of bars leading to movements. I could look into the protests groups surrounding the AIDS epidemic, for example, and explore how the gay community was affected while also researching how or if bar culture helped to mobilize people.
I also want to further delve into and analyze the different kinds of communities that gay bars provided to further the argument for why one should be made a monument in the eyes of the US government. It could be beneficial to contrast how other gay meeting places used to be bath houses which were dirty, on the fringe of society, and were primarily only used for sex. I could argue that bars supported so much more – and perhaps combat a stigma that bars were only meant for flirting and hook ups. Finally, I want to attempt to expand my research to oral interviews by perhaps calling the Atlantic House or ask how it would make gay men feel if the government viewed this establishment as a historical site.
Bibliography
Austin, A. (2011, Jul 20). Provincetown art colony: Where light, water, and art meet. The Christian Science Monitor Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.trincoll.edu/docview/878236037?accountid=14405
Devall, William. “Leisure and Lifestyles Among Gay Men: An Exploratory Essay.” International Review of Modern Sociology 9, no. 2 (1979): 179-95. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.trincoll.edu/stable/41420700.
Gieseking, Jack. “Getting Grounded in LGBTQ Geographies & Queer Theories”. Queer America. Class notes, Jan. 30, 2017.
Gross, M. J. (1999, Jun 06). A sandy stage for many A character. New York Times Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.trincoll.edu/docview/431175126?accountid=14405
Hilderbrand, Lucas. “A Suitcase Full of Vaseline, or Travels in the 1970s Gay World.” Journal of the History of Sexuality 22, no. 3 (2013): 373-402. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.trincoll.edu/stable/24616541.
Nestle, Joan. 1997. “Restrictions and Reclamation: Lesbian Bars and Beaches of the 1950s.” In Queers in Space: Communties, Public Places, Sites of Resistance, eds. Ingram, Bouthillette, Retter, 61-68, Seattle: Bay Press.
“::::::: The A-House ::: The Tradition Continues ::::::.” ::::::: The A-House ::: The Tradition Continues ::::::. Accessed February 27, 2017. http://www.ahouse.com/history.html.
Thomas, Robert McG. Jr. (1996, Aug 22). Reginald cabral, 72, who tended provincetown’s past, dies. New York Times Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.trincoll.edu/docview/430626849?accountid=14405