Valencia Rose Cabaret
Ron Lanza should redirect here
| Valencia Rose Cabaret and Restaurant | |
|---|---|
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1982 |
| Street address | 766 Valencia St. |
| City | San Francisco |
| State | California |
| Country | United States |
The Valencia Rose Cabaret and Restaurant was a queer performance venue located on Valencia Street in the Mission District of San Francisco, CA.[1] The club was opened by co-owners Ron Lanza and Hank Wilson in collaboration with Tom Ammiano in a space that formerly functioned as a mortuary.[2] It hosted performances and activist events that gave the building a community center-like atmosphere.[3] Ammiano, a funny person himself, led the cabaret on a path to becoming the first gay-owned comedy club in the country. Ammiano hosted and acted as emcee on “Gay Comedy Night,” a weekly occurrence on Monday evenings that aimed to give queer comedians a chance to share queer material for queer audiences.[4] As word spread in the San Francisco community, the audiences grew larger and the Rose thrived until late 1985 when its doors were closed due lack of funding.[5] Although the closing devastated the queer community, the venue had set a blueprint for a what a modern LGBTQ community center might look like, and gave visibility agency to queer comedians and performers for the first time.
From funerals to funnies[edit]
Prior to the opening of the Valencia Rose, co-owners Ron Lanza and Hank Wilson met at a committee meeting for BAGL [Bay Area Gay Liberation] in the mid 70’s.[2] Both school teachers at the time, the business partners decided to open a community space at 32 Page St.[2] The space closed shortly after, but their dreams of opening a community entertainment space persisted. BAGL also introduced Tom Ammiano to the business partners, and the three went on to co-found the Gay Teachers Coalition in San Francisco.[6] One day, Lanza drove down Valencia Street and noticed a Spanish-style building that caught his eye. The building was formerly a mortuary, and the landlord was pleased with the idea of the space being used as a performance space and cafe.[2]
Once Lanza and Wilson secured the space, Ammiano “suggested...that we do gay comedy there. They said, ‘what's gay comedy?’ I said, ‘I don't know. All I know is, I go to straight comedy clubs and I try to be funny, and I talk about being gay, and they want to eat my liver! I need a place to develop.’”[7] Soon after, gay comedy became the bedrock of the club when Ammiano began hosting and emcee-ing “Gay Comedy Night,” a weekly open-mic opportunity on Monday nights.[2] Joining Ammiano as co-host was Carol Roberts, a polished lesbian comedian.[8] In its first days, the club lacked any kind of funding, with no access to speakers and microphones.[3] The club was very laid back with the exception of two rules laid out by Ammiano: “there is no heckling and no nudity because both are distracting to performers.”[9]
The key figures in the cabaret’s functioning all had their specific roles: Wilson focused on finances and keeping the Rose politically active, Lanza took hold of booking shows, and Ammiano performed and hosted.[10] In the club’s second year, once word spread and audiences grew, Donald Montwill came on as talent scout and artistic manager.[5]
All Are Welcome[edit]
While the Valencia Rose family continued to grow, the sentiment never changed. The club always was a safe space for queer people of all different identities to both perform and enjoy content that could speak to them. For many comics, the Valencia Rose presented the first opportunity to share gay material with audiences.[8] Comedian Jim Morris, a gay man performing in San Francisco prior to the Rose’s opening, noted that in the new queer safe space, “I tried my gay material--and everything I did, people understood. It was a great feeling, to know that all the subtleties in my humor were being picked up.”[8]
There was always something happening at the Valencia Rose, whether that be rehearsal for a new play or drag opera.[2] Donald Montwill, the business manager of the club, made a large effort to keep the audience as diverse as possible, especially across gender lines: “The Rose is being used as a place for men and women to come together, and we need that now.”[2] It became very clear that the Rose was meant to be a place for new comics to explore the stand up scene in a very safe way. “‘We like to keep it a grassroots type of place,’ Roberts says. ‘Where any schmo can perform.’”[8] Ammiano expressed that the club almost became an extended family of sorts, and because of the majority gay humor “there’s a feeling of release, almost like an orgasm. You show the absurdity of the system, what’s oppressing you as a dyke or a faggot, and when the comics plug into that, their creativity starts to blossom.”[8]
Closing the Curtain[edit]
Fear and devastation tied to the HIV/AIDS epidemic loomed over San Francisco and the gay population at large. By 1986, over 55,000 AIDS related cases had been reported, and there had been 45,420 deaths in the U.S.[11] The Rose acted as an escape to this harsh reality for many queer people, and many who were sick continued to attend performances week after week.[11] Unfortunately, at the same time, the owners of the Rose were unable to sustainably pay rent for the building, and had to close on November 30, 1985.[12]
The closing devastated both the comedians as well as the general queer community of San Francisco, who had come to view the Rose as an unofficial gay monument.[13] For comedian Jeanine Strobel, “This was a turning point. There simply is no nightclub anywhere like the Valencia Rose. This is not the end. The energy is still there.”[14] The loss of the Rose was the loss of a community center and safe space unlike any other in the country.[14]
The Rose's legacy, however, lived on. The Valencia Rose acted as the blueprint for LGBTQ+ community centers around the globe that center activism and performance to create safe spaces for queer people.[15] Following the Rose's closing, Montwill and Lanza decided to open up a new performance venue not too far from the old Rose called Josie's Cabaret and Juice Joint. The venue opened in January 1990, and closed on December 31, 1999.[15]
Associated Acts[edit]
Idris Ackamoor, Tom Ammiano, Jane Anderson, Lenny Anderson, Kerry Ashton, Gwen Avery, Avotcja, Gary Aylesworth, Terry and Tufo Baum, Blackberri, Marj Bly, Pat Bond, Charles Busch, Connie Champagne, Kate Clinton, Jose Antonio Burciaga, Tee Corine, Crossover, Lea DeLaria, Wayne Doba, Ernesto Sanchez, Patti Dombrowlski, Jane Dornacker, Francesca Dubie, Casselberry DuPre, Dyketones, LeRoy Dysart, Egomanics, Sue Fink, Judy Fjell, Robin Flower, Bill Folk, Fran and Charlie, Kris Gannon, Whoopi Goldberg, Marga Gomez, Judy Gorman-Jacobs, Steve Grossman, Martine Habib, Julie Halston, Steve Hayes, Susan Healey, Soundz Hedzolek, Sandra de Helen, Christopher Hershey, The Hesitations, Hissy Fits, Hit and Run Theater, Hot Flashes, Jasmine, Rhodessa Jones, James Justin, Kate Kasten, John Kelly, Ned Kelly, Ladies Against Women, Lynn Lavner, Lesbian Chorus, Carol Leigh, Scarlot Harlot, Gina Leishman, Lifeline, Dave Lippman, Malvina, Deidre McCalla, Reginald McDonald and Diane Schlactus, Peter McGeeHee, Mellotones, Richard Montoya, Geof Morgan, Motherlode, Mothertongue, Charles Murphy, Murphy and Seiber, Out of the Way Players, Over Our Heads, Monica Palacios, Pat Wynne Band, John Patterson, Donna Pecora, Art Peterson, Elliot Pilshaw, Marilyn Pittman, Primavera, Quinlan Sisters, Rainbow Ensemble, Karen Reno, Righteous Mothers, Karen Ripley, Robin Rogers, Romanovsky and Phillips, Besty Rose, Jae Ross, David Schein, Harriet Schiffer, Frank J. Sheppard, Craig Sjogren, Judy Sloan, Judy Small, Spider Woman Theater, Street Angels, Street Theater, Jeanine Strobel, Sweet Surrender, Ekla Sylvern, Holly Tannen, Ten Percent Revue, Ronald Towe, Tumbleweed, Robin Tyler, Vaudeville Nouveau, Rick Vincent, Vocal Minority, Vogl/Shaubaum, We Three, Danny Williams, Robin Williams, Tom Wilson.[2][15]
References[edit]
- ↑ Mendenhall, George (April 8, 1982). "Valencia Street: A Renaissance Starts". Bay Area Reporter.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 O'Loughlin, Ray (October 27, 1983). "A Rose Unlike Any Other". Advocate.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ammiano, Tom (2020). Kiss My Gay Ass: My Trip down the Yellow Brick Road through Activism, Stand-up, and Politics. San Francisco, CA: Bay Guardian Books. Search this book on
- ↑ Weider, Robert S. (May 3, 1987). "Why Gay Comics can't Break into the Mainstream". San Francisco Chronicle. ProQuest 302315423.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Guide to the Donald Montwill Papers, Group I - Records of Valencia Rose". Online Archive of California. 1998. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Whiting, Sam (July 8, 2013). "Ron Lanza, Gay Comedy Club Pioneer, Dies". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ↑ Karvoski, Ed (1997). A Funny Time to Be Gay. New York, NY: Fireside. Search this book on
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Guthmann, Edward (August 19, 1982). "Humor Is Still the Best Medicine in San Francisco". Advocate.
- ↑ Zemel, Sue (August 1982). "Laughter Echos in a Funeral Parlor" (PDF). COMING UP!.
- ↑ Gomez, Marga (April 7, 2012). "Gay Comedy Beginnings in SF". Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 11.0 11.1 Stand Up, Stand Out: The Making of a Comedy Movement, Directed by David Pavlosky, United States, 2018.
- ↑ Spunberg, Bernard (March 18, 1986). "Bay Area Stage Notes: A Rose Is Plucked". Advocate.
- ↑ "Closing Night at Valencia Rose". 1985. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 14.0 14.1 White, Allen (December 5, 1985). "Valencia Rose Brings Down Final Curtain; Showplace for Gay Music, Comedy, Arts". Bay Area Reporter.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Flanagan, Michael (October 27, 2015). "The Rose & Josies". Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help)
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