Finocchio's Club Explained

Finocchio's Club
Street-Address:506 Broadway Street, San Francisco, California
Previous-Owner:Joseph "Joe" Finocchio,
Eve Finocchio
Closed:November 27, 1999
Established:June 15, 1936
Mapframe:yes

Finocchio's Club was a former nightclub and bar in operation from 1936 to 1999 in North Beach, San Francisco, California. The club started as a speakeasy called the 201 Club in 1929 located at 406 Stockton Street.[1] In 1933, with the repeal of prohibition, the club moved upstairs and started to offer female impersonation acts; after police raids in 1936 the club relocated to the larger 506 Broadway location.[2] Finocchio's night club opened June 15, 1936 and was located in San Francisco, California, above Enrico's Cafe at 506 Broadway Street in North Beach.

Name

The term finocchio is Italian for fennel, but is also a negative slang term for homosexual.[3] Finocchio are described as young male prostitutes, often underage, working at brothels.[4] In New York City, the Italian word finocchio was common derogatory slang for homosexual men, equivalent to fairy or faggot.[3] [5] [6]

History

Joseph "Joe" Finocchio, the creator of the club,[7] had the idea of a nightclub with female impersonators in costumes when a patron jokingly went on the stage of his club and did a routine that the crowd enjoyed. The club was not advertised as a gay club; it was advertised as a place for entertainment and fun. Both gay and straight performers worked there. The acts included varying ethnic-inspired performances such as geisha-style performances, which may have helped encourage tourists and contributed to the diverse, often racially diverse crowds, which was unusual during this time of segregation. In the days before gay liberation, female impersonator clubs provided semi-public social spaces for sexual minorities to congregate.

Finocchio's often featured traditional drag, with performers in gowns singing or lip-synching to top 40 ballads.[8]

Finocchio's was "off limits" during World War II, not due to the entertainment, but rather for selling liquor to the military outside the authorized hours of sales. On December 31, 1943 the ban was lifted after Joe Finocchio and other bar owners signed an agreement to limit liquor sales to military personnel between 5 pm and midnight.[9]

Finocchio's was a huge favorite with tourists from the 1930s to the early 1990s. Joe Finocchio died in January 1986.[10] Eve Finocchio, Joe's widow, decided to close the club on November 27, 1999 because of a significant increase in the monthly rent and dwindling audience attendance.

Some other notable female impersonators acts and nightclubs of the era include The Beige Room in San Francisco; Club My-O-My in New Orleans;[11] Club 82 in New York City; and the traveling Jewel Box Revue.

Prostitution

Finocchio's nightclub combined entertainment with sex trade and prostitution.[12] With the criminalization of prostitution, there was a general trend away from commercial brothels and towards nightclubs.[13] While some nightclubs had rooms rented by the hour, Finocchio's did not have these.[13]

In 1936, Finocchio's nightclub was subjected to a police raid. Five female impersonators were arrested, along with the owners of the club.[12] The owners were arrested for employing entertainers on a percentage basis. This was reputed to lead to entertainers mingling with male customers, trading attention and sexual favors for drinks at an inflated price.[12] Following the police raid, the owners moved Finocchio's to a different location, hired more entertainers, and stopped employing the entertainers on a percentage basis.[12] Following the police raid on Finocchio's, the 201 Club had its dance permit revoked for employing female impersonators on a percentage basis.[12] The entertainers were known to mingle with guests, soliciting drinks.[12]

In the 1950's, Harry Benjamin began administering estrogen-based hormone replacement therapy to prospective transsexuals in San Francisco. He relayed information about the prostitution infrastructure for female impersonators at Finocchio's nightclub in the 1950's:[14]

Friedman writes that this method of arranging "dates" had precedent in the "messenger boy" culture of New York City and Chicago in the 1950's.[14] Rates of $20–50 were at least twice as expensive as rates by cross-dressing street prostitutes during that same era.[14] In 1972, an article in Lee Brewster's Drag magazine mentions the practical aspects of prostitution found there, and $50 for sex with an attractive female impersonator:[15]

Influence

A 14-page program, "Finocchio's: America's Most Unusual Nightclub", was published by Zevin-Present, circa 1947. The Finocchio shows published playbills. After Finocchio's closed, they donated the costumes, photos and programs to the GLBT Historical Society.[16]

It is thought that Finocchio's was the catalyst for the art of drag.[17] Celebrities who attended shows at Finocchio's throughout their many years of operation included Frank Sinatra, Howard Hughes, Ava Gardner, Tallulah Bankhead, David Niven, Errol Flynn, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Lena Horne, Joan Crawford, Barbra Streisand, Mae West, Carol Channing, William Haines, Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Roddy McDowall, Liza Minnelli, Cher and Bette Midler among others.

After the closure, another San Francisco establishment called Harry Denton's Starlight Room started a drag show in 2006 called "Sunday's a Drag," a female impersonation show modeled after Finocchio's. These shows are hosted by Donna Sachet.

Notable acts

Artists who performed at Finocchio's included (in alphabetical order):

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 'Finocchio's – a nightclub' on A Gender Variance Who's Who, Essays on trans, intersex, cis and other persons and topics from a trans perspective.......All human life is here, blog by Zagria. 12 January 2010 . Sep 15, 2013.
  2. Web site: 'Finocchio's, a Short Retrospective a Historical Essay' on Digital Archives @ FoundSF by Susan Stryker. Sep 15, 2013.
  3. Book: Senelick, Laurence . 2000 . The Changing Room: Sex, Drag and Theatre . New York, NY . Routledge . 381–382 . 978-0415100786 . Finocchio's in San Francisco had begun as a small Bohemian café managed by Marjorie and Joseph Finocchio, since finocchio (fennel) is Italian slang for faggot, it was clearly a case of nomen est omen when it reopened as a drag club with a company of sixteen in 1937..
  4. Book: Elledge, Jim . Boys of Fairy Town: Sodomites, Female Impersonators, Third-Sexers, Pansies, Queers, and Sex Morons in Chicago's First Century . 2018 . Chicago Review Press . 9780415913898 . Chicago, IL . 82.
  5. Book: Beemyn, Brett . Creating a Place For Ourselves: Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community Histories . 1997 . Routledge . 9780415913898 . New York, NY . 93.
  6. Book: The Oxford Handbook of Queer Cinema . 2021 . Oxford University Press . 9780190877996 . Gregg . Ronald . New York, NY . 314 . Villarejo . Amy.
  7. Book: Summers, Claude. The Queer Encyclopedia of Music, Dance, and Musical Theater. Cleis Press Start. 2012. 9781573448758. 40.
  8. Web site: Sunday's a Drag. Zinko. Carolyne. June 29, 2008. SFGate. Hearst Communications, Inc. September 19, 2014.
  9. News: What a Drag: Finocchio's to Close, Cross-dressers have entertained at club for 63 years from SFGate.com. November 4, 1999. Hamlin. Jesse. The San Francisco Chronicle.
  10. News: Joseph Finocchio Dies; S.F. Transvestite Show from LA Times. January 16, 1986 . Los Angeles Times.
  11. News: Tracing the roots of Wisconsin's drag history, dating back to the 1880s . 2022-10-27 . Radio Milwaukee . 6 June 2022 . en-US.
  12. Book: Boyd, Nan Alamilla . Wide Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 . 2005 . University of California Press . 9780520244740 . Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA . 53–54.
  13. Book: Boyd, Nan Alamilla . 2005 . Wide Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 . Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA . University of California Press . 77 . 9780520244740.
  14. Book: Friedman, Mack . 2003 . Strapped for Cash: A History of American Hustler Culture . Los Angeles, CA . Alyson Books . 124 . 9781555837310.
  15. Brewster . Lee G. . Gybbons . Kay . McAllister . Laura . 1972 . Male Prostitution . Drag: A Magazine About the Transvestite . 2 . 7 . Queens Publications . New York, NY . 18–19 .
  16. Web site: Miguel . Ken . Fuentes . Zach . 2022-10-25 . Remembering SF's Finocchio's: LGBTQ+ legacy of 'America's most unusual nightclub' . 2022-10-27 . ABC7 San Francisco . en.
  17. Web site: 2022-10-26 . Remembering Finocchio's, the North Beach club that arguably gave birth to American drag . 2022-10-27 . hoodline.com . en.
  18. Web site: Converting to Judyism Lions And Tigers And Garland Impersonators! Oh, My!!. Webb. Dewey. 1994-03-30. Phoenix New Times. 2020-01-07.
  19. Web site: Don Paulson and Skippy LaRue photograph collection, 1903-2000. Archives West Orbis Cascade. University of Washington Libraries. 2020-01-07.
  20. Web site: Ray's Story, Nightclubs and Broadway. Don't Call Me Madam, the Life and Work of Ray Bourbon. 2015-11-23.
  21. Book: Brevard, Aleshia. The Woman I Was Not Born To Be. Temple University Press. 2013. 978-1566398404.
  22. Gates III. William H.. 1999-11-08. What a Drag. The Journal Record.
  23. Web site: TransVocalizers, David de Alba, Part II. Transgender Forum. 21 May 2012 . 2015-11-23.
  24. Web site: PHOTOS: Step Back in Time with the Fabulous Drag Queens of Yesteryear. Gremore. Graham. 2014-07-14. Queerty. 2020-01-07.
  25. Web site: Guide to the Paul Lavern Cummings Papers. University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives. 2021-10-20.
  26. Web site: Transgender elder looks back on her life. The Bay Area Reporter / B.A.R. Inc.. en. 2016-11-30. 2020-01-07.
  27. Web site: Mr. Tex Hendrix at Finocchio's (1942). The Virtual Museum of The City of San Francisco. 2015-11-23.
  28. Web site: David de Alba Interviews FI Brian Keith. Transgender Forum. 2015-11-23. 2014-11-24.
  29. Web site: Harvey Goodwin Collection, 1913-1992. University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Center for Arkansas History and Culture. 2020-01-06.
  30. Book: City Dreams, Country Schemes: Community and Identity in the American West. Brosnan. Kathleen A.. Scott. Amy L.. University of Nevada Pres. 2013. 9780874178647.
  31. Web site: Bragman . Bob . February 10, 2016 . Finocchio's nightclub brochure reveals era when SF was more easily shocked . SFGate. see photo carousel.
  32. Web site: The Divas Diaries - February 7, 2018. 2018-02-07. SF Weekly. en-US. 2018-12-13.
  33. Book: Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America. Cullen. Frank. Hackman. Florence. McNeilly. Donald. Psychology Press. 2007. 9780415938532. 833.
  34. Web site: What a Drag: Finocchio's to Close / Cross-dressers have entertained at club for 63 years. Hamlin. Jesse. Writer. Chronicle Staff. 1999-11-04. SFGate. 2020-01-07.
  35. Web site: Drag queen Don McLean dies. Miller. Johnny. Librarian. Chronicle. 2009-02-08. SFGate. 2018-12-13.
  36. Web site: I AM YOUR QUEEN: Holotta Tymes. SF Weekly. 2015-11-23.

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