{{Short description|Gay nightclub in San Francisco, California (1949–1958)}} {{Infobox restaurant | name = The Beige Room | closed = 1958 | street_address = 831 Broadway,<br/> San Francisco, California | established = 1949 | coordinates = {{Coord|37.797184|-122.410795|display=inline,title}} | previous_owner = Al Burgess,<br/> Chinkie Naditz }} '''The Beige Room''', also known simply as '''Beige Room''', was an American nightclub known for gay female impersonators, in operation from 1949 to 1958 and located at 831 Broadway in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, California.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last= |date=Winter 2010 |title=The Semaphore, Issue 189 |url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/50425211/issue-189-winter-2010-telegraph-hill-dwellers |access-date=2023-04-14 |publisher=Telegraph Hill Dwellers |pages=16–18, 23 |language=en |via=yumpu.com}}</ref><ref name="Shaw">{{Cite book |last=Shaw |first=Randy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r5bTrQEACAAJ |title=The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime, and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco |publisher=Urban Reality Press |year=2015 |isbn=9780692327234 |location=San Francisco, CA |pages=}}</ref><ref name="BoydCastro">{{cite web |last1=Boyd |first1=Dick |date=2010 |title=Before the Castro: North Beach, a Gay Mecca |url=https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Before_the_Castro:_North_Beach,_a_Gay_Mecca |access-date=28 May 2021 |website=FoundSF}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Crawford-Lackey |first=Katherine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOuRDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA223 |title=Preservation and Place: Historic Preservation by and of LGBTQ Communities in the United States |last2=Springate |first2=Megan E. |date=2019-09-04 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-78920-307-3 |pages=223 |language=en}}</ref>
== History == The club was owned by Al Burgess and Chinkie Naditz;<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Irvin |first=Sam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CW_6bTRqoxUC&pg=PA191 |title=Kay Thompson: From Funny Face to Eloise |date=2011-11-15 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4391-7654-2 |pages=191 |language=en}}</ref> and was founded in 1949 at 2215 Powell Street, and it moved in 1951 to the Broadway address.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Cordova |first=Cary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v6HKDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 |title=The Heart of the Mission: Latino Art and Politics in San Francisco |date=2017-05-04 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-9414-9 |pages=31 |language=en}}</ref> On Sundays The Beige Room would host dance parties.<ref name=":2" />
The performers were openly gay, unlike at other female impersonator clubs at the time.<ref name=":0" /> The Beige Room performers included owner Al Burgess,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Al Burgess Collection of Beige Room records |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c81n8726/entire_text/ |website=Online Archive of California}}</ref> T.C. Jones, Lynne Carter, Leslie Marlowe, Ray Saunders, and Kenneth Marlowe.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Boyd |first=Nan Alamilla |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M6cwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 |title=Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 |date=2003 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24474-0 |pages=130 |language=en}}</ref> José Sarria performed at The Beige Room before moving to the Black Cat Bar.<ref name=":4" /> Lynne Carter was a club headliner, she was famous for doing impersonations of Pearl Bailey and Josephine Baker and would often socialize with the patrons after the performances.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" />
In total, a collection of San Francisco LGBT venues opened and flourished in the early 1950s, including The Beige Room, Tommy's Place/12 Adler Place, Miss Smith’s Tea Room, Tin Angel, the Paper Doll, Dolan's (new supper club), and Gordon's (new supper club).<ref name=":42">{{Cite book |last=Boyd |first=Nan Alamilla |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M6cwDwAAQBAJ&q=tommy's+bar+lesbian+sf&pg=PA91 |title=Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 |date=2005-04-13 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24474-0 |pages=82–83, 132 |language=en}}</ref>
== See also == {{Portal|LGBTQ}} * Club 82 * Club My-O-My * Finocchio's Club
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/sx61dm52z The Beige Room poster/ephemera] from the Digital Transgender Archive * Video by Hal O'Neal of a drag performance at The Beige Room (1951), from Internet Archive
{{North Beach, San Francisco|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beige Room, The}} Category:North Beach, San Francisco Category:Nightclubs in San Francisco Category:LGBTQ history in San Francisco Category:Defunct LGBTQ nightclubs in California Category:1949 establishments in California Category:1958 disestablishments in California Category:1950s in LGBTQ history