You couldn’t succeed, you have to get really popular to succeed, so it’s this other form of harassment,” said Barr. “They are doing this other thing that caused a lot of instability for the bars. At the time, same-sex dancing was not legal, so these establishments like many others would pay off police. In the 1930s, bars and clubs started to open including the Double Header, the Casino and Six Eleven Tavern.

It had this reputation of being things like seedy… but in reality, it’s opening that door,” said Barr.īarr notes Pioneer Square became a gathering place for the LGBTQIA community.

But that’s the opening, that’s when you can have a little bit more freedom to make a bar in a basement where gay (people) and lesbians are gathering. “It’s not being treated well, the city kind of doesn’t care about it. Pointing out the transformation of the neighborhood and the stories of their disappearance. Before the pandemic, Barr was also giving walking tours to those seeking a more in-depth experience to understand how the city’s “first neighborhood” developed into a queer community in the late 1800s. On a quest to reach a wider audience, Barr created “Pioneer Square and the Making of Queer Seattle,” an interactive digital story map.