Flossie at Flossie's

If you’re looking for someone interesting to talk to about weird Portland histories, that person is Tim Hills, McMenamin’s in-house historian. Hills surprised me this week when I called him to talk about whether McMenamin’s is going to incorporate the history of infamous gay bathhouse Club Portland into its new boutique hotel that took over the building on SW Stark. Hills exclaimed: Of course! McMenamin’s even saved the Army Jeep and dungeon gates that occupied the bathhouse basement AND went to the trouble of digging up old photos of its owner during the 1980s, a “big-hearted gay man named Flossie.”

Here’s Flossie:

Flossie at Flossies

  • Flossie at Flossie’s

Read the whole story this week.

Sarah Shay Mirk reported on transportation, sex and gender issues, and politics at the Mercury from 2008-2013. They have gone on to make many things, including countless comics and several books.

7 replies on “Flossie”

  2. Just before taking over this building, Flossie ran a small bar next to The Bitter End on 20th & W Burnside. (The space has since been absorbed by Bitter End.) It was a gay bar sandwiched between old men’s bars and The Matador. Flossie’s had ten-cent beer nights where you could order a tray of ten for a buck. Flossie and Tree moved their operation to the Stark/Burnside triangle after a year or so.

  7. Just to say it for the ten thousandth time: I hope someone somewhere has a photo of the old Flossie’s sign promising you a “10 Ounce Bone Dinner.”

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