<p>Before the first lesbian bars, there were queer worlds built in rented rooms, smoky clubs, and parlor parties. In our premiere episode of <em>Our Dyke Histories</em>, host Jack Gieseking joins historians Lillian Faderman and Cookie Woolner trace the roots of lesbian and queer nightlife to the 1920s—a time before the first official “lesbian bars” in the 1930s, when parties, salons, and underground theaters created fleeting but fierce shindigs as sanctuaries. We visit spaces like Harlem’s rent parties and salons, Los Angeles Jane Jones’ Club and Tess’ Café Internationale, San Francisco’s Finocchio’s, Eve Adams’s legendary Eve’s Hangout in Greenwich Village, and even fly off with Amelia Earhart to South Dakota. Through stories of performers like Gladys Bentley, Bessie Smith, and A’Lelia Walker, we reveal how queer women of color shaped nightlife, pleasure, and possibility even under segregation, censorship, and prohibition. These were the rooms and places where we made dykedom public.</p><p>**</p><p><strong><em>Join Our Community</em></strong></p><p>Want to be part of our community? We'd love to have you. 😏 Come comment, connect, and get your gayme on!</p><ul><li><strong>Newsletter</strong> to your inbox: Jack's <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://queergeographies.ghost.io/"><strong>Queer Geographies newsletter</strong></a> with detailed takes on each episode, & more about lezbiqueertrans spaces across time</li><li><strong>Instagram</strong> for more dyke visuals and stories <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/ourdykehistories"><strong>@ourdykehistories</strong></a></li><li><strong>Read</strong> and follow our co-producer and collaborator, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.sinisterwisdom.org/podcast"><strong><em>Sinister Wisdom</em></strong></a></li><li><strong>Email</strong> us questions and comments at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:[email protected]"><strong>[email protected]</strong></a></li></ul><p>**</p><p><strong><em>Credits</em></strong></p><p>Producer, Editor, Host, & Creative Director: Jack Gieseking</p><p>Co-Producer: Julie Enszer & Sinister Wisdom</p><p>Co-Producer & Co-Editor: Cade Waldo</p><p>Assistant Editor: Mel Whitesell</p><p>Social Media: Audrey Wilkinson</p><p>Interns: Michaela Hayes, Syd Guntharp, Sophie McClain, Paige LeMay, and Sarah Parsons</p><p>Consulting Producer: Rachel Fagen</p><p>Music: Our theme song: "Like Honey" by Kit Orion <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.kitorion.com/">https://www.kitorion.com/</a></p><p>CC-BY-NC-ND 2025. Write to us at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> for permission to use any of our content.</p>
