The preservation of history is one of the ways that society learns, develops, and grows. It’s how we know the history of our land, where our ancestors come from, and even acts as a warning regarding dark times. What we often don’t think about when it comes to history is how exactly that preservation happens. Harrison Apple (they/them) of the Pittsburgh Queer History Project is one of the individuals who ensures that important events and real-life accounts endure long after their own existence. In their latest curation, Calendar Girls in the House of Tilden, Apple works to capture the lives of queer Pittsburghers who found comfort in Lucky’s House of Tilden (H.O.T.), an after-hours disco that brought one of the first LGBTQIA+ safe spaces to East Liberty
From 1970 to 1981, H.O.T. existed just blocks away from where the Kelly Strayhorn Theater now stands. This spot on Penn Avenue was not just a place for dancing or socializing. Rather, it became one of the few places where you could go and know the cops would not immediately be called on you for standing a little too close to a member of the same sex or dressing in a different way. Even for those who didn’t go to H.O.T., it lived as a legend in their minds.
“The House of Tilden is central to Pittsburgh, but it’s not the most important place to everybody,” explains Apple. “It’s somewhere that everybody might know about, but it doesn’t have to mean that it’s where they were happy or felt they belonged. But it was big. It was surrounded by a lot of mythology and lore since they could not leave an honest paper trail memory, which is exactly why it’s so important to me and to queer history in Pittsburgh.”
“LGBTQIA+ community members knew what clubs were at the time, but there hadn’t yet been such a thing where a club seemed to be owned, operated, and driven by this idea of making a space for you,” says Apple. “You knew you were handing over your hard-earned money to someone who might be a friend rather than just someone making a quick buck off gay bars. It really struck people, it mattered, and as a result, people like the owner, Lucky, became important. They became somebody everybody knew. They became celebrities. To feel close to Lucky is something that people really cherished; they felt proud to have that proximity.”
Not only will you feel closer to Lucky yourself after viewing Apple’s curation, but you’ll get to know plenty of other people from H.O.T., too. Calendar Girls in the House of Tilden is not just a presentation of information and photographs. Instead, it’s a deep dive into the personal stories of some of the mainstays of H.O.T. In the Kelly Strayhorn lobby gallery from September 26 to January 10, you’ll explore a 12-month calendar screen print. Picture old-school pin-up calendars. Each month is dedicated to one person, using a photograph of them from the archives.
“You’ll get to know people who, if you were a member there, you might already know their name before you get to meet them. You might recognize them across the room because they’re surrounded by people who want to talk with them. I wanted to use this as a way to give more people a sense of authority to say, ‘I know something about the House of Tilden. I know something about the people who were there.’”
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Some of the glamorous figures you’ll meet include Kierra Darshell and her Drag Mother, Denise Darshell, DJ Brian White, who was one of the first people to play massive memorable hits in the city, and even David Cornelly, the marionette artist who dominated the Pittsburgh mall scene after raunchy 4 a.m. shows at the House of Tilden. One of Apple’s favorite calendar girls is Frankie Kizzie, who is featured as Miss November. She’s also a reminder of just how hard work like theirs can be.
“Frankie was a phenomenal force,” explains Apple. “In the nightclub scene, she produced shows, and she was always a huge supporter of all performers. She was also just strikingly recognizable. She was a classic. Frankie wore big-brimmed hats and big-lapel suits in the 70s, carrying herself with a stage presence. The day I went to meet her in person, she was rushed to the hospital. We did get in touch while she was in the hospital over the phone, but we never got to meet in person. There are a lot of stories like that when doing oral history. It’s difficult work. It’s painful work.”
It’s people like Frankie, though, who inspire Apple to continue their research in various ways to preserve and protect the queer memories of Pittsburgh. He hopes projects like this one inspire other researchers to lend a hand in Pittsburgh’s queer history documentation and encourage anyone to reach out if they’re interested in helping. In their next steps after Calendar Girls in the House of Tilden, they are starting an artist residency program with the Pittsburgh Queer History Project, where artists can produce their own materials inspired by their archives.
“We’d love for them to design their own work based on or incorporating material from our digital archives,” says Apple excitedly. “This produces a kind of map that would allow other visitors to feel like they have a guided tour of our archives. I think it also reminds people that the material we’ve collected is made by artists. It’s not just clerical documentation. It was intentional, and I can’t think of a better way to honor these artists than for someone else to do what they do and make it a part of their own work.”
