Krazy Kat Klub
"The Kat" | |
Patrons at The Kat in July 1921: Cleon Throckmorton (right), Kathryn Mullin (left), Inez Hogan (middle). The chalk-written message above the door, "All soap [sic] abandon ye who enter here!", refers to the warning over the entrance to Hell in Dante's Inferno. | |
Interactive map of Krazy Kat Klub | |
| Address | 3 Green Court Washington, D.C. United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 38°54′14″N 77°01′52″W / 38.904°N 77.031°W |
| Owner | John Ledru Stiffler, Jawne Donn Allen & Cleon Throckmorton |
| Construction | |
| Opened | January 1919 |
| Closed | June 1922 (equipment/fixtures sold) 1925 (building demolished) |
The Krazy Kat Klub—also known as The Kat and Throck's Studio—was a bohemian coffeehouse and art club near Thomas Circle in Washington, D.C. during the Jazz Age. Founded in 1919 by U.S. army veterans John Ledru Stiffler and Jawne Donn Allen with the aid of scenic designer Cleon Throckmorton, the back-alley establishment functioned as a speakeasy due to the 1917 Sheppard Bone-Dry Act imposing a ban on alcoholic beverages in the nation's capital. Within a year of its founding by Stiffler, Allen, and Throckmorton, the speakeasy became notorious for its riotous performances of hot jazz music which often degenerated into mayhem.
Located in an old livestock stable, the Krazy Kat derived its name from the androgynous title character of a popular comic strip, and this namesake communicated that the venue catered to clientele of all sexual persuasions, including homosexual and polysexual patrons. Due to this inclusivity, the venue served as a clandestine rendezvous spot for the Capitol's gay community to meet without fear of exposure. The Kat's clientele advocated the embrace of free love ("unperverted impulse") in newspaper articles, and D.C. municipal authorities publicly identified the infamous venue as a "disorderly house," a euphemism for a brothel.
Serving as both an underground gay nexus and a gathering place for artists associated with the Provincetown Players, the Krazy Kat became one of the most vogue locations for D.C.'s cultural avant-garde to mingle, including atheists, aesthetes, professors, and flappers. A Washington Times writer described the venue as "a hidden haunt where one might find in comradeship those divine, congenial devils, art inspired and mad, no doubt". Other habitues included federal bureaucrats during the second term of President Woodrow Wilson's administration.
Existing for years mere blocks from the White House and surviving a number of police raids, the speakeasy likely closed in June 1922 when its fixtures and kitchen equipment were publicly sold. By that time, co-proprietor Cleon Throckmorton and his wife Kathryn Mullin had relocated to New York City, taking with them many sketches and paintings from the shuttered club. In 1925, the old livestock stable was demolished and replaced by an industrial building. Today, the still extant building adjacent to the bygone speakeasy is the site of The Green Lantern, a gay bar.