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Krazy Kat Klub

"The Kat"
Clientele arriving at The Krazy Kat speakeasy in July 1921: Cleon Throckmorton (right), Inez Hogan (middle), Kathryn Mullin (left)
Address	3 Green Court Washington, D.C. United States
Coordinates	38°54′14″N 77°01′52″W / 38.904°N 77.031°W / 38.904; -77.031
Owner	John Don Allen, John Stiffen & Cleon Throckmorton
Opened	1919 (1919)
Closed	Circa 1926?

The Krazy Kat Klub—also known as The Kat and later rebranded as Throck's Studio—was a Bohemian cafe, speakeasy, and nightclub in Washington, D.C. during the historical era known as the Jazz Age. Founded in 1919 by 21-year-old portraitist and scenic designer Cleon "Throck" Throckmorton, the back-alley establishment functioned as a speakeasy after the passage of the Sheppard Bone-Dry Act by the U.S. Congress in March 1917 that imposed a ban on alcoholic beverages in the District of Columbia. Within a year of its founding, the speakeasy became notorious for its riotous performances of hot jazz music which often degenerated into mayhem.

The speakeasy's name derived from the androgynous title character of a comic strip popular at the time, and this namesake communicated that the venue catered to clientele of all sexual persuasions, including polysexual and homosexual patrons. Due to this inclusivity, the secluded venue served as a clandestine rendezvous spot for Washington, D.C.'s gay community to meet without fear of exposure. The speakeasy's clientele were known for their unapologetic embrace of free love ("unrestricted impulse"). By 1922, The Krazy Kat had become infamous, and municipal authorities publicly identified the venue as "a disorderly house," a euphemism for a brothel.

Perhaps due to its infamous reputation, The Krazy Kat became one of the most in vogue locations for, D.C.'s artists, bohemians, flappers, and cultural elites to mingle. Contemporary sources alleged that, during the second term of President Woodrow Wilson's administration (1916–1921), the establishment's habitués included federal government employees as well as possibly members of the U.S. Congress.

After existing for over half-a-decade and surviving a number of police raids, the speakeasy presumably closed by 1926 when Cleon Throckmorton and his first wife Kathryn "Kat" Mullin relocated to Greenwich Village in New York City. Today, the speakeasy's neighborhood is the site of The Green Lantern, a D.C. gay bar.

Location

Situated at Number 3 Green Court (38°54′14″N 77°01′52″W / 38.904°N 77.031°W / 38.904; -77.031) near Washington, D.C.'s Thomas Circle, The Krazy Kat speakeasy existed in an economically-depressed urban district colloquially known as the Latin Quarter. Although the notorious speakeasy likely offered multiple entrances for its patrons, at least one inconspicuous entrance opened into a narrow red-bricked alleyway leading to Massachusetts Avenue.

The back-alley entrance door bore a rectangular hand-painted sign reading "Syne of Ye Krazy Kat" [sic] and depicted a black cat resembling Krazy Kat being hit by a brick. A chalk-inscribed message adorned the top of the door with a warning: "All soap abandon ye who enter here". The club advertised its hours as "9 p.m. to 12:30".

Upon entering via the alleyway, speakeasy patrons crossed a lumber-littered room and ascended a narrow winding staircase to reach "a smoke-filled, dimly lighted room that was fairly well filled with laughing, noisy people, who seemed to be having just the best time in the world, with no one to see and no one to care who saw".

The club's interior dining area occupied the second-floor of an old livestock stable. Rife with cobwebs, the indoor dining area featured "futurist pictures on the walls, small wooden tables, rickety chairs, and candles for light". No photograph of the interior is known to exist. The club's premises included both an indoor dance floor and an outdoor courtyard for al fresco dining and art exhibitions. The courtyard had a small rustic tree house cafe constructed from wooden planks and accessible via a wooden twelve-step ladder.

History

Early years

On March 3, 1917, the controversial passage of the Sheppard Bone-Dry Act led to the closure of 267 barrooms and nearly 90 wholesale establishments in the District of Columbia. Over 2,000 employees in D.C. barrooms and wholesale establishments were thrown out of work, and the district lost nearly half-a-million dollars per year in tax revenue. In the wake of this draconian bill, underground speakeasies such as The Krazy Kat and others flourished.

Circa 1919, 21-year-old artist Cleon Throckmorton (1897–1965) founded The Krazy Kat after he had completed his engineering studies at George Washington University. By day, Throckmorton was an associate of the drama department at Howard University, a historically black college. By night, he ran the raucous speakeasy in the Latin Quarter. He shared ownership of the venue with co-proprietors John Don Allen and John Stiffen. A pre-Raphaelite impressionist, Throckmorton believed that artists should pursue their vocation day and night by surrounding themselves with appropriate settings that inspired creativity, and the venue fulfilled that purpose.

Due to its courtyard and tree house, the establishment became an idyllic haunt for artists, bohemians, flappers, and other free-wheeling "young moderns" of the Jazz Age. One frequent habitué was Throckmorton's muse, 18-year-old Kathryn Marie "Kat" Mullin (1902–1994), whom he later married in January 1922. A model, sketch artist and later costume designer, "Kat" Mullin was widely known for her radio and stage performances as a ukulele player and singer with the Crandall Saturday Nighters. For her stage performances, she was billed as "The Girl With the Million Dollar Legs." When not performing on stage or radio, she was a renowned expert in women's saber fencing and gave public exhibitions.

Cultural peak

By 1920, the speakeasy was renowned for its riotous performances of hot jazz music which occasionally degenerated into violence and mayhem. The Washington Post crime reporter described The Krazy Kat as being "something like a Greenwich Village coffee house", featuring gaudy pictures painted by futurists and impressionists. According to the Washington City Paper, The Kat clandestinely functioned as an underground nexus for Washington, D.C.'s gay community. Jeb Alexander, a gay Washington, D.C. resident, described the transgressive venue in his personal diary as a "bohemian joint in an old stable up near Thomas Circle... artists, musicians, atheists professors". Writer Victor Flambeau described the club in a February 1922 article for The Washington Times:

"A hidden haunt where one might find in comradeship those divine, congenial devils, art inspired and mad, no doubt, who have renounced the commercial world with its seductive wealth, to gain in solitude or blithe companionship another kind of wealth and fame in self-expression.... When the hours wane, and the candles burn low, and the big fire glows, and over the cigarettes and the cider, the coffee and sandwiches, what do they chat of, these men and women, boys and girls, the would-be writers, painters, poets of tomorrow?"

Over time, The Krazy Kat speakeasy became one of the most in vogue locations for Washington's intelligentsia and aesthetes to congregate. According to Throckmorton, the avant-garde venue "proved not only a club for artists, but a source of supply for musicians and playwrights", and he claimed that several plays were written on its premises. Flambeau noted that, by 1922, "in imitation of the Krazy Kat, other bohemian restaurants sprang up in Washington to supply the demand" such as the Silver Sea Horse and Carcassonne in Georgetown.

During its tumultuous half-decade existence, municipal authorities repeatedly declared The Kat to be a "disorderly house" (a euphemism for a brothel), and the metropolitan police raided the establishment on several occasions during the Prohibition period. One raid in February 1919 interrupted a violent brawl inside the club, during which a gunshot was fired. The surprise raid resulted in the arrests of 25 krazy kats—22 men and only 3 women—described in a Washington Post report of February 22 as "self-styled artists, poets and actors". The article noted that several arrested patrons "worked for the government by day and masqueraded as Bohemians by night".

Closure

The Krazy Kat speakeasy presumably closed some time prior to 1926 when Throckmorton and his wife Kathryn "Kat" Mullin relocated to Greenwich Village in New York City. During this same period, Mullin sued Throckmorton for divorce after four years of marriage on December 17, 1926, after catching him in an extramarital affair with an unidentified woman—possibly film actress Juliet Brenon—in their Greenwich Village apartment in Manhattan. Mullin's friend, African-American stage actress Blanche Dunn, served as a supporting witness on her behalf in the divorce suit. Throckmorton did not contest the divorce, and Mullin did not seek alimony. In her later years, Mullin remarried several times, returned to the Midwest, and became a speech specialist for children. She died in March 1994 at age 91 in South Pasadena, California.

Immediately after his divorce from Mullin, Throckmorton married actress Juliet Brenon (1895–1979) on March 13, 1927. She was the niece of Irish-American motion picture auteur Herbert Brenon who directed the first cinematic adaptation of The Great Gatsby in 1926. Throckmorton became one of the most prolific scenic designers for Broadway plays in New York City, and his Greenwich Village apartment that he shared with Juliet Brenon became an after-hours salon for thespians, artists, and intellectuals such as Noël Coward, Norman Bel Geddes, Eugene O'Neill and E.E. Cummings. Their politically leftward salon later raised funds for the Republican faction during the Spanish Civil War.

Gallery

• Cleon Throckmorton, Kathryn Mullin, Inez Hogan, and others arrive at the back-alley entrance of The Kat
• Another angle of their arrival at the back-alley entrance of The Kat
• Cleon Throckmorton paints Kathryn "Kat" Mullin, his future wife, as Inez Hogan cleans a paint brush
• Cleon, Kathryn, Inez, and others chat over coffee and cigarettes
• A waiter ascends a ladder to serve patrons in the club's treehouse while Kathryn Mullin waits above.
• Cleon Throckmorton and Kathryn Mullin relax with a friend
• Cleon's 1918 employee photograph for the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
• Close-up of Kathryn Mullin (1902–1994), an expert in women's saber fencing who gave public exhibitions.
• The site of the Krazy Kat in 2023. The entrance seen in other photos is on the opposite side of the current building.
• The Green Lantern gay bar. The building can be seen on the right in the first photo.

See also

• Cleon Throckmorton

References

Notes

1. ^ Although newspapers often spelled her name as "Katherine Mullen", she was born "Kathryn Mullin".

Citations

1. ^ The Washington Post 1919, p. 5.
2. The Washington Herald 1921, p. 22; Flambeau 1922, p. 7; Farmer 2012.
3. The Washington Times 1921, p. D9; InTowner 2009; Congressional Record 1966, pp. A531–A532.
4. The Washington Times 1917, p. 11; The Sunday Star 1927, p. 5.
5. The Washington Times 1920, p. 13.
6. Flambeau 1922, p. 7; Bellot 2017.
7. Bellot 2017; InTowner 2009; Baek 2014; Flambeau 1922, p. 7.
8. InTowner 2009; Baek 2014; Alexander 1993.
9. ^ Flambeau 1922, p. 7.
10. ^ The Washington Herald 1921, p. 22.
11. The Washington Post 1919, p. 5; Kebler 1919, p. 15; MessyNessy 2012.
12. ^ The Washington Post 1919, p. 5; MessyNessy 2012.
13. ^ The New York Times 1965, p. 37; The Washington Herald 1926, p. 1; New York Daily News 1926, p. 17.
14. ^ Baek 2014.
15. The Washington Herald 1921, p. 22; Farmer 2012.
16. InTowner 2009.
17. Bellot 2017; Library of Congress LC-F8-15145.
18. InTowner 2009; Library of Congress LC-F8-15145.
19. ^ Kebler 1919, p. 15.
20. The Washington Post 1919, p. 5; Kebler 1919, p. 15.
21. Flambeau 1922, p. 7; Library of Congress LC-F81-15101.
22. Bellot 2017.
23. InTowner 2009; Alderman 2020.
24. ^ The Washington Times 1917, p. 11.
25. The Sunday Star 1927, p. 5.
26. The Washington Times 1921, p. D9; The New York Times 1965, p. 37; Congressional Record 1966, p. A531.
27. Congressional Record 1966, p. A532.
28. The Washington Post 1919, p. 5; The Washington Herald 1921, p. 22.
29. Flambeau 1922, p. 7; The Washington Herald 1926, p. 1.
30. The Register-Champion 1925.
31. Flambeau 1922, p. 7; The Evening Star 1925, p. 38.
32. Flambeau 1922, p. 7; The Evening Star 1925, p. 38; Buffalo Courier Express 1926, p. 11.
33. ^ Buffalo Courier Express 1926, p. 11.
34. ^ The Herald Statesman 1923, p. 20.
35. The Washington Times 1920, p. 13; The Washington Post 1919, p. 5.
36. The Washington Post 1919, p. 5; InTowner 2009.
37. InTowner 2009; Alexander 1993; Bellot 2017.
38. The Flapper 1922; The New York Times 1922, p. E10.
39. Flambeau 1922, p. 7; The Washington Herald 1921.
40. Flambeau 1922, p. 7; Kebler 1919, p. 15.
41. ^ The Washington Herald 1926, p. 1.
42. The Washington Herald 1926, p. 1; New York Daily News 1926, p. 17.
43. Moore 1974, p. 1.
44. Local Deaths 1994, p. 10.
45. The New York Times 1927, p. E7; The New York Times 1965, p. 37; The New York Times 1979, p. D13.
46. The New York Times 1965, p. 37; The New York Times 1979, p. D13; Ditta 2018; Green 1926, p. 14.
47. The New York Times 1965, p. 37; The New York Times 1979, p. D13; Congressional Record 1966, p. A531.
48. The New York Times 1965, p. 37.

Works cited

Print sources

• Alexander, Jeb (1993). Russell, Ina (ed.). Jeb and Dash: A Diary of Gay Life 1918-1945. Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-19847-4. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
• "Antics of Musicians Makes Jazz Foolish, M.D. Says in Letter: Krazy Kat Klub Disrupted". The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. November 16, 1920. p. 13. Retrieved October 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. War casualties during the jazz outbursts have been too numerous to mention. Harsh rumor has it that the Krazy Kat Klub and other choice back alley enterprises have been disrupted as a result of rude un-Bohemian cacophanations.
• "Army-Navy Game To Be Broadcast: 'Saturday Nighters' Featured". The Evening Star. Washington, D.C. November 28, 1925. p. 38. Retrieved October 10, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
• "Cleon Throckmorton, 68, Dead; Designed O'Neill Stage Settings". The New York Times. New York City. October 25, 1965. p. 37. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
• "Cleon Throckmorton: Extension of Remarks of Hon. Harrison A. Williams, Jr. of New Jersey in the Senate of the United States". Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the United States Congress. Vol. 112 (Part 24). United States: U.S. Government Printing Office. February 4, 1966. pp. A531–A532.
• "Engagements: Brenon–Throckmorton". The New York Times. New York City. May 1, 1927. p. E7. Retrieved October 8, 2020. Mrs. Algernon St. John Brenon of the Hotel Iroquois has announced the engagement of her younger daughter, Miss Juliet Brenon, to Cleon Throckmorton of Washington, D.C., and this city. Miss Brenon is the daughter of the late A. St. John Brenon, who was well known in New York and Europe as a music critic.
• "Ex-D.C. Artist Is Sued By Wife In N.Y. Divorce". The Washington Herald (Saturday ed.). Washington, D.C. December 17, 1926. p. 1. Retrieved May 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
• "Fencing Matches at Briarcliff Tonight". The Herald Statesman (Friday ed.). White Plains, New York. June 22, 1923. p. 20. Retrieved May 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
• Flambeau, Victor (February 5, 1922). "Flambeau Finds Washington's Bohemia In Hidden Haunt Where Cleon Throckmorton Stages His First Exhibition" (PDF). The Washington Times (Sunday ed.). p. 7. Retrieved October 4, 2020 – via Library of Congress.
• "Flappers Flaunt Fads in Footwear: Stockings Scare Dogs". The New York Times. New York City. January 29, 1922. p. E10. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
• Green, Abel (November 24, 1926). "Film Review: The Great Gatsby". Variety. Los Angeles, California. p. 14. Retrieved October 8, 2020 – via Internet Archive.
• "Has Washington Genuine Art Colony, Asks Scientist: Visits Krazy Kat". The Washington Herald. Washington, D.C. July 31, 1921. p. 22. Retrieved October 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
• "I Don't Want Alimony!". Daily News (Saturday ed.). New York. December 18, 1926. p. 17. Retrieved May 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
• "Juliet B. Throckmorton". The New York Times. New York City. November 22, 1979. p. D13. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
• Kebler, Lyman F. (March 3, 1919). "Camouflaged". The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. p. 15. Retrieved October 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
• "Local deaths". Pasadena Star-News (Friday ed.). Pasadena, California. March 4, 1944. p. 10. Retrieved December 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
• "Many Jobless If District Goes Dry: Passage of Sheppard Bill by House Will Throw Many Out of Work". The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. January 11, 1917. p. 11. Retrieved October 10, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
• Moore, Pat (March 20, 1974). "Happy 'Tiny Town' Defies Vandalism at Washburn". The La Crosse Tribune (Wednesday ed.). La Crosse, Wisconsin. p. 1. Retrieved December 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
• "Robt. Baldwin Marries Eastern Girl". The Register-Champion (Thursday ed.). Hebron, Nebraska. June 18, 1925. p. 1. Retrieved May 6, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
• "Row In Krazy Kat Lands 14 In Jail: Carefree Bohemians Start Rough-House and Cop Raids Rendezvous". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. February 22, 1919. p. 5. Retrieved October 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
• "Thrilling War of the Rival Amateur Theaters Now Rages". Buffalo Courier Express (Sunday ed.). Buffalo, New York. April 18, 1926. p. 11. Retrieved May 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
• "Throckmorton Scenic Artist of Real Skill". The Washington Times (Sunday ed.). Washington, D.C. December 11, 1921. p. D9. Cleon Throckmorton, well known Washingtonian and founder of the Crazy Kat Restaurant, is rapidly acquiring a reputation as a scene designer of parts through his association with the Provincetown Players of New York.
• "Shirking Charged to Officials Here: Service League Head Claims Sheppard Act Is Being Ignored in District". The Sunday Star. Washington, D.C. November 6, 1927. p. 5. Retrieved October 10, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
• "The Psychology of Knees". The Flapper Magazine. June 1922. Retrieved October 4, 2020.

Online sources

• Alderman, Tim (May 2, 2020). "Gay History: A Gay Old Kat". timalderman.com. Retrieved October 4, 2020. The clientele included college kids, flappers and gays.... The club was named after the comic strip Krazy Kat (who can be seen on the door sign in the photo above). Krazy was the first androgynous hero(ine) of the comics: sometimes Krazy was a he, sometimes a she. As creator George Herriman stated, Krazy was willing to be either.
• Baek, Raphaella (January 24, 2014). "Did Washington's gay bars open as gay bars?". Washington City Paper. Washington, D.C. Retrieved October 4, 2020. In the early 20th century, a speakeasy treehouse called Krazy Kat Klub operated right across from the present-day Green Lantern, at what was then No. 3 Green Court, and served as a rendezvous spot for D.C.'s early gay community.
• Bellot, Gabrielle (January 19, 2017). "The Gender Fluidity of Krazy Kat". The New Yorker. New York City. Retrieved October 4, 2020. In an era when books depicting homosexuality and gender nonconformity could lead to charges of obscenity, 'Krazy Kat,' Tisserand notes, featured a gender-shifting protagonist who was in love with a male character.... A well-known bohemian bar in Washington, D.C., that welcomed queer customers seemed to acknowledge the strip's anarchic queerness by naming itself Krazy Kat.
• Ditta, Joseph (February 16, 2018). "Guide to the Aileen St. John-Brenon Papers (1920-1947 )". New-York Historical Society Museum & Library. Retrieved October 4, 2020. Aileen's grandfather was the English dramatic critic Edward St. John-Brenon. Her uncle, Herbert Brenon (1880–1958), was a motion picture director perhaps best known for the silent films Peter Pan (1924) and Beau Geste (1926). Aileen's younger sister, Juliet St. John-Brenon (1895–1979), was an actress who appeared in some of their Uncle Herbert's films. Juliet married well-known set designer Cleon "Throck" Throckmorton (1897-1965), who maintained an active studio in bohemian Greenwich Village.
• Farmer, Liz (November 21, 2012). "Historic preservation expert Paul Williams on the Krazy Kat Klub". Washington Examiner. Washington, D.C. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
• "Krazy Kat (LC-F8-15145)". Library of Congress. Washington, D.C. 1921. LCCN 2016831001. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
• "Krazy Kat, 7/15/21 (LC-F81-15101)". Library of Congress. Washington, D.C. July 15, 1921. LCCN 2016845558. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
• "Scenes from the Past... Fun During Prohibition at Thomas Circle's Krazy Kat Club & Speakeasy". The InTowner. June 14, 2009. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
• "The 1920s Speakeasy Club with a Treehouse in the Backyard". MessyNessy. July 4, 2012. Retrieved October 4, 2020.

External links

• "Flambeau Finds Washington's Bohemia In Hidden Haunt", The Washington Times, February 5, 1922.
• "Scenes from the Past... Fun During Prohibition at Thomas Circle's Krazy Kat Club & Speakeasy", The InTowner, June 14, 2009 (Archived).
• "The 1920s Speakeasy Club with a Treehouse in the Backyard", MessyNessy, July 4, 2012.

• Restaurants established in 1919
• Restaurants disestablished in the 20th century
• Krazy Kat
• Speakeasies
• 1920s in Washington, D.C.
• Nightclubs in Washington, D.C.
• Music venues in Washington, D.C.
• LGBTQ nightclubs in Washington, D.C.
• Defunct jazz clubs in the United States
• 1919 establishments in Washington, D.C.
• 1926 disestablishments in Washington, D.C.
• Bohemianism
• Flappers