He applies mascara and lipstick, puckering his lips and widening his eyes, he slowly turns into his drag persona, Thelma. On Washington Street, you could take in a floor show at the Hoffman Grill, which specialized in the “Finest Italian American food.” In was perfect for anyone who wanted to live anonymously.Ĭharles Gautreau stands in front of his mirror over the sink in his room in the New York Streets area of the South End. Prostitutes mingled with bookies at joints like the Junee Café (“When It’s Thirst, Come Here First”). The South End in the 1940s was a densely populated neighborhood of bars, restaurants, cheap hotels, and rooming houses. What was it like to be queer in 1940s Boston? It’s impossible to fully capture the diverse experiences of LGBT people at any given time, much less a decade as momentous as the 1940s, but by reaching into the archives of The History Project, Boston LGBT archive, we can get a glimpse into the lives of five people who lived in a place and time that is at once familiar and alien. Wellesley House Party 1940s/Courtesy: The History Project.
