Jamie Lee Hamilton was 15, living on the streets, trying to order a burger at an upscale restaurant that didn't offer such fare when she met the late John Stevenson.
She was too young to work at his club, so Stevenson charged her with buying music. It would prove to be the first of many jobs the mastermind behind many Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»nightspots would give her, not to mention the personal support he gave her when she transitioned from male to female.
"I don't think our community would have advanced the way it has advanced if it hadn't been for someone like John Stevenson. He was a courageous soul being out there at a very early time when to be gay was criminal and very dangerous," Hamilton said. "He was so inclusive. Many facets of community are often fragmented and intolerant of others but he wasn't. He had this gift of he accepted everyone... He's definitely one of our unsung heroes."
Stevenson died June 1 at the age of 87 at the George Derby Centre for veterans in Burnaby.
Born in White Rock, Stevenson moved to Montreal where he was a stockbroker and returned to Lotusland in the 1960s. He occasionally visited the bar in the Vanport Hotel on Main near Keefer where lesbian women found a home and people of various persuasions mingled. Hamilton believes the inclusiveness Stevenson saw there influenced him when he opened his own bars, including Jonathan's on Granville, The Cruel Elephant, Whittakers, The Bunkhouse, Queenie's Truck Stop and John Barley's.
"Also, his belief in going to fight for the freedoms of other people had a significant impact on his outlook of being open and welcoming of all people," Hamilton said.
He started one of the city's earliest gay clubs, Champagne Charlie's at 612 Davie St. in the late 1960s when homosexuality was illegal, Hamilton says, so it was difficult to secure a liquor licence. Champagne Charlie's launched the careers of Dee Dee Ambrose, Charity and Sandy St. Peters, the reigning drag divas of the 1970s.
In the mid-1980s, Stevenson started Basin Street, first on Granville Street, then on Main near Hastings, to provide a venue for jazz musicians and singers when there were few venues to showcase them. The Basin Street location at Main and Hastings was known for its "small orange juice" (a vodka and orange), its "dark coffee" (a vodka and coffee) and its "double dark coffee" (coffee spiked with two shots of vodka). Stevenson also created one of the city's first lesbian bars, Talk of the Town on West Cordova, around the time of Expo 86.
Sybil Thrasher, Jim Byrnes, Stella-Mae and DeDe Drew and Oliv are some of the celebrated names linked to Stevenson's clubs.
"I just wish there had been a place for him in Vancouver. If just seemed that he was isolated out there [at the home for veterans], isolated from his community, as well," she added. "That's something that we can do in a longer term toward creating some safe, affordable housing for our gay seniors. Maybe his name can be used as a legacy to make that happen."
A Tribute to John Stevenson--It's a Party! on July 24 will include performances by drag divas, singers and musicians, including Beverley Elliott, Dalannah Gail Bowen and Bruce Tilden, longtime Dufferin DJ Tim "Round Mound of Sound," an open mic and a slideshow of photos and news clippings illuminating Stevenson's decades-long career.
The tribute will run 5 to 9 p.m. at Club 23 West, the last nightclub Stevenson ran with his business partner, Don Whittaker.
Twitter: @Cheryl_Rossi
Portside fondly recalls gay bars of old
http://www.vancourier.com/entertainment/Portside+fondly+recalls+bars/2892893/story.html
