Le Monocle, where lesbians met in 1920s Paris

Le Monocle, a well-know lesbian bar in the Montmartre section of Paris from the 1920s through the early 1940s is credited as being one of the first, and certainly the most famous of lesbian nightclubs that flourished in 1920s Paris. Located on Edgar-Quinet Boulevard, the bar was opened by Lulu de Montparnasse.

Lulu, owner of Le Monocle

Sitting at the bar in Le Monocle

Monocles were a fashion trend for lesbians indicating their sexual preference; worn by such women as Lady Troubridge and Radclyffe Hall, author of the Well of Loneliness.

British Sculptor Lady Troubridge and partner of Radclyffe Hall

Portrait of Lady Troubridge by Romaine Brooks

Troubridge and Radclyffe Hall

Vintage lesbian books at www.lavenderpulp.com

Paris wasn't the only place lesbians wore monocles, in Berlin, Germany another bar named Monokel opened in 1932 but closed in March of 1933 when the Nazi party closed down Berlin's gay and lesbian bars. This great poster reads:

Monokel
The Bar of the the Woman
(Located at) Budapester Strasse 14 
The Dancing Cabaret of the 
Sophisticated Glamourous World
Admission free  Well-kept beers

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LavenderPulp at the Rainbow Book Fair

This year's 6th Annual LGBT Rainbow Book Fair was a blast. It was great to meet new people, see old friends, and talk about Vintage lesbian pulp fiction books. There were more women vendors this year as well as attendees. Bravo to all who came out (!?!) in the rain. Here are snippets of some conversations:

"I've tried to read lesbian pulp fiction as ebooks but it's not the same, I want to be able to hold the actual book in my hand"

"I used to read them in my bathroom"

"We learned about these in women's studies classes but to see the actual vintage books is so different! Which one is the most sexy?"

"When I was young I had a huge collection under my bed"

During the day, there were several special moments, I had a talk with one lesbian pulp fan who was starting her collection over because of a house fire, and then another because her books were thrown out. There was also one avid reader who selected two of the classics and planned to have them read by the end of the weekend (did you?). A gay man remembered his mother having a large collection. The LavenderPulp table was next to the same publisher as last year and we got to have a few laughs before he rushed to get the train back to Washington DC.

There were several new books being announced including 'Manning Up' about transexual men. Besides a great lineup of readings and panels, there was a last minute surprise addition to the schedule: several lgbtqi teenagers from Hetrick Martin read their works. 

Until next year.

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Authentic Vintage Lesbian Pulp Fiction Books and Gifts

Meet the Women of Lesbian Pulp Fiction at LavenderPulp in NYCs Rainbow Book Fair

Olivia

Meet "Olivia", young and impressionable, who adores her headmistress at school and waits at night for her to visit.

She drew me towards her, pulled back my sari, and whispered close, close to my ear, her lips almost touching me, her breath hot on my cheek:  "I'll come tonight ..."



Get to know big boned yet graceful Mitch who reminds popular campus queen Leda, “You said- you said you couldn't love a Lesbian.” However, conflicted Leda soon begins to feel a “Spring Fire”. This has the makings of a Lesbian pulpfiction book!

Mitch and Leda

Val & Toni 

See how sparks fly after nights of passion and clandestine meetings between strong willed stewardess Val and dark-eyed Toni.

Watch Val get afraid of intimacy (oh no, not that again!) and gets the idea to fly the coop before the “Edge of Twilight”.







Witness innocent, blonde-aired Elaine married to Peter find true passion with Nicole, the tawny-skinned artist’s model. Lesbian author Artemis Smith who coined the expression “come out of the closet” knows them all too well. If you want to know more about their story there will be a rare signed first edition of "This Bed We Made" at the LavenderPulp table at the Rainbow Book Fair March 29, 2014 in NYC.

Elaine and Nicole

Get acquainted with statuesque Lila who pursues both men and women according to her whims but becomes fixated on her cousin Ivy. Is Ivy crazy or is it really possible Lila is trying to kill her? Lila dares you to “Take Me Home”.

Lila and Ivy

Meet submissive Catherine, 
her husband and 
his mistress Odile. 
Find out about 
their menage a trios 
and sexual exploits 
within The Sign of Eros.

The LGBT Rainbow Bookfair makes for an enjoyable lesbian event on March 29th in New York City. Meet women in person and on the delicate smooth leaves of Lesbian Pulp Fiction books which will be at Lavender Pulp’s booth. Please visit us.

rainbowbookfair.org

LavenderPulp.com, authentic vintage lesbian and queer pulp fiction novels from the 1950s.

lavenderpulp.com

Vintage Lesbian Pulp Fiction books from LavenderPulp at the Rainbow Book Fair

rainbowbookfair.org

1914 Russian lesbian poet... a way with words and a way with women

Poet Sophia Parnok

"How often her mysterious gaze 
has hovered over 
my soul 
with powerful inquisitiveness"

Sophia Parnok was a Russian lesbian poet born in 1885. She was the only openly lesbian voice in Russian poetry during her time; and many feel her unique contribution to modern Russian lyricism has been overlooked.

At 29 years old, she fell in love with 20 year old poet Marina Tsvetaeva during which time Parnok published her first book of verse, "Poems."

Marina Tsvetaeva

In 1917, Parnok then became lovers with actress Erarskaya Lyudmila, and the two moved from Moscow to the Crimean town of Sudak. Below is Sophia Parnok and Erarskaya Lyudmila on the Veranda of the Gertsyks House in Sudak, Crimea, September 1918.

Parnok (sitting) and Erarskaya (standing)

During her lifetime, Sophia Parnok published five volumes of poetry and the libretto to the opera Almast. By 1928, the Soviets had decided her poetry was unlawful, and she was unable to publish after that. Five years earlier, Parnok at age 38 met her long term partner Olga Tsuberbiller and the two of them lived together nearly a decade until Parnok’s death.

Only in dreams, with a broken off moan,

so as not to die in her sleep,

on such a mellifluous wave,

above this sky-blue drowning,

her whole chest heaving freely

with breath, my soul is bobbing.

--From Dreams, May 1924

Sophia Parnok (l) and Olga Tsuberbiller (r) 

Although Parnok remained living with Olga, the last two years of her life (1931-1933) Parnok fell deeply in love with physicist Nina Vedeneyeva. Below is a verse of a poem written when Parnok and last love Nina Vedeneyeva met.

Where’s the cottage with jasmine and the welcoming night,

and curlicue arches of hop-plants above us,

and thirst which could no longer be satisfied,

and sky, and a sky more impassioned than Petrarch’s.

At the end of my last or next-to-last spring –

together the two of us dreamed crazy dreams,

I burn up my night in a savage, a beautiful fire.

--Dec 1931 

A memorial plaque dedicated to the Parnok family was placed on the wall of their birth house in Taganrog in 2012.

Birth house of Sophia Parnok

Don't forget The Rainbow BookFair on March 29, 2014!
rainbowbookfair.org/exhibitors-2/exhibitors/

Interracial Love in Vintage Lesbian Pulp Fiction

How Dark My Love by Rea Michaels

Rea Michaels was one of the few 1950s lesbian pulp fiction authors who wrote about interracial relationships and racial issues. In "How Dark My Love", Elena, a gifted jazz and blues singer is struggling to make it in NYC when a southern white woman named Prim books her for a small Greenwich Village nightclub.

They fall in love and begin an affair. It's fun in this lesbian pulp fiction book dated expressions such as the lovers' "triangle patches." 

"How Dark My Love" also addresses tough topics. Prim's inability to understand that Elena wants to boycott a racist business she was booked to perform at is one of the reasons that the two women begin to grow apart.

Lesbian pulp fiction book
"Duet in Darkness" by Rea Michaels

Their flaming desire 

could only be satisfied 

by breaking every rule 

and ignoring every taboo

This must be 'Lon' with her first crush before 
she falls for Mavis, the beautiful black pianist.

In "Twilight Girl" by Della Martin, young Lorraine 'Lon' Harris dreams of a South Pacific island full of women, where everyone will be free and accepting, and she'll never have to 'dress like a lady' again. When she befriends Violet, a car hop at a local drive-in restaurant, Lon is introduced to the lesbian underworld of suburban Los Angeles.

At the butch-femme 28 Percent Club, Lon's eyes fall upon the beautiful femme Mavis, a black Jazz pianist. Lon discovers herself as her interest in the desirable Mavis grows (and is returned!) and she must contend with Mavis' wealthy butch lover.

February is Black History Month.

Saturday March 29, 2014 

Visit LavenderPulp at the Rainbow Book Fair. 

Authentic vintage lesbian pulp fiction books for sale!

Holiday Inn 440 W 57 Street (9-10 Ave) 10019  Noon-6pm

For fun vintage LGBTIQ Gifts and Authentic 1950s Lesbian Books 

visit www.lavenderpulp.com

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For 1950s queer and lesbian pulp fiction art and pix,

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Gianni's, Ariel's and other NYC lesbian bars from the past

Mary almost missed her first visit to a lesbian bar which was tucked away on a side street in lower Manhattan.  It was 1972, the front windows of Gianni's were painted black and there were no markings, signs or address on the front door. Mary closed her eyes, knocked on the door, and waited. A latch to a little 4" long keyhole window slid open. The heavy door was unlatched and a bouncer dressed as Charlie Chaplin pulled Mary in quickly. The bartender informed Mary that in this bar "We order our drinks first, then look".

Ariel's 1980s where Giannis was originally located.

Ten years later at the same location is where I meet my first girlfriend. Now the bar is called Ariel's. It's on 19th Street between 6th and 7th Avenue. There is still dancing in the back room however they no longer ration the toilet paper as they did in Mary's time. Mary never figured that one out but she now realizes 'Charlie Chaplin' was probably more of a 'Sister George'.

The Killing of Sister George was a groundbreaking film and
one of the first films in history to be released with an 'X' rating in the US

The night I meet Sal, my two other friends drag me out of the bar before Sal and I exchange numbers. I call Ariel's bar later at 3:30am, slightly before closing time and describe what Sal looks like. She is still there. Sal gets on the phone, whispers a few special words (I will never tell) that wins my heart over immediately and I meet her the next day in front of Washington Square Park for our first date.

The Duchess, Seventh Avenue, West Village NYC

Bonnie & Clyde's 82 West 3rd Street, NYC

Is she for me?

Mary sheepishly told me that when her friends met someone at Gianni's or Cooky's which was on 14th Street, tradition was to take the woman to Bickford's for a late night snack in order to get a look at her in better lighting. Sounds horrible, right? But she said the bars were very very dark back then. Hopefully if you liked the woman she would say, "Call Me Later".

Happy New Year friends, visit LavenderPulp's Facebook page: 

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And the LavenderPulp bookstore for authentic vintage lesbian pulp novels.

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Lesbian Pulp goes back to the future

Hi All! lesbian pulp and the lavender universe must return temporarily to the future. Will see you in the Fall!