CLEVELAND — One hotel is embracing and sharing more of its history, as the former location of one of Cleveland’s first gay-friendly bars.
What You Need To Know
- The Kimpton Schofield now occupies the building, and the staff is trying to educate people more about the location
- The hotel is starting with a Pride-themed concierge cocktail for Pride Month, donating some of the proceeds to the Trevor Project
- Some historians believe there’s difficulty in learning about LGBTQ history here in Ohio, because many kept their sexuality secret out of fears of discrimination
Jordan Nye had only been on the job at the Kimpton Schofield Hotel for a couple of months when he did some digging into the building’s past.
“I stumbled across just a picture, just a really graining picture from the 60s that said ‘Cadillac Lounge,’” said Nye.
The Cadillac Lounge was one of Cleveland’s first gay-friendly bars, and it happened to be located in the Schofield Building.
“It’s pretty eye opening because you look at a building and so many restaurants can occupy spaces and it looks beautiful, but you never really know the significance that played in people’s lives living here in Cleveland,” said Nye.
Nye and the Schofield staff decided it was time to show off that story, starting with a Pride-themed concierge cocktail for Pride Month, donating some of the proceeds to the Trevor Project, which helps with suicide prevention for LGBTQ teenagers.
The Nye, the director of sales and marketing, said it’s vital for the building to embrace its history.
“I think it’s imperative, when we’re occupying this beautiful space and really taking this building back in 2016 and bringing it back to its roots when it was opened in 1902, I think preserving that additional history of it a lot of fun for us,” said Nye.
Nye also called upon Cleveland historian John Grabowski to learn more about the lounge.
Grabowski edits the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, and has worked with the Western Reserve Historical Society to educate people about the lounge.
He said much of Cleveland’s LGBTQ history is hard to dig up, because many weren’t open about their sexuality out of fear.
“I think it’s critical to remember parts of history like this because these are parts of history that some people don’t want to acknowledge ever happened,” said Grabowski. “But if we don’t preserve that which relates to a lived experience that was actual, there will be forces that will tell us that that experience was never there, that it was invented later.”
But Nye hopes to bring more of the Cadillac Lounge to life in the future to educate and promote equality.
“If we can make it happen,” said Nye. “I’d love for people just to look back at this building and see it for what it was then, a different time, but take them back in history a little bit to what this was and what this meant to a lot of people.”
What was once a place where people could safely be themselves, remains that way today.
