From NOLA.com:
Whoever said good booze and good times wasn't healthy hadn't met Yvonne “Miss Dixie” Fasnacht, the quirky, plain-talking, and fun-loving lesbian owner of two infamous New Orleans gay bars. When Fasnacht died last Sunday, in her Metairie, Louisiana home, she was 101.Why call Miss Dixie's bars 'infamous'? That is wrong. 'Famous' would have done nicely. Miss Dixie did not allow hanky-panky. She ran classy bars.
Dixie’s Bar of Music became a place where LGBT folks mingled comfortably with luminaries like Helen Hayes, Danny Kaye, Walter Cronkite, and more than one congressman, long before coming out of the closet was considered an option. According to NOLA.com, Dixie's was opened on St. Charles Ave. in the Central Business District in 1939. A decade later she moved it to Bourbon Street in the French Quarter.
....
Despite that lofty reputation, “it was a gay bar,” said Frank Gagnard, a former Times-Picayune critic, who was a customer.
“It was more a social center than it was a pickup bar,” he said. “It was where gay people went to meet friends. Miss Dixie didn’t allow any hanky-panky at all.”
The bar got its name because Ms. Fasnacht, a lifelong New Orleanian, was a musician who played the saxophone and clarinet and pounded the tambourine.I read a whole, long piece on Miss Dixie several weeks ago, but I can't remember where, and I have not been able to find a link online.
In her youth, she joined a local group called the Harmony Maids. When the Smart Set, an all-girl band, came to town and the saxophone player left, Ms. Fasnacht filled in.
The band later called her to join the musicians in Pittsburgh, where, Ms. Fasnacht said in a 1996 interview, she saw snow for the first time.
Because that bowled her over, one of the musicians said, “We’re not calling you Yvonne anymore. We’re calling you Dixie,” Ms. Fasnacht said in the interview. “Anyhoo, I’ve been Dixie ever since.”
Miss Dixie was a fixture, a character, one of many who would have been labeled eccentric in many places, but she blended in easily with the great diversity which is New Orleans.
Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant Yvonne. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive her into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.Picture from the Advocate.
Grant, O Lord, to all who are bereaved the spirit of faith and courage, that they may have strength to meet the days to come with steadfastness and patience; not sorrowing as those without hope, but in thankful remembrance of your great goodness, and in the joyful expectation of eternal life with those they love. And this we ask in the Name of Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Thanks to David@Montreal and Doug for sending links to the story.
Dixie’s Bar of Music became a place where LGBT folks mingled comfortably with luminaries like Helen Hayes, Danny Kaye, Walter Cronkite, and more than one congressman, long before coming out of the closet was considered an option.
ReplyDeleteWaitaminnit, are those listed all supposed to have been GAY??? :-0 [I knew about Danny Kaye, but Helen Hayes and Walter "Most Trusted Man in America" Cronkite???]
May Miss Dixie rest in peace---but I doubt she'd like TOO much peace! ;-)
No, no, no, JCF. One did not need to pass a gay test to get into the bar. It was THE place to go for celebs who were in the know.
ReplyDeleteI hesitated over the peace, too. Perhaps Miss Dixie is in a place of lively and rather noisy peace.
May Miss Dixie play clarinet, saxophone and tambourine forever. She sounds beyond cool.
ReplyDeleteCathy, I think your wish for Miss Dixie would suit her to a T.
ReplyDelete