The Blue Moon

[pynchonoid]

[...] The Blue Moon opened its doors April 15, 1934.
Then, post-Prohibition drinking laws prohibited bars
and taverns from locating within one mile of a college
campus.

The Blue Moon, current owner Gus Hellthaler says, was
built on 45th Street exactly one mile from the center
of the University of Washington campus.

Almost immediately, it distinguished itself as a bar
that eagerly bucked convention. During World War II,
it became the only U District tavern that served black
servicemen.

This spirit, in turn, attracted the city's political
left, the beats, offbeats and local literati, such as
professor and poet Theodore Roethke, poets Carolyn
Kizer and Nelson Bentley and writer Tom Robbins.

Allen Ginsberg is said to have both drunk and
contributed to the bathroom graffiti here. Same for
writer Thomas Pynchon.

The Blue Moon also became a meeting place for the
radical left wing in the 1960s and 1970s. Longtime
Moonies have said members of the Weather Underground
drank here along with the Seattle Eight. (This
prompted local FBI agents to become regulars as well.)
[...] 

from:
Friday, April 2, 2004
Diving Lessons: A hangout for the literati and
lowlifes turns 70
By MIKE LEWIS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

EDITOR'S NOTE: "Diving Lessons" is an occasional
column about Seattle's bar culture.



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