Location of Finoccio's

This was, for 63 years, the site of Finocchio's, the iconic birthplace of drag.
Joe Finocchio^{1The similarity of his name to an Italian slur is, as far as I can tell, is a coincidence}, the owner, had a eureka moment in 1936 when a drunk patron climbed on stage to do a female impersonation and created the first club in United States "where all the most beautiful women were men". It hosted world-class performers including Walter Hart, Ray Bourbon, Lucian Phelps, and Aleshia Brevard, who wrote about Finocchio's in her memoir "The Woman I Was Not Born To Be: A Transsexual Journey".

Performers, many of whom were transsexual, were billed as "impersonators" and "comedians", which helped protect them from police interest.

Finocchio's attracted a large desegregated audience only a few of whom came for the prostitution^{2As Finocchio's became more and more popular under the stewardship of Joe's wives, first Marjorie and then Eve, prostitution decreased}.
Among those who definitely came for the art were Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Bob Hope, Tallulah Bankhead, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Lena Horne, Joan Crawford, Barbra Streisand, Mae West, Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minnelli, Cher, and Bette Midler.
Harry Hay was a regular, Howard Hughes met one of his long-term boyfriends here, and Erroll Flynn and David Niven met a few very-short-term ones.
^{1The similarity of his name to an Italian slur is, as far as I can tell, is a coincidence}The similarity of his name to an Italian slur is, as far as I can tell, is a coincidence
^{2As Finocchio's became more and more popular under the stewardship of Joe's wives, first Marjorie and then Eve, prostitution decreased}As Finocchio's became more and more popular under the stewardship of Joe's wives, first Marjorie and then Eve, prostitution decreased