Foreword:

Welcome to Volume_2 of {B/qKC}. It would be remiss for me to begin this new era without saying thank you. Though I believe it is the inherent duty of any human being to understand the place and time they reside in, I am deeply touched by the many hands contributing to this communal archival project. I thank those who offered space, those who offered capital, those who offered affirmation, those who offered critique, those who offered love, and–above all–those Black queer Kansas Citians who believed so deeply in their liberation that we can, now, continue their work.

Since Volume_1’s completion earlier this Summer, I have been working intensely and intently on expanding {B/qKC}. The project initially grew from a frustration with the lack of Black queer spaces in Kansas City, and I, thus, saw a need to investigate the history of Black queer people in our city. Volume_1 was focused on “liberating” Black queer photos, documents and ephemera from local institutions that had no plans to widely publish the materials or make them digitally accessible.

Volume_2 and all forthcoming installments will be dedicated to building one of the world’s only Black queer archives.

Volume_2 launches with three collections from our local Black queer eldership, each telling its own story of Soakie’s: a Black gay bar that served as the birthplace for many of our local Black queer elders today.

There are many goals I hope to accomplish with {B/qKC}, but the project’s main tenets are to:

1) increase access to our Black, queer Kansas Citian histories, 

2) challenge local institutions and the concept of “ownership,” 

3) demonstrate precedence for future reparative efforts, and 

4) educate and imagine Black queer futures through community reflection of this historical research.

With bigoted legislation and representation that actively seeks to erase our knowledge and indoctrinate future generations, it is more important than ever to document our histories—not just as static stories but as didactic, interactive artifacts that educate, challenge, storytell, pay homage, repair, destroy, and build anew.

At its very core, aside from the archive’s historical content, I am using {B/qKC} to create new ways to engage with our City’s contentious past—in a way that doesn’t center worship of written word, paternalism, and objectivity (characteristics of “white supremacy culture” coined by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun). Instead, I want to challenge us to learn history through conversation and community, working in unconventional spaces, not just the white, sanitized institutional settings we are told to. 

Considering {B/qKC}’s historical content with the aforementioned objectives, the project grows beyond an archive, it is a tool for abolition: the project is dismantling the ways we traditionally engage with history, while paying homage to Black queer folk—literally, through dollars, and figuratively, through remembrance. And as I want this research to bring in subjectivity and analysis, {B/qKC} also examines what ways we’ve succeeded and what ways we’ve failed to keep Black queer folks safe—and what must be done moving forward so that these missteps won’t happen again (or, at the very least, are rectified). 

Volume 2 begins with Soakie’s. Outcast from their age’s existing spaces, Black queer Kansas Citians found solace in a Downtown Kansas City sandwich shop–converging at night for drinks, music, performances, and community. We learn how white people and capitalism ultimately led to both the creation and downfall of Soakie’s, and why there are currently no Black gay bars in Kansas City. 

This is a lesson in the enduring fight to divest from white capital and how physical space has contributed to Black liberation.

Acknowledgements

Most of the media in this article was collected and scanned, in collaboration with Zach Frazier of Astringent Press, from people’s personal collections—for that, and so much more, I would like to thank Zach for their aid. A digital database where this material can be viewed is currently being developed; it is, dually, how these materials have been cited for the time being. 

I would like to expressly thank Gary Carrington, Craig Lovingood and Starla Carr for being {B/qKC}’s inaugural archive donors. Not only have they been instrumental in developing this article, they have also shown me love and welcomed my presence with open arms.

I would also like to thank Jerry Colston, Eric Robinson, Baby Boi, and Korea Kelly for taking time to speak with me and being warm, loving advocates of Black queer Kansas City’s pasts, presents and futures.

I’d also like to thank Zharee Richards, DuJaun Kirk, and Julia Soondar for being grounding relationships outside of this project. I’d also like to thank my newfound brother, Christopher, for reminding me that family is everywhere.

And finally, I’d like to thank the Universe for her guidance and my canine child, Guapo.

Vol_2 of {B/qKC}: Soakie’s

The late Danny Cashmere—also known by house name, Drew Carrington—bartending at Soakie’s. The signs behind Danny read “Long Island Ice Tea’s..6.00 for one or 9.00 for two…SOLD HERE…” and “Cups of Ice 25¢.” (Photograph by Gary Carrington. Ca. 1994-2004. Licensed for use as part of Gary Carrington Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.)

“After everything is said and done, Soakies was home.” Baby Boi, 2023

In Kansas City circa July 2002, you could stumble upon one of a whopping 13 gay bars and clubs; 8 of these lived on Main Street—including Sidestreet and Sidekicks, names that some may be familiar with today (see Figure 1).

Lesser-known of that bunch is Soakie’s; the once “Famous for Sandwiches” spot operated by Italian mobsters was also one of Kansas City’s, and the world’s, few Black gay bars from 1994-2004.

Now there are only 8 gay bars in Kansas City, and a good chunk of these are plagued with accusations of racism, transphobia, femmephobia and lesbophobia.

Figure 1. A map of gay bars in Kansas City, created by weekly gay circular K.C. Exposures, published on July 14, 2002. 13 total bars are on the map. (Map by K.C. Exposures. “Nightlife City Map.” July 18, 2002. Digitized as part of the Gary Carrington Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.)

According to a 2019 study by Greggor Mattson¹, a professor of Sociology at Oberlin College, Mattons infers, based on the annual Damron guides, that LGBTQ+ bars have been on a steep decline since the 1980s (see Figure 2). From 2007 to 2019, LGBTQ+ bars as a whole declined by 36.6% while queer bars for people of color declined by nearly 60%.

In short, we are losing our safe spaces.

Figure 2. From Greggor Mattson’s “Are Gay Bars Closing? Using Business Listings to Infer Rates of Gay Bar Closure in the United States, 1977–2019”: “Gay bar listings in Damron guides at five-year intervals, 1977–2017 and 2019. Note: Change in total listings is disaggregated by bar patronage: men into radical sexual practices (cruisy/leather), lesbians, primarily people of color, mixed-gender socializing, mostly or only men.” 

There has recently been a shift in the neo-liberal sphere where, instead of using the term “safe spaces,” they express the need to be fostering “brave spaces.” The idea is that brave spaces honor discomfort and, thus, the expensing of emotional labor as a means for growth. While I get the sentiment, this is something that white people need to create for themselves, and in addition to the spaces Black queer people need exclusively for themselves. 

When night rolls around and people retire to friends and cocktails at their favorite places, where can Black queer Kansas Citians go and truly feel celebrated and safe?

The answer is nowhere—at least, not above ground.

And this is why it is so important to share the story of Soakie’s: a public beacon of kinship for Black queer Kansas Citians and the gay awakening for much of our Black queer eldership today.

Soakies: The Sandwich Bar 

First Photo: A picture of Soakie’s storefront posted on Reddit posted by user r/millerswiller on August 10, 2016. (Unknown, ca. 1994 – 2004.)² Second Photo: A photo of 13th and Main Street from 1999; an ad for Soakie’s can be seen on the side of the 1300 building along with Soakie’s itself. (Photograph by Dory DeAngelo, 1999. MAIN STREET. Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library.)³

Founded by Italian mobster Salvatore A. “Soakie” Rinaldo in 1962, Soakie’s initially started out as a local neighborhood dive bar at 1308 Main Street—roughly, where Yard House is located today.⁴ Though Rinaldo was notorious in Kansas City as part of the mob, not much else is known about his personal or family life due to general fear around mob culture.

Soakie’s functioned primarily as a packaged liquor and sandwich shop, recognizable by its sign’s slogan “Famous For Sandwiches;” the bar also cashed checks for those who didn’t have bank accounts or didn’t want the hassle of making an extra trip to the bank.⁵ According to an early 2000’s internet chat room, the sandwiches were delectable, and many downtown workers frequented there during their lunch time.⁶

The space was small, and functioned as a dive bar–it had no more than a few high top tables, a jukebox, a pool table, and a small upstairs area that would eventually turn into a dance floor that could house 50 people. It was housed right next to a parking garage and across from a parking lot.

But that didn’t stop the bar from becoming a popular hangout spot for Black queer Kansas Citians. Because of the jukebox and its proximity to another gay hotspot, Connections (now known to many as Sidekicks), many Black queer locals would go to Soakie’s to pregame.

Soakies: The Black Gay Bar

Patrons of Soakie’s, Brandon Holmes (left foreground) and Danny Cashmere (right foreground), along with others at the bar. (Photograph by Gary Carrington. Ca. 1994-2004. Licensed for use as part of Gary Carrington Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.)

Before local Black queers found community at Soakie’s in 1994, people had to make do with white gay clubs that weren’t receptive or welcoming to Black folks. 

White gay clubs are historically accused of having racial quotas and requiring multiple forms of identification from Black people to limit their numbers within the establishment; the famed Dixie Belle Bar (another gay bar in Kansas City) was one of these. Located on 1922-1924 Main Street, the bar would come under fire for its racist practices, including the display of a Confederate Flag–prompting a local, interracial gay organizing group to condemn their actions.⁷

Jerry Colston, a prominent figure in Soakie’s rebirth as a nightclub, recounts his experience there in the 1990s:

“A couple people used to tell me, ‘Why you go down there, don’t you know that they don’t care about you?’ Where else am I gonna go? Your house? I mean, you know, where else am I supposed to go?

We don’t have nowhere to go.”⁸

It was this same sentiment that would lead Colston and his good friend Eric Robinson to pitch a new idea to Salvatore A. Rinaldo to transform his sandwich bar into a nightclub.

That Fateful Meeting

According to Colston and Robinson, Rinaldo was getting ready to close his shop around the same time Soakie’s was becoming a pregame spot for Black queer people in the ‘90s. The three of them had established a friendly rapport in light of this. In fact, Robinson notes that Rinaldo treated him and the community with kindness and was extremely supportive.

Over the course of a few months, as Rinaldo spoke of hardship with the bar, Colston and Robinson pitched various ideas that eventually led them to propose a full business plan—Soakie’s could turn into a nightclub on weekends.

Rinaldo approved, but would not invest in the concept. So, Colston and Robinson began funding the club’s necessities from scratch—adding things like a DJ booth (and the equipment needed for it) and stretching the club’s tight space by using a curtain that extended to the entrance of the next-door parking garage. They’d also paint the front of Soakie’s in its signature white and blue colors.

From there, the duo marketed the new club through word-of-mouth and by hustling flyers. They already had their names out in the community, which helped draw in big crowds.

The first night of the club’s opening, there was a line wrapped around the block.

Views of Soakie’s Interior

Click on images to expand them and view without captioning.

A birthplace for Black queer identity

First Photo: Treshawn Seymour is crowned Miss Soakie’s 2002. (Photograph by Gary Carrington. 2002. Licensed for use as part of Gary Carrington Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.) Second Photo: Treshawn Seymour performing at Soakie’s. (Photograph by Gary Carrington. Ca. 1994-2004. Licensed for use as part of Gary Carrington Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.)

From then on, the Black gay nightclub would open Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Though primarily a club, where Soakie’s truly shined were in its performers.

Because Soakie’s was so intensely tied to Kansas City’s underground ballroom scene, it became host to a multitude of entertainers and different events: competitions, pageants, birthdays and more. This also meant more people became involved with managing the bar and its events—namely Tisha Taylor and Gary Carrington, a local Black drag queen and performer/emcee, respectively, and both legends in their own right.

One of Soakie’s most noteworthy events, covered in several editions of KC Exposures, a former, local LGBTQIA2S+ weekly publication of the period, was “Mr. and Miss Soakies.” The event was a summer pageant competition to crown the eponymous king and queen of the bar. The competition was based on evening wear, talent and an interview—similar to a beauty competition. Winners would receive a trophy, plaque, sash, flowers and a cash prize.

Other noteworthy competitions included:

• The Lords & Ladies Pageant: a pageant for Black masc (‘Lords’) and femme (‘Ladies’) lesbians
• Mr. & Miss Black Gay Pride: a pageant coinciding with Kansas City’s annual Black Pride in August

When the bar began declining around the early 00s, Tisha Taylor created “Taylor Time”: a raffling event on Sundays where folks could buy a drink and enter into a drawing for a multitude of prizes—one time even including a car.⁹ Tisha notes that it drew in straight crowds and critical funding for the bar. And as a rule instituted by Tisha, folks would have to exclaim “Right here, honey!” to claim their prize if their number was called.

Although Soakie’s was brimming with Black queer joy, members note that the bar wasn’t free of controversy. Gary Carrington chronicles how Soakie’s value as a safe space was threatened:

“We got a lot of pushback when we first started growing. We got a lot of ‘spies’ who would pop-up and come in. They’d order a drink, not finish it, and then leave.”

A lot of vitriol also came as a result of John Koop, known by their drag name Flo, who was the creator of Show Me Pride, LLC—a business that began running Kansas City’s annual Pride in 2003, shifting the parade from a protest to a capitalist spectacle. Flo was expressly named as a racist by a multitude of Black LGBTQIA2S+ Kansas Citians during my research; she would commonly discourage people from attending Soakie’s by using the bar as a punchline during her shows at Missie B’s. 

The Soakie’s staff, however, was extremely protective of attendees at the bar—Starla Carr, a founder of Kansas City’s drag king circuit in the 2000s, mentions how, although it has become a running joke now, a baseball bat was kept underneath the bar at all times. Starla also recognized that aside from being a patron and performer, she was also a gatekeeper.

* More about John Koop and their history of racism can be read in “The Unseen Struggles: Erasure and Racial Inequities in Kansas City’s Queer Community,” originally published in the Urban League of Greater Kansas City’s 2023 State of Black Kansas City report.

(L-R) A volunteer and John Koop at an unknown year of Kansas City’s Pride Parade. (Photograph by Starla Carr. Ca. 1994-2004. Licensed for use as part of the Starla Carr Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.)

Parkin’ Lot Pimpin^†

Historic photos of Soakie’s from 1981 and 1994, respectively. (Pinald/Norris. 1306-10 Main St Photo 1994. May 1994. Kansas City Historic Preservation Office. KANSAS CITY HISTORIC RESOURCES SURVEY FORM. )

Famously referenced by local Black queers, one of the most critical components of Soakie’s existed outside the bar.

Across 1308 Main Street was a large parking lot that became a hangout spot for Black queer people. Audiences in the lot differed: Korea Kelly (a local legend), Starla Carr and DJ Baby Boi speak about it being an entrypoint into learning more about their identities, as they were all too young to enter the bar at the time. It was a spot for after hours hangouts and people who couldn’t afford cover charges. People even walked pageants and competitions in the lot. To an extent, it became a destination as much as Soakie’s itself.

This would become an issue, though, as it drew away from the capital Soakie’s owners were receiving, and was also the source of a lot of violence.

 ^† There are currently no photos available in the public domain, or as donated to {B/qKC}, that capture festivities in the parking lot across from Soakie’s. More research and an article solely dedicated to this famous parking lot will be pursued in 2024.

If you are in possession of any relevant photographs or material and would like to contribute to this article (and archive, overall) please contact Nasir Montalvo at nasir@kansascitydefender.com.

The People of Soakie’s

In my interviews with a long list of Black queer people who used to attend Soakie’s, they unanimously noted that Soakie’s was the birthplace of their fully-formed identities—a place where they first embodied their queerness.

Below are a few Black Kansas Citians who were involved with Soakie’s in some way—including those who have graciously donated to the inaugural digital collections of {B/qKC}.

Baby Boi | Performer, DJ

Known to Kansas Citians today as a popular local DJ, Baby Boi’s first encounter with Soakie’s was also a pivotal moment in discovering their community.

Baby Boi recounts their teenage years, when they saw Soakie’s for the first time:

“A couple, you know, friends and I, we went to a haunted house.^‡ And of course, we’re looking across the street, and we’re like, what’s up with that place? Because on the sign, you see ‘Famous for Sandwiches’ (laughs); but you see certain individuals walk in and they look a little different from so-called “everyday people.” I wasn’t old enough to really comprehend it.

When I got a little older, my friends and I would tell our parents we were going out to so-and-so’s house, but really we would all sit in the parking lot across from Soakie’s and look in awe.”

It wouldn’t be that long before Baby Boi became part of the view. Baby Boi would be adopted into Kansas City’s Ballroom scene, and perform at Soakie’s under the pseudonym “Baby Beauty” of the House of Beauty.^§ Later on, Baby Boi would join the House of Carrington, where their role expanded into hosting shows and segments as well.

To my surprise, Baby Boi’s DJing career didn’t officially start until 2017—and it seems a perfect continuation from performing for, as Baby Boi puts it, “if [they] can give people a good time or experience, let’s do it.”

^‡ Baby Boi references the late-haunted house, Main Street Morgue: located on 1325 Main Street from the 1970s to the early 00s. The business was shut down as part of the Power & Light Development.

^§ Descriptions of Kansas City’s Ballrooms Scene are purposely meant to be ambiguous as to protect a well kept tradition of Kansas City’s Black queer community.

Starla Carr | Drag King
Donor of the “Starla Carr Collection” to {B/qKC}

Starla Carr poses for a photo inside of her home. (ca. 1999 – 2004. Licensed for use as part of the Starla Carr Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.)

Starla Carr’s “Queer Club Culture in 1990s Kansas City: A Chance Encounter with Soakies,” featured in the Hip Hop Dance Almanac, was a foundational piece for me in beginning this research project.

And just as she was foundational for me now, Starla has been a pivotal force in developing Kansas City’s drag king circuit over the past 30 years. Known under the performing name “MT” (and performing alongside Baby Boi on numerous occasions), Starla recounts her experience as a performer:

“Our male drag group was called the Kings of KC. The connections I made at Soakie’s extended farther than just performing at the club, and I started to meet male drag artists all over Kansas City. Our Drag King group practiced routines in my living room preparing for shows, and one of my favorite memories is when we decided to perform a song by the Black Eyed Peas remixed with ‘Love Shack’ by The B-52’s. It was stupid hot that summer, and we were wearing afro wigs for the first part of the performance, switching costumes when the song flipped […] We transformed ourselves into our favorite rap artists and RnB singers. I still remember using spirit gum and weave clippings to make a fake little mustache for my performance as LL Cool J. 

[…]

Soakie’s had balls, too, much like those of the Harlem Renaissance era, and that’s when we’d bring out the best performances. You were guaranteed to find top shelf entertainment, dance routines worked on for months and the newest music. As a member of the entertainers there, my eyes were opened to how society treated us outside the safety of our club, so I became a gatekeeper, making sure the place remained safe and it’s a responsibility I don’t take lightly.”

Outside of performing at Soakie’s herself, Starla helped other entertainers by designing their costumes and choreographing their performances. 

Above all, though, Starla has been an instrumental support system for those around her. Starla recounted stories about marrying one of her male best friends so he could keep his visa and holding space for gender non-conforming individuals who didn’t fit within binary systems at Soakie’s (and elsewhere).

It is with great honor that I welcome her collection to {B/qKC}.

The “Starla Carr Collection” is one of the inaugural collections digitized and donated to {B/qKC}. The Starla Carr Collection consists of various photos from Carr’s time as a seamstress, performer and go-er of Soakies in the early 2000s. 

Audiences will be able to view the entire Starla Carr Collection through {B/qKC}’s digital archival database later in 2024. Learn more here. >

Top Left: Nasir Anthony Montalvo, left, and Starla, right, during a private interview. (October 25th, 2023. Starla Carr Collection.)

Bottom Left: Starla Carr poses for a photo in front of the jukebox at Soakie’s. (ca. 2000-2004. Licensed for use as part of the Starla Carr Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.).

Bottom Right: Starla Carr poses for a photo in front of her car. (ca. 1999 – 2004. Licensed for use as part of the Starla Carr Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.)

Tisha Taylor | Drag Queen, Emcee
Donor of the “Tisha Taylor Collection” to {B/qKC}

A photo of Tisha Taylor (center) printed in K.C. Exposures as part of Tisha Taylor’s Birthday Bash in 2004. On either side are the succeeding owners of Soakie’s (who are dually Salvatore’s nephew and niece-in-law): Jimmy (left) and Sue (right). (Photo by Chuck Tackett. “Tisha Taylor’s Birthday Bash,” KC Exposures. April 29, 2004. Digitized as part of the Gary Carrington Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.)

Tisha Taylor was an instrumental part in managing and ensuring Soakie’s success. Originally a “front-door girl,” or greeter, for the bar, Taylor’s role would expand after Jerry Colston was victim of a stabbing around the first year of Soakie’s opening. During his recovery, Taylor managed the bar: developing different events and entertainment and bringing in famous talent—such as porn star Bobby Blake one New Year’s Eve.

Taylor reflects on a New Year’s Eve 2000 party—one of her favorite memories from Soakie’s—below:

“Our New Year’s Eve parties were eventful. Those, and then my birthday party as well, which were fun. I had birthday parties where I had cakes with fountains and bridges…they looked like wedding cakes. And people would come in and say, ‘Who’s getting married?’ (laughs)

But there was one New Year’s Eve party we were all scared because, you know, we were always told that in the year 2000 the lights were going to go out. The world was gonna end.

And we all fed into that. So we all came together and did the countdown that year. And before the end of it, we said, well, you know, we don’t know what’s going on, but we’re glad we’re together. 

So, all of us that hung out together, all of us, were in that one spot.“

Outside of Soakie’s, Taylor has made a huge impact on the local Black LGBTQ+ scene, winning Miss Gay Kansas City America in 1995 and founding Kansas City’s annual Black Pride in 1999.

It is with great honor that I welcome her collection to {B/qKC}.

The “Tisha Taylor Collection” is one of the inaugural collections digitized and donated to {B/qKC}. The Tisha Taylor Collection consists of various photos from Taylor’s time at Soakie’s and Kansas City’s Black Pride in 1999. 

Audiences will be able to view the entire Tisha Taylor Collection through {B/qKC}’s digital archival database later in 2024. Learn more here. >

Top Left: Tisha Taylor and Jerry Colston at Kansas City’s inaugural Black Gay Pride in 1999. (ca. Sept. 3-5, 1999. Tisha Taylor’s Facebook.)

Bottom Left: Tisha Taylor as Miss Gay Kansas City America 2005. (ca. 2005. Tisha Taylor’s Facebook.)

Bottom Right: Professional shot of Tisha Taylor. (ca. 1999 – 2004. Tisha Taylor’s Facebook.)

Gary Carrington | Emcee, Performer
Donor of the “Gary Carrington Collection” to {B/qKC}

Gary Carrington, left, poses alongside Nikita Carrington, right inside a photo booth at the Bannister Mall. ([Photograph of Gary Carrington and Orlando]. Ca. 1994-2004. Digitized as part of the Gary Carrington Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.)

Gary Carrington, alongside Tisha Taylor, was instrumental in helping manage the bar. Carrington initially started out as security, checking ID’s at the door, but his role expanded during Jerry’s recovery. Taylor credits Carrington with creating the Mr. and Miss Soakie’s Pageant–and specifically creating a culture that allowed men to compete in pageant competitions similar to their drag queen counterparts. 

Carrington was also one of the first men to entertain in the bar through emceeing Soakie’s competitions, though his introduction to the task was accidental. When Tisha Taylor changed costumes, she would task Carrington with entertaining the crowd. But he became enamored with the act:

“It’s a bar full of people, listening to my every word while I hold the microphone. I loved it.”

Taylor, who still texts Carrington every morning to check on him, had this to say:

“Gary was one of the first ones that started entertaining as far as emceeing. I was originally emcee, and then Gary started taking over as emcee.

And I always, you know, I pat myself on the back for Gary all the time because he was a product of me. (laughs)

But, Gary is himself. Gary is original. If I were to have something, he would be the first one I would call to emcee that because he’s very entertaining. I don’t even want to stand up next to him anymore. He puts me to shame. I go back to those days often.”

Similar to Taylor’s sentiments, Carrington was not only instrumental in providing the photos and ephemera to make this article possible but a powerful link to other Black LGBTQ+ folks who used to attend Soakie’s.

It is with great honor that I welcome his collection to {B/qKC}.

The “Gary Carrington Collection” is one of the inaugural collections digitized and donated to {B/qKC}. The Gary Carrington Collection consists of various photos from Carrington’s time at Soakie’s, as well as clippings from KC Exposures. 

Audiences will be able to view the entire Gary Carrington Collection through {B/qKC}’s digital archival database later in 2024. Learn more here. >

Top Left: Gary Carrington poses for a photo at the Snooty Fox, a former “after-hours” spot in Kansas City. (ca. 1994 – 2004. Licensed for use as part of the Gary Carrington Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.)

Bottom Left: Gary Carrington emcees for a show at Soakie’s. His nametag reads “Promoter.” (ca. 1999-2004. Licensed for use as part of the Gary Carrington Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender).

Bottom Right: Gary Carrington performing at Soakie’s. (ca. 1999-2004. Licensed for use as part of the Gary Carrington Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender).

Closing Shift: Gentrification of Downtown Kansas City

Starla Carr’s friend, and a winner of Glamour’s Lifestyles of Lord and Ladies 2003 Pageant, Bad Ass Yellow Boy. (Photograph by Starla Carr. 2003. Licensed for use as part of the Starla Carr Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.)

Much of the reason Soakie’s no longer exists today was outside the control of its Black audience.

Around 2002, founder Salvatore Rinaldo died under mysterious circumstances—ruled a suicide, officially, by carbon monoxide poisoning. 

After Rinaldo’s death, his nephew and niece, Jimmy and Sue, took over the bar, which led to a temporary break in Soakie’s as a nightclub. 

Although they were successful in keeping the bar afloat, they faced a new challenge with the downtown Kansas City Power & Light (P&L) development project beginning in 2004–headed by the Cordish Company, an out-of-state, privately-held development organization responsible for the $850 million dollar development project. Cordish Company is responsible for the third- and fourth-wave gentrification that pushed out Black and low-income people to make way for P&L as we know it today.¹⁰ This is also not the first time Cordish Companies has come under fire from the local queer community, having been met with protests in 2008 when Show Me Pride, LLC (the for-profit organization that commodified pride, created by the aforementioned John Koop) moved the annual Pride parade to P&L.¹¹

Photo from a protest at Power & Light in 2010. The protest, according to a local blog, was meant to expose Power & Light’s financial corruption and their hosting of Pride that year as nothing more than rainbow capitalism. (The Prideful Pony. “Big Gay Scandals: Pride and Its High Dollar Pony.” Queer Kansas City, June 22, 2010.)

According to several interviewees, the City of Kansas City had initially offered to buy out Soakie’s, but Jimmy and Sue refused their offer in hopes they would come back with something larger. To their dismay, however, the City expounded on Jimmy’s criminal background and served Jimmy an eviction notice after he was caught serving alcohol—unknowingly to Tisha Taylor.¹²

The night before the bar closed, a Sunday, there was one last large party. Around 9:00am later that day, Jimmy called Taylor and informed her the bar had been shut down, and he had already liquidated most of its belongings—thus, ending the sandwich bar and Black gay safehaven.

Conclusion

The LGBTQ+ community is suffering from a decline in Black gay bars and dedicated spaces for queer people of color. Though a bar may seem insignificant to some, Soakie’s demonstrates that the bar was more than just a place to have a drink. It was a nexus point. It was where people began to fully realize their identity. And, towards the end, it became a piece of political and economic organizing power against a development company. 

Next year marks 30 years since Soakie’s was founded, and 20 years since it was shut down. I only pray that it does not take decades to build a Black queer sanctuary once again.

A group of attendees and performers pose outside of Soakie’s and its sign.

• Top Row (L-R): Nykizha Iman, Tracy Carrington, Tremaine Scott, Nikita Carrington, Mocha Collins, Dovee Love
• Middle Row: (L-R): Destiny Luv, China Collins, Treshawn Seymour, Lord Biskitt Carrington
• Crouchers (Top to Bottom): Precious Seymour, Lady Kiesha, Lester
• Photograph by Gary Carrington. Ca. 1994-2004. Licensed for use as part of Gary Carrington Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.)

Additional Photos

“Glamour’s Lifestyles of Lord and Ladies 2003” Pageant
(hosted at Soakie’s)

All of the following photographs were captured by Starla Carr in 2003.
Licensed for use as part of the Starla Carr Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.

“Mr. and Miss Black Gay Pride 2003”
(hosted at Soakie’s)

All of the following photographs were captured by Starla Carr in 2003.
Licensed for use as part of the Starla Carr Collection of {B/qKC}, The Kansas City Defender.

Footnotes

1. Greggor Mattson. “Are Gay Bars Closing? Using Business Listings to Infer Rates of Gay Bar Closure in the United States, 1977–2019.” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World 5 (December 2019): 237802311989483. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023119894832. ︎
2. millerswiller. “Yup. Do you remember this nearby bar/’restaurant.’ Reddit. August, 10, 2016. https://www.reddit.com/r/kansascity/comments/4x0ze1/comment/d6byps2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 ︎
3. Dory DeAngelo. MAIN STREET. 1999. Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, MO. https://kchistory.org/image/main-street-7?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=4124fac5de772c67db87&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=0. ︎
4. David W. Jackson. “Kansas City’s LGBTQIA Bar Census.” Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America, LaBudde Special Collections, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2016. ︎
5. Craig Lovingood (also known as Drag Queen Tisha Taylor), in a private interview about Soakie’s, Kansas City, MO, 2023. ︎
6. bahua. “Closed Bars and Restaurants.” Web log. KCRag Forum (blog). phpBB Forum Software, January 23, 2003. https://kcrag.com/viewtopic.php?t=10070&start=60. ︎
7. Nasir A. Montalvo. “Men of All Colors Together: Fighting Racism amidst Gay Men in the 80’s.” Kansas City Defender, July 28, 2023. https://kansascitydefender.com/lgbtqia2/men-of-all-colors-together/. ︎
8. Jerry Colston and Eric Robinson (founders of Soakie’s as a Black gay bar), in a private interview about Soakie’s, Kansas City, MO, 2023. ︎
9. Lovingood, interview. ︎
10. Amy Thompson, “GENTRIFICATION THROUGH THE EYES (AND LENSES) OF KANSAS CITY RESIDENTS ,” University of Missouri (dissertation, 2011), https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/14577/research.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y. ︎
11. The Prideful Pony. “Big Gay Scandals: Pride and its High Dollar Pony.” Queer Kansas City (blog), June 22, 2010. https://queerkc.wordpress.com/category/big-gay-scandals/. ︎
12. It is unclear whether Jimmy was convicted of a violent or non-violent criminal offense; Kansas City has had specific restrictions and jurisdictions around the handling of alcohol if a convicted felon.
    Small, Karra. “New Kansas City Ordinance Allows Some Ex-Felons to Serve Liquor More Easily.” FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports, December 7, 2018. https://fox4kc.com/news/new-kc-city-council-ordinance-allows-some-ex-felons-to-serve-liquor-more-easily/. ︎

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