LAVENDER LANDMARKS IN EUGENE, OREGON: 
DESIGNING CREATIVE PLACEMAKING PROGRAMS  
FOR QUEER HISTORY  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
by 
SHAYNA MELTZER 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A THESIS 
 
Presented to the Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management 
and the Robert D. Clark Honors College  
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of  
Bachelor of Arts 
 
May 2024 
 
 
 
An Abstract of the Thesis of 
Shayna Meltzer for the degree of Bachelor of Arts 
in the Department of Planning Public Policy and Management to be taken June 2024 
 
 
Title:  Lavender Landmarks in Eugene, Oregon: Designing Creative Placemaking Programs  
for Queer History 
 
 
Approved:   Eleonora Redaelli, Ph.D.   
              Primary Thesis Advisor 
 
Preservation efforts are a way to memorialize history in place, but the history of 
marginalized communities is largely unrecognized. Queer spaces are sites that hold historical 
significance or meaning to members of the LGBTQ+ community but are rarely recognized. 
Queer spaces are considered mobile (Chisholm, 2004) and seen as a transgression because it 
reflects actively living in opposition to the social norms, or dominant power, of spaces (Oswin, 
2008). Creative placemaking is an urban planning practice that “engage[s] arts and culture to 
beautify and revitalize public space” (Loh et al., 2022, p.1). This paper seeks to determine how 
creative placemaking might be used as a tool to memorialize and preserve queer space. Utilizing 
local sources recognizing Eugene, Oregon’s significant queer history in the late 20th century, I 
developed and executed a creative placemaking program called the Eugene Queer History 
Walking Tour. I found that there is a demonstrated community interest in preserving Eugene’s 
queer history in the place it occurred, but I question how to connect the community to the 
historic narrative and memory of a place from a plaque. In this paper, I demonstrate how creative 
placemaking is an effective method of memorializing queer spaces by focusing on local 
communities, incorporating the narrative and cultural elements of a space beyond a designation, 
and moving beyond normative preservation practices to recognize queer space. 
 
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Acknowledgements 
I would like to first thank my committee. My primary thesis advisor, PPPM Professor 
Eleonora Redaelli worked tirelessly with me on this body of work. Thank you for strengthening 
my writing ability in many ways, challenging me with thought provoking questions, and 
providing me with the support and encouragement I needed to organize my Walking Tour. My 
secondary reader, WGSS Associate Professor Judith Raiskin, was my professor freshman year 
and truly impacted the trajectory of my college experience. Professor Raiskin’s project, the 
source of this thesis, is an incredible inspiration. Thank you to my Clark Honors College Faculty 
Representative, Professor Wolverton, for engaging with the content, and helping me through this 
process. I would also like to thank the CHC Undergraduate Student Support Manager, Miriam 
Jordan, for aiding at all steps along the way and printing 100 brochures for my pilot project!  
Next, I would like to thank my friends and family for their endless support and 
encouragement, without which this thesis would not exist. Thank you for the late-night phone 
calls and providing necessary reprieves from long hours of work. 
Finally, I want to thank my High School AP English Language teacher, Donna Fallon. 
Ms. Fallon was my greatest advocate in high school. She pushed me to be my best, always 
believed in me and challenged my writing. Ms. Fallon was one of the first to cheer me on when I 
chose the University of Oregon. Ms. Fallon passed away over three years ago and the 
immeasurable loss is felt strongly by all she impacted. 
 
 
 
 
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Table of Contents 
Chapter One: Introduction 7 
Chapter Two: Literature Review 10 
Creative Placemaking 10 
Development of Creative Placemaking 10 
The Role of the Federal Government 11 
The Role of the Artist 11 
Process and Evaluation 12 
The ‘Placetaking’ Critique 13 
Museum and Public Space 14 
The History of the Museum 14 
The Connection Between Museum and Urban Space 15 
Queer Space 17 
Queer Theory 17 
Definition of Queer Space 18 
History of the Queer City 19 
Considering LGBTQIA+ Communities in Urban Planning 20 
Preserving Queer Space 21 
Research Question 21 
Chapter Three: Case Study 23 
Eugene, Oregon 23 
Historic Significance of a ‘Lesbian Mecca’ 24 
Chapter Four: Methodology 29 
Design 29 
Blandy and Congdon’s Cultural Program Model 29 
The Program Development Cycle 30 
Assessment 31 
NEA Grant Program’s Our Town Framework 31 
Sources 33 
The Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project 34 
City of Eugene Preliminary LGBTQIA+ Space Context Report 35 
Chapter Five: Eugene Queer History Walking Tour 37 
Program Design 37 
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Participant Feedback 42 
Program Assessment 45 
Local Needs 45 
Vision 46 
Partnership 47 
Anticipated Impacts 49 
Unexpected Impacts 50 
Chapter Six: Conclusion 52 
Preserving Queer Spaces: The Case of Eugene Oregon 53 
Memorializing Queer Space through Creative Placemaking 54 
Appendix 56 
The Eugene Queer History Walking Tour Script 56 
Bibliography 66 
Supporting Materials  
Brochure: The Eugene Queer History Walking Tour 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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List of Figures  
Figure One: Our Town’s Logic Model 32 
Figure Two: Outliers and Outlaws: Stories from the Eugene Lesbian History Project. 35 
Figure Three: “Mapping Lesbian Eugene” by Molly McBride 39 
Figure Four: Eugene Queer History Walking Tour Sites Map 40 
Figure Five: Event Flyer 40 
Figure Six: Feedback Form 42 
Figure Seven: Survey Responses for Feedback Form Question 1 43 
Figure Eight: Survey Response for Feedback Form Question 2 44 
 
 
 
 
 
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Chapter One: Introduction 
Around the world, spaces that are memorialized for their historical significance are 
highly trafficked sites for tourism and cultural industries. People travel to visit sites and 
monuments highlighting historic events - from Stonehenge in England to the Statue of Liberty in 
New York to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. However, world heritage sites are not the only places in 
which important history resides. Public space is a landscape filled with the stories of the history 
and culture that makes up a place. City spaces, the public space people interact with every day, 
hold their own significant histories - even if they are not memorialized. Typically, the groups 
that have held dominant power throughout history are highlighted or recognized, whereas 
marginalized communities do not have the same recognition in the urban landscape.  
Local communities are looking for ways to recognize and memorialize history that is not 
widely recognized by platforming historically marginalized communities.  The LGBTQ+, or 
queer, community has a fascinating connection to public spaces. Throughout history, queer 
identities have been labelled as ‘other’ or outside the norm, and their occupation of public space 
has also been nonconforming. Queer space is recognized as a radical occupation of public space, 
a transgression against the dominant narratives of a space (Oswin, 2008). There is a gap in the 
literature regarding how queer spaces can be preserved while recognizing its opposition to 
typical place structures. One field of urban planning, creative placemaking, may be positioned to 
properly acknowledge and memorialize queer space. Creative placemaking utilizes art and 
culture to shape physical and social elements of a place. A cultural influence on planning may be 
able to illuminate lesser-known pasts and preserve according to historical sites. Through my 
research I aim to respond to a gap in the literature regarding current efforts to preserve queer 
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space through the question: How might creative placemaking be used as a tool to recognize 
queer space as fluid and transient, while still preserving it in public space? 
I chose to utilize Eugene’s queer history as a case study for how communities can work 
towards preserving their local queer history. During the 1960s to 90s, lesbians engaged in a 
migration movement to Eugene, Oregon (ARCHIVE | Outliers and Outlaws). Eugene became 
known as a ‘lesbian mecca’ and was a space for a queer community desiring an existence not 
dominated by patriarchy, where their identities could be explored and celebrated. Eugene has an 
interwoven queer narrative that has not been explored or recognized by an official designation or 
governmental recognition. The spaces that were vital to this community remain a part of 
Eugene’s city landscape. Yet, this significant cultural history is not reflected, or memorialized in 
the physical landscape. In other words, those who walk through would be completely unaware of 
this significant social moment and its important contributions to Eugene’s construction.  
My thesis will explore the benefits of harnessing public spaces through creative 
placemaking practices to transform a museum exhibit and connect people to historically queer 
spaces. An archival project, its corresponding museum exhibit, and a historical context report, 
demonstrate that queer communities had a significant impact on current space formations in 
Eugene. A digital archive, “Outliers and Outlaws: The Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project,” 
created by Professor Judith Raiskin and curator Linda Long, memorializes the experiences of 
these women who migrated to the proclaimed “lesbian mecca”. The archive includes testimonials 
of 83 women celebrating their queer identities, living on separatist lands, engaging in political 
discourse and activism, working in collective businesses, and more. Stories include engaging in 
activism that prevented homophobic measures from passing and practicing consensus decision 
8 
 
 
making.  These histories were on display for a year at the University of Oregon’s Museum of 
Natural and Cultural History, ending in February of 2024. 
My research is split into six chapters. This first chapter provides an overview of my topic 
and a road map for all that follows. In the second chapter, I conduct a comprehensive literature 
review that considers what the literature says in my project’s three areas of interest: creative 
placemaking, museums and urban space, and queer space. In the third chapter I focus on my case 
study, the queer community in the late 20th century in Eugene, Oregon. In the fourth chapter I 
define the frameworks I utilize to conduct my research and project example. Then, in the fifth 
chapter, I lay out my creative placemaking example beginning with its formation, the 
participant’s feedback, and my assessment of the experience. Finally, in the six chapter, I 
conclude with how my project in Eugene provided an example of preserving queer spaces 
through memorializing/creative placemaking. 
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Chapter Two: Literature Review 
Creative Placemaking 
Development of Creative Placemaking 
Placemaking was developed out of a desire to mitigate the impacts of sprawl and create 
places that prioritize the needs and incorporate the interests of citizens to ensure long lasting city 
space. Loh et al. (2022) describes placemaking as the process of “creating quality places that 
people want to live, work, play, and learn in” by creating an “economic development strategy to 
increase tax revenue and foster small business development” (p.2).  Cities were planned with an 
emphasis on efficiency which minimized social interaction. Placemaking attempts to galvanize, 
or enliven, a sense of place in spaces that are lacking these elements, or conversely, build that 
sense in spaces that have never had those elements. 
Previous research demonstrates that although a distinction between placemaking and 
creative placemaking is not typically made, it is important to acknowledge. The term “creative 
placemaking” (CP) was coined by Markusa and Gadwa in 2010 and refers to a facet of 
placemaking that specifically “engage[s] arts and culture to beautify and revitalize public space” 
(Loh et al., 2022, p.1). CP focuses on the importance of art and culture, intersecting this sphere 
of influence into policy and planning through place-based projects using art (Redaelli, 2019). 
While both placemaking and creative placemaking include a focus on economic development, 
CP is particularly concerned with developing social equity and providing for community needs 
(Loh et al., 2022). Acknowledging the distinction between these two terms is vital as CP 
specifically considers the intersections of arts and culture in placemaking. 
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The Role of the Federal Government 
The federal government plays a critical role in the creation and implementation of CP 
projects. The independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), supports 
CP through research, grants, and partnership. The NEA hosts a grant program called OurTown. 
OurTown is derived from Markusa and Gadwa’s white paper on CP (National Endowment for 
the Arts et al., 2021).  Efforts made by the NEA and its associated programs have improved the 
“general public’s view of the role of artists and arts capabilities to serve their communities while 
making substantial contributions to community stabilization and cultural engagement in many 
places” (Markusen & Nicodemus, 2018, p.12). The NEA enacted a 10-year partnership with 
ArtPlace that ended in 2020. Markusen and Nicodemus (2018) described this as an initiative to 
fund “locally initiated community and economic development projects with arts and culture at 
their core” (p.11). Based on concerns of the narrative of dominant culture, NEA and ArtPlace 
adapted their investments to prioritize issues of equity centered around community, and 
explorations of social justice led by artists (Loh et al., 2022). Overall, the federal government's 
vested interest in creative placemaking encourages community relationships, develops the 
economy, and explores social issues. 
The Role of the Artist 
The role of the artist expands beyond the design of a creative placemaking project as they 
serve as an actor of policy change (Redaelli, 2019). Artists play a crucial role in local policy 
changes by connecting with, and centering, community needs and interests. Redaelli (2019) 
explains that historically, “community development and the arts were considered as two distinct 
areas of policy action,” creative placemaking works to combine these interests into a movement 
(p.160). Creating art that is socially engaged with a community can be part of long-term social 
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and political changes (Walker & Marsh, 2018). Artists can address challenges such as social 
reconnection by collaborating with the community where they conduct work (Walker & Marsh, 
2018). Conducting placemaking through the lens of art and design engages and connects 
communities in new ways and can play a pivotal role in societal or political change. 
Process and Evaluation 
The literature emphasized that there is not one process used to enact creative 
placemaking, however, there have been attempts to create a framework that can be universalized 
for CP projects. Walker et al. (2018) provides a framework, claiming that projects should be able 
to explain why art is a tool to address the challenges of our time and how creating these 
structures brings people or communities together. NEA provides a process through their Our 
Town grant program called the Our Town Logic Model. This model identifies important 
considerations and components of developing a creative placemaking project (National 
Endowment for the Arts et al., 2021). These frameworks demonstrate important guidelines that 
can be considered to create CP programming.  
The literature did not reflect a universal method to evaluate CP projects, as it was 
emphasized that the effects of a cultural activity can be challenging to evaluate (Loh et al., 
2022).  One crucial way that creative placemaking can be evaluated is by considering if the 
artistic application has served its intended purpose of centering community. Walker and Marsh 
(2018) explain that working with diverse community members as collaborators is crucial as it 
requires creators to remain accountable to the needs of local interests, not just funders. While 
creative placemaking needs to consider the physical aspect of a place to design it, the methods of 
interaction within the place are also a critical component. Redaelli (2019) explains that 
successful creative placemaking projects can be measured “in the ways artists, formal and 
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informal art spaces, and creative interventions have contributed toward community outcomes'' 
(p.160). In all, creative placemaking projects should be evaluated within their ability to go 
beyond design to ensure the creative installation allows for multiple modes of interaction.  
The ‘Placetaking’ Critique 
Although placemaking and creative placemaking serve to alleviate previous issues with 
place development such as decreasing sprawl and increasing social interaction, there are 
important critiques of these planning methods. One main critique of creative placemaking is that 
projects do not often consider how the work uplifts the community, and which voices may be left 
out of the dominating narrative. Loh et al. (2022) consider this, discussing how represented 
cultures or communities may be chosen by prioritizing economic value or tourism interests 
“without significantly benefiting the people in those cultures themselves” (p.2). A term for this 
process was coined by Robert Bedoya and is known as ‘placetaking:’ a process that occurs when 
spaces are designed for the needs of mainstream, or dominant, culture (Redaelli, 2019). Bedoya 
institutes a solution called ‘placekeeping’ which “integrates and incorporates the place’s entire 
history, cultures and people'' and moves away from a “one-size-fits-all approach that foundations 
and national groups have pushed leading to a problem with authentic outcomes'' (Loh et al., 
2022, p.4).   
Bedoya’s critique is a meaningful one as it is often outlined in placemaking and creative 
placemaking literature. However, a lot of the literature demonstrates that the governance 
structures instituted by the NEA do incorporate and consider the critique of placetaking. 
Practitioners have previously voiced concerns that placemaking projects impose certain cultures 
on neighborhoods or taking advantage of local cultures to promote tourism without substantially 
contributing to people in the local culture (Loh et al., 2022). However, within Bedoya’s 
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placekeeping solution, I would assert that placekeeping correlates with placemaking. Both 
theories focus on uplifting and amplifying historically marginalized groups by having an 
awareness of “the politics of belonging and disbelonging that operate in civil society” (Markusen 
& Nicodemus, 2018, p.19). Overall, CP must continue to incorporate diverse voices: not only of 
the history of a space, but the interests and voices of the current landscape. 
Museum and Public Space 
The History of the Museum 
Theories of museum space have developed throughout time.  In the 19th century, the 
modernist museum gained relevance, and remained prominent into the 20th century. Museums 
grew beyond an institution solely for the elites, to one structured for a wider audience. In this era, 
the general public was viewed as having deficient knowledge, and the museum was considered 
an educational tool. Greenhill (2000) describes that in the modern period “spaces were divided 
between those that were private and those that were public” (p.126). The notion of inside and 
outside groups was established as the museum determined who would have access, or belong, in 
certain spaces. Although public spaces in the museum were considered accessible to a general 
audience, the spaces remained controlled for viewing and learning. Thus, the modernist era of 
museums can be described as a controlled educational experience, with the learning centered 
entirely on the objects on display.  
In the 21st century, Greenhill (2000) proposed the concept of the post-modernist 
museum, in which importance was placed on the context and history of knowledge production 
and curation. Greenhill discusses the emergence of an importance in diverse voices, cultures, and 
experiences, stating there was “a new and more dynamic approach to the encounter between the 
visitor and the museum narratives” (p. 148).  Engagement, diversity, and accessibility became 
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the forefront of museum experience as a greater emphasis was placed on the visitor and 
contextualization of the museum’s narrative. In this post-modern era, museums established a 
recognition of the desires and experience of its visitors, as well as the importance of history and 
recognition of the cultural narratives. 
The concept of the “transformative museum” represents the most recent era of museums 
theorized by scholars. Nielsen (2014) asserts that the postmodern museum has undertaken such 
significant development, it may be worthwhile to implement a new, nuanced, concept of 
museum. The “transformative museum” utilizes a theory called The Transformative Cycle that 
refers to efforts made to remain engaged and forward thinking as innovation and new ideas 
continue to occur (Nielsen, 2014). The literature demonstrates that museums are continuously 
evolving and forward-thinking institutions that continue to grow and develop along with the 
needs of visitors and curators. 
The Connection Between Museum and Urban Space 
Built Environment. Museum literature describes museums as an institution of urban space 
due to their relationship to the built environment. Nuccio and Ponzini (2023) assert that “the 
assemblage of the museum as an urban and cultural place that is embedded in the built 
environment in its physical context is an important planning matter that cannot be conceived as a 
mere technical problem for designers” (p. 38). Museums are a space of communal and cultural 
connection in an urban environment. Lorente (2020) states that “it is already a museological 
commonplace to consider the interior of museums somehow as a continuation of public space.” 
In its physical context, museums can serve as prominent landmarks and cultural institutions that 
represent or reflect the values and histories of a place.   
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Thirdspaces. Scholars compare museums to the notion of a thirdspace. A thirdspace is a 
communal, or shared, space beyond the confines of home or work where people interact and 
share ideas. The perspective of thirdspace is considered by scholars of museums as it refers to 
the space between oneself and the cultural identities/beliefs that differ (Schorch, 2013). Schorch 
(2013) explains that “the production of meaning requires that these two places be mobilized in 
the passage through a Third Space” (p. 69). In this way, thirdspace takes on both a literal and 
corporal form - relating in urban planning to a form of communal space that is further 
emphasized in the context of museums.  
Public Memory and the Lens of Dominating Narrative. A crucial factor that shapes 
museums as public space is the connection to, and collection of, public memory. Memory 
constructs communal belonging, and permanently evolves within living societies. Blair et al. 
describes public memory as “responding to needs of the present, serving the interests of the 
present, animating the present, serving as rhetorical resources of the present, and so forth” (p.12). 
Museums interpret and reflect memory as it is shaped by narratives of identity, history, and 
culture. Museums establish the dominant narratives and powers of a public space through the 
inclusion and exclusion of stories. By determining what is significant and what should be shared, 
a certain narrative is established - and continued. 
Both the physical city and the space within museum walls hold culture, historical 
narratives, and memory. The narratives represented in museum space have a relationship to the 
city that surrounds it. Burgum (2020) states, “archival institutions have a power which stretches 
beyond their doors, walls, and shelves, an authority which iteratively shapes and is shaped by 
location and context” (p. 507). The narratives in the museum, and corresponding history, reflect 
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the dominant powers of an established space. Overall, the intersecting elements of narrative, 
memory and space construct museum exhibits and help to understand a space’s cultural norms.  
Queer Space 
Queer Theory 
Queer theory is an academic study that challenges conventional sexuality and gender 
norms and discusses topics regarding LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, 
and more) issues and identities. Queer theory was first identified and utilized in the late 1980s. 
Hendler and Banks (2011) explain that “queer theory has been deployed in academic and activist 
circles as a means of problematizing and resisting naturalized Western assumptions about 
sexuality which are grounded in essentialist thinking that divides subjects into rigid binary 
divisions such as gay and straight” (p.71). Queer theory questions the origins of current 
understanding of sexual identity and emphasizes the importance of cultural and historical 
implications.  
The use of the term ‘queer’ to broadly discuss gender and sexuality identities is fraught 
with controversy amongst scholars, as a variety of frameworks exist regarding whether the term 
can act as a blanket statement. Historically, individual labels were critical to identity groups who 
fought for their personal civil liberties. Oswin (2008) agrees with this viewpoint, emphasizing 
that “queer is indeed not merely a synonym for LGBT” (p.92). While disagreements and 
contradictions exist regarding the usage of queer in this way, recent scholars claim that queer can 
serve as a term to refer to the LGBTQ+ community. Somerville (2014) explains that the term 
queer can be “understood as an umbrella term that refers to a range of sexual identities that are 
‘not straight’” (p.203). This literature review, and preceding thesis, will rely on the framework 
17 
 
 
provided by Somerville (2014), and use the terms LGBTQ+ and queer interchangeably, unless a 
certain sexuality or gender identity is specified.  
Definition of Queer Space 
The concept of queer space has appeared in academic writings since the 90s. 
Traditionally, queer spaces were referred to as “gay villages,” and academic understandings were 
influenced by classic works like Michelle Foucault’s “Discipline and Punish” and Henri 
Lefebvre’s “Production of Space'' (Chisholm, 2004). Spaces are considered to have imposed 
identities based on the impact of dominant power on the organization of urban and social space 
(Hendler and Banks, 2011.) In critical geographies, queer space has been recognized as a 
transgression, as inherently an opposition to dominating power (Oswin, 2008). In other words, 
queer space reflects actively living in opposition to the social norms of spaces. Chisholm (2004) 
defines queer space as “a more fluid conceptualization of the queer occupation of urban space. 
(...) queer space demarcates a practice, production, and performance of space beyond just the 
mere habitation of built and fixed structures'' (p.10). In this depiction, queer spaces can be 
understood as transcending the built environment and can be mobile or transient. Doan (2015) 
analyzes what these spaces look like, stating, “the queer community comes together to party, to 
protest, or otherwise expropriate public spaces on a temporary basis through the use of parades, 
[and] festivals” (p. 5). In this way, queer spaces are multifaceted and can exist for brief periods 
of time to create gathering opportunities for members of the LGBTQ+ community. Overall, 
scholarly understanding of queer space has developed to reflect a physical space where queer 
identities and communities can thrive, rather than a physical infrastructure. 
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History of the Queer City 
The concept of a queer city, a city with established queer sites, emerged during the 
nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Urban history recognizes that gay scenes initially developed 
in public and commercial buildings in European and American capitals during the nineteenth 
century (Chisholm, 2004). At the end of the nineteenth century, gay male subcultures in the 
United States surfaced in urban spaces such as businesses and other public places where men 
were able to gather (Ruiz and Butler, 2021). Throughout the 20th century, cities contained spaces 
for LGBTQ+ people to congregate in social settings from bars and restaurants to tourist venues, 
and liminal public spaces including piers or public parks (Doan, 2015). Chisholm (2004) 
describes that throughout these time periods, a city was considered queer if the “queer public 
presence [was] shown to be subversively ubiquitous and generally galvanizing” (p.10). While not 
conventionally regarded or accepted, during this time period, cities around the United States 
contained queer spaces that allowed LGBTQ+ communities to exist. 
While queer city spaces were available for some, these spaces were heavily impacted by 
gentrification and a lack of intersectionality. First, gentrification impacted queer city spaces in 
the late twentieth century. Doan (2015) states that “many established LGBTQ neighborhoods 
were subject to considerable gentrification pressures causing significant changes to their LGBTQ 
nature” (p.4). Gentrification dissipated and disappeared spaces that were historically recognized 
as welcoming and accepting for people with queer identities. Dubrow (2011) writes, “After many 
decades of gentrification gay, lesbian, and queer populations with lower incomes have found it 
difficult to find housing options in neighborhoods that have been known an queer spaces” (p.23). 
The impact of gentrification on LGBTQ neighborhoods and communities continues to be seen 
today.  
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Second, traditionally gay spaces were often not accepting of other marginalized 
communities, or identities that were different from their own. Doan (2015) explains that 
“intersectionality has been used by scholars to refer to the web of discriminations that exclude 
LGBTQ people from urban spaces by virtue of their race or class as well as ability, age, and 
gender identity” (p.10). The intersecting identities that LGBTQ+ people hold introduce further 
discrimination in planning policies and practices. Overall, planners must recognize lasting issues 
associated with gentrification and intersectionality when planning for queer communities. 
Considering LGBTQIA+ Communities in Urban Planning 
Historically, LGBTQIA+ communities have been discriminated against and left out of 
urban planning policies and practices. A push for democratic urban planning in the late twentieth 
century demonstrates that historically, planning has not advocated for policies that improve, or 
even incorporate, the needs of marginalized groups (Davidoff, 1965). Although the exact reason 
is uncertain, Doan (2015) expresses that “in the field of planning lesbian, gay, bisexual, 
transgender, and queer issues are frequently ignored both within the academy and in practice” 
(p.1). Urban planners have not considered the needs, or historic barriers, that LGBTQ+ 
communities have faced, but these communities have been heavily impacted by the institution of 
urban planning. Hendler and Banks (2011) share three specific ways that discrimination occurs: 
“housing and zoning plans and policies, historical preservation, and incidents of harassment and 
protest within public spaces” (p.80). Although LGBTQ+ identities are more accepted today, 
these communities continue to face discriminatory planning policies. Doan (2015) argues that 
urban planners need to “move beyond just tolerating LGBTQ individuals, couples, and families 
by proactively working to address their specific needs for places in which they can live, work 
and recreate” (p.2). In all, scholars believe that considering queer theory and integrating 
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LGBTQ+ issues into the field of planning can address the needs of queer communities that have 
historically been, and continue to be, marginalized in urban spaces.  
Preserving Queer Space 
A national and grassroots movement recognizes the importance of designating, as well as 
preserving, historical spaces deemed significant to LGBTQ+ history. In 1997, the National Trust 
Historic Preservation (NTHP) held a conference presentation that formally introduced a 
movement to preserve historically queer spaces in the United States (Dubrow, 2011). Dubrow 
(2011) defines this as “a movement calling for the protection of sites and buildings associated 
with gay and lesbian preservationists to promote the interests of their own communities'' (p.55). 
Outside of federal programs, various community and grassroots projects have worked to 
memorialize LGBTQ+ history through heritage programs like oral history, exhibits, and artifacts 
(Dubrow, 2011). These projects strive to remember, and show, spaces where queer identity 
groups have occupied, and thrived. Hendler and Banks (2011) necessitate the importance of 
memorializing these spaces, stating, “Places, as people know them in their daily lives, have 
become both increasingly differentiated from one another and more ephemeral than in the past'' 
(p.79). There are even economic benefits, as preserving these spaces can bolster the real estate 
and travel industries in an area (Dubrow, 2011). Overall, the movement to preserve queer space 
has many social and economic benefits and maintains crucial cultural and city heritage. 
Research Question 
The literature on queer spaces in public space has not addressed how to memorialize fluid 
and transient spaces. Landmarking sites allow history to be memorialized and preserved in the 
space it occurred. Dubrow (2011) discusses a movement to preserve sites specifically associated 
with queer history, referred to as lavender landmarks. However, Oswin (2008) explains that 
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queer space is recognized as a transgression from traditional conceptualization of space due to its 
transitory or fluid nature. As queer space opposes the dominant understandings of urban and 
social spaces (Hendler and Banks, 2011), I want to explore how the designation of queer spaces 
could look different too. Creative placemaking, a framework for enlivening public spaces 
through art and cultural engagement (Markusen & Nicodemus), may hold an answer. How might 
creative placemaking be used as a tool to recognize queer space as fluid and transient, while still 
preserving it in public space? 
 
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Chapter Three: Case Study 
Eugene, Oregon 
Eugene, Oregon lies at the Southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the McKenzie 
and Willamette Rivers. Eugene is the traditional homeland of the Kalapuya people. Eugene’s 
flagship university, the University of Oregon, acknowledges the land as follows: 
"The University of Oregon is located on Kalapuya Ilihi (Cal-uh-POO-yuh 
ILLihee), the traditional indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people. Following 
treaties between 1851 and 1855, Kalapuya people were dispossessed of their 
indigenous homeland by the United States government and forcibly removed to 
the Coast Reservation in Western Oregon. Today, descendants are citizens of the 
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde (rond) Community of Oregon and the 
Confederated Tribes of Siletz (suhLETZ) Indians of Oregon, and continue to 
make important contributions in their communities, at UO, across the land we 
now refer to as Oregon, and around the world.” (University of Oregon & UO 
Libraries Resources.) 
 
Eugene became a city in 1862 founded by a white settler, Eugene Skinner (McQuiddy, 
2023). Much of the city’s history has been documented through statues and plaques - stories of 
prominent pioneer figures passing through on the Oregon trail, to Sam and Mattie Reynolds, one 
of the first black families to reside in the city (Willamalane, 2023). Eugene has a contentious 
history of racial and other forms of inequity and injustice. Mcquiddy (2023) states, “Laws and 
covenants excluding nonwhites from certain neighborhoods existed until the 1950s, and crimes 
such as vandalizing a Jewish synagogue occurred as recently as 2017.”  
Eugene, Oregon is home to around 178,000 people, and is the third most populated city in 
the state (Oregon Cities by Population (2024), n.d.). The Pacific Northwest City contains a 
majority white population, with 80% of people identifying as white in the 2023 U.S. Census. The 
largest employers in Eugene are PeaceHealth Medical Group and the University of Oregon. The 
city is nicknamed ‘Track Town, USA’ as it is a famous track and field destination, as well as the 
23 
 
 
birthplace of Nike. Eugene is considered a hub for art and culture, and is full of museums, a 
symphony, ballet, local opera, and many performing art venues (McQuiddy, 2023). 
Historic Significance of a ‘Lesbian Mecca’ 
In the 1970’s, Southern Oregon became an epicenter of queer community. A mass 
migration of queer women, most if not all identifying as lesbians at the time, was prompted due 
to the desire of living a life with freedom from patriarchy, and acceptance of their natural 
identities. Eugene’s LGBTQ+ community were connected to city spaces that remain significant 
to Eugene’s queer narrative. In the late 20th century, a community was established and flourished 
– gay and lesbian nightlife, political activism, feminist bookstores, performing arts, separatist 
lands, and religious life. This movement contributed significantly to structures and programming 
that exists in Oregon to this day. 
Gay and Lesbian Nightlife. Eugene had spaces for the queer community to socialize in 
and have nightlife. One such spot was Cassady’s, a gay dance club located on the second floor of 
the Eugene Hotel, that was referred to as a popular nightlife spot (Ruiz and Butler, 2021). The 
Eugene Hotel played live music from its construction in 1924 until 1979 (Lane County Music 
History Project 2021b). Cassady’s later became Cassady’s Tavern, and was owned by Terry 
Bean, a gay man who was part of many LGBT movements (ARCHIVE | Outliers and Outlaws.). 
The Eugene Hotel has been recognized as a national landmark since 1982 and since the 
following year, has operated as a senior citizen housing facility (United States Department of the 
Interior Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service, n.d.). Another popular nightlife spot was 
the Riviera Room, often referred to as the Riv Room. McBride (2021) states, “The Riviera Room 
(...) was an important place for socializing within the gay and lesbian community. The Riv Room 
would have women's nights which became a significant part of nightlife for the community” 
24 
 
 
(ARCHIVE | Outliers and Outlaws.). Women would go to the Riviera Room to play pool, drink, 
and meet the other newcomers arriving in Eugene. The Riviera Room had booths, a big mural of 
the Riviera in the back, loud music, and a small dance floor. These women’s nights were also 
targeted by the police and many queer people experienced hate crimes at the Riviera Room. Judy 
Goldstein explained that “there always had to be an equal number of men and women on the 
dance floor at all times, in case the police came and did a raid. They would switch partners and 
appear to be het partners” (McBride, 2021). These spaces represent a few of the many nighttime 
spots where queer community would congregate over the years. 
Political Activism. The LGBTQ+ community was involved in many activism efforts at 
the time, particularly effective in mobilizing around harmful, anti-gay legislation. One such 
measure was Referendum 51. In 1978, Referendum 51 called to repeal an ordinance that 
prohibited sexual orientation discrimination in the city. Instances to fight this bill included a 
performance at WOW Hall that raised funds to conflict the Referendum (ARCHIVE | Outliers 
and Outlaws.). Unfortunately, this bill did pass- the first of many ballot measures to come that 
intended to limit gay rights in Oregon. In 1992, many queer activists were engaged in efforts to 
ensure another measure, Ballot Measure 9, did not pass. Ballot Measure 9 was an effort to 
legislate the suppression of homosexuality, by legally categorizing homosexuality with 
determined deviant sexual practices. Ballot Measure 9 did not pass, and two years later, Ruiz and 
Butler (2021) state that “the City of Eugene passed a gay rights ordinance, and the University of 
Oregon passed a non-discrimination policy”. Positive same-sex legislation followed. Ruiz and 
Butler (2021) state, “In 2013, the State of Oregon began recognized same-sex marriages that 
were contracted elsewhere, and [finally,] a 2015 United States Supreme Court ruling made gay 
marriage legal in every state” (Ruiz and Butler, 2021, p. 16). The LGBTQ+ community played a 
25 
 
 
largely unrecognized role in mobilizing and advocating for positive same-sex legislation in 
Oregon. 
Performing Arts. The performing arts were a big component of life for much of the 
LGBTQ+ community in the late 20th century. WOW Hall, a community center for the 
performing arts, held performances and community events for queer folks. In the 70’s, there was 
a women’s cabaret show called Steam Heat that occurred inside of WOW Hall. They included 
music from musicals and songs from the 30’s and 40’s. There was also WYMPROV!, a lesbian 
comedy improv group who performed in that space. Another group, the Eugene Dance 
Collective, allowed queer participants who had little to no dance backgrounds perform for the 
community (ARCHIVE | Outliers and Outlaws.). These are just some examples of the ways 
WOW Hall served as a creative venue for queer folks to perform - though, not without facing 
hate and discrimination along the way. 
Feminist bookstores. Two bookstores, Peralandra and Mother Kali’s, were centers of 
queer life in the city. First, Peralandra was a bookstore that focused on the metaphysical, and had 
three total locations in Eugene throughout the years. The works in the bookstore were 
characterized as ‘lesbian metaphysical works,’ and included books on everything from 
medication and mystical traditions with crystals and tarot cards - to fiction, politics, and 
women’s studies. Catherine Harris, the owner of the bookstore, explained that the connection of 
feminism and spirituality was widely held in the community, and that allowed her bookstore to 
have success. The demise of the bookstore came with the rise of Amazon (ARCHIVE | Outliers 
and Outlaws.). Second, Mother Kali’s was another bookstore where lesbians found community 
tin a central gathering place where women met for advice. McBride (2021) explained, “the store 
was known for stocking feminist literature, resource books for women and radical theory.” The 
26 
 
 
store also offered a resource for the community by providing an avenue to exchange information 
through a bulletin board, where community members sought housing, new friends, and more 
(McBride, 2021). These feminist bookstores represent the efforts taken to create community and 
belonging for lesbians and other queer folks.  
Separatist Lands. Separatist lands, namely, spaces for lesbians to live in radical 
collectivist societies, were another feature of queer communities in Southern Oregon. One 
example, the Oregon Women’s Land (OWL) Farm, was established in 1976 (Archibald, 2021). 
This land was purchased through the Oregon Women’s Land Trust, with the desire to accumulate 
collective land for women. Archibald (2021) explains that “the aim was a mode of living that 
respected the earth, eradicated class oppression, and regarded female biology as noble, even 
sublime”. The women engaged in ecological and conservation efforts to take care of their land 
next to an Old Growth Federal Forest and protect an endangered species, Oregon’s Northern 
Spotted Owls (SO CLAP!, Inc.,1974). The women also followed their own system of governance 
that followed consensus decision making. In this format, all women on the land shared their 
thoughts and decisions were made communally (SO CLAP!, Inc.,1974). The OWL Farm 
represented a separatist society for lesbians who established their own connection to their 
identities and the physical land. 
Spiritual life. Queer women recreated and redefined religious and spiritual practices in 
Eugene. One prime example were the Baleboostehs. The Baleboostehs were a cohort of Jewish 
lesbians, who desired a connection to their Judaism that was not patriarchal (ARCHIVE | 
Outliers and Outlaws). One of the founding members of the Baleboostehs, Enid Lefton, recalled 
how at the time, antisemitism existed in the Women’s Rights organizations and sexism in Jewish 
spaces. This community allowed these women to create their own connection to their Judaism 
27 
 
 
where they could be accepted (Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project, University of Oregon, 
2018). The Baleboostehs created their own rituals and spiritual practices that acknowledged and 
connected with their Jewish and queer identities. For example, another member, Ellen Rifkin, 
recalled that once a month the Baleboostehs would gather for Rosh Chodesh (the Jewish tradition 
of celebrating a new month) to discuss traditional themes, the astrological calendar, and 
upcoming holidays (Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project, University of Oregon, 2019). The 
Baleboosteh community was a radical acceptance of spirituality that redefined traditional Jewish 
beliefs and allowed the women to be a part of community that embraced both aspects of their 
identity, rather than needing to assimilate to one unaccepting culture. This example of spiritual 
life illuminates ways the lesbians in Eugene created their legacy, establishing radical 
interpretations of spirituality to fit the needs of themselves and their community. 
 
 
28 
 
 
Chapter Four: Methodology 
Queer spaces, held through Eugene’s built environment, were transient and remain 
unrecognized and unknown to much of the Eugene community. A lack of preservation efforts 
demonstrates that city planners have not considered the history for queer people in the city. Can 
a creative placemaking program help preserve this quintessential history? To answer this 
question, I created a place-based project focused on some of the relevant spaces for Eugene’s 
LGBTQ+ community in the late 20th century. I determined how to design the project as a cultural 
program and to assess it under a creative placemaking framework. In this section, I will explain 
the models utilized in the design and the framework used for the assessment. Then, I will end 
with an explanation of the main data sources that were used to develop the project. 
Design 
I used cultural programming models to design the project. Blandy and Carpenter (2008) 
define arts and cultural programming as “the planning and delivering of acts and cultural leisure 
experiences for individuals and groups” (p. 9). The two models utilized are Blandy and 
Congdon’s cultural programming model and Blandy’s program development cycle. This section 
explains each of these models as illustrated in Arts and Cultural Programming: A Leisure 
Perspective written by Gaylene Carpenter and Doug Blandy. 
Blandy and Congdon’s Cultural Program Model 
In 1993, Doug Blandy and Kristin G. Congdon developed a model for cultural program 
based on their experience curating an exhibit. The model’s pedagogical guidelines are a “focus 
on building nonhierarchical and cooperative relationships among people, methods for critical 
inquiry, forging a common language, and a dynamic conception of culture” (p. 179). The model 
29 
 
 
incorporates five phases where questions and problems are posed and faced. These five phases 
are: orientation, identification of partners, planning, implementation, and evaluation. While this 
list is provided in numerical order, it is an iterative process that overlaps and is dynamic. This 
model provides a necessary basis for program development, as it helps establish the problems 
and questions the program will address. Below is an explanation of each stage in Blandy and 
Congdon’s model.  
1. Orientation. The orientation stage involves determining the program’s context and 
appropriate strategies for research.  
2. Identification of partners. The second stage includes identifying the key 
participants and defining roles and responsibilities.  
3. Planning. The planning stage considers the content of the program.  
4. Implementation. The implementation stage centers around determining the key 
players in the program implementation, and the logistics of making the programs 
front-facing.  
5. Evaluation. The final stage, evaluation, regards determining the type of strategies 
that will be utilized for evaluating each of the program’s components.  
The Program Development Cycle 
Blandy and Congdon’s Cultural Program framework poses the guiding questions 
necessary for developing a program. The Program Development Cycle, also outlined in the text, 
is a framework for organizing the activities associated with each stage of developing a cultural 
program. Blandy and Congdon explain the specific aspects for the cycle of program development 
are included because “the collective literature makes clear that these are the steps that leisure 
programmers currently believe must be completed in order to develop successful programs” 
(p.27). The four main components of this type of programming are “direction-setting activities, 
developing and designing program services, staging operations, post-program activities” (p. 26-
27). 
30 
 
 
1. Direction-setting activities. To develop the mission and vision of the 
organization and set specific and targeted directives. 
2. Developing and designing program services. To receive perspective from 
constituents, determine desired programmatic results, and design services. 
3. Staging operations. To organize the of action and oversee the rendering of 
services. 
4. Post-program activities. To assess the program’s services, utilize an assessment 
method to determine the future actions and report on findings to constituents. 
Assessment 
The project is assessed based on a creative placemaking framework. The creative 
placemaking framework followed is the one outlined by the National Endowment for the Arts’ 
Our Town grant program. 
NEA Grant Program’s Our Town Framework 
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) claims Markusen and Gadwa’s Creative 
Placemaking white paper was a formative publication in the establishment of the NEA’s Our 
Town program (Creative Placemaking, 2023). The NEA defines creative placemaking activities 
as: 
“Strengthening communities with arts at the core. Creative placemaking 
integrates arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen 
communities. Creative placemaking requires partnership across sectors, deeply 
engages the community, involves artists, designers and culture bearers, and helps 
to advance local economic, physical, and/or social change, ultimately laying the 
groundwork for systems change” (Creative Placemaking, 2023). 
This broad definition is purposefully designed to allow for a wide variety of artistic practices to 
address a grand spectrum of issues in a community.  
The Our Town program is the NEA’s creative placemaking grant program that 
encourages the development of arts and culture in community space. In 2016, the Arts 
Endowment developed an evaluation plan to measure the quantifiable impacts of Our Town 
31 
 
 
initiatives. Our Town conceptualizes its programming as “a national effort to increase the use of 
arts, design, and cultural strategies in community development across the nation” (National 
Endowment for the Arts et al., 2021, p. 6). Our Town Logic Model is made up of project inputs, 
project community contexts, activities, project outputs, local community change and systems 
change. The elements of the Our Town Logic Model are all factors that will be considered in the 
project assessment. 
 
Figure One: Our Town’s Logic Model 
Our Town’s logic model is a framework for the NEA’s Creative Placemaking grants program. 
This model looks at how Our Town is utilized on the local, individual project level.  
The NEA hosts a page on their website called Exploring Our Town, which serves as a 
resource for creative placemaking projects. This resource is an interactive and comprehensive 
guide for developing creative placemaking programs. The webpage stores over 70 case studies of 
projects funded by Our Town (Exploring Our Town, 2015). Each project or case study includes: 
an objective question, an explanation of the place, community demographics, assessed local 
32 
 
 
needs, the project’s vision, associated partnerships, logistics, anticipated impacts, and 
unexpected impacts (Exploring Our Town, 2015). 
I will utilize NEA’s creative placemaking framework for Our Town to conduct my 
assessment. I will assess my project based on five of the components utilized Exploring Our 
Town case studies: local needs, vision, partnerships, and anticipated and unexpected impacts.  
1. Local Needs. To determine the needs of the specified community, dependent on 
community contexts. Community contexts include social and human capital, 
existing policies, local assets, and other community development activities 
(National Endowment for the Arts et al., 2021). 
2. Vision. To develop a community, place-based project that combines creative 
placemaking strategies with art, culture, or design tactics. 
3. Partnerships. To create a collaborative partnership to further a community’s 
capacity, focus on infusing art and culture in development and sustain project 
outcomes. Partnerships are considered an integral aspect of a project. 
4. Anticipated Impacts. To anticipate outcomes for a local community, particularly 
an impact on economic, physical, and/or social elements. There is also a focus on 
the overarching system changes, which includes increasing creative placemaking 
tactics in community development endeavors.  
5. Unexpected impacts. To measure the outcomes of the project that were not 
anticipated, such as an unforeseen economic, physical or social impact, or 
unexpected system changes. 
I will base my analysis in each of these areas on elements of the Our Town logic model 
and the literature review. 
Sources  
This project builds on previous work done to investigate and demonstrate the importance 
of LGBTQ+ spaces in the late 20th century. Eugene, Oregon is a primary example of a city space 
that was historically utilized and has now taken steps to document the intersection with LGBTQ+ 
communities. The two most important data sources utilized to develop these materials are the 
Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project’s Outliers and Outlaws archive and a report for the City of 
33 
 
 
Eugene’s Historic Review Board titled “Preliminary Historic Context Statement LGBTQIA+ 
History in Eugene Lane County, Oregon.” These sources exemplify efforts of community 
programming and government preservation respectively, demonstrating that Eugene has a long, 
vibrant history of queer communities, some of which are still visible today. 
The Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project 
In 2018, a University of Oregon professor of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies and 
a Curator of Manuscripts launched an ambitious oral history project on the lesbian history in 
Eugene, Oregon from the 1960s-90s. This project, known as Outliers and Outlaws, is a digital 
archive with a compilation of 78 narrators who identified as lesbians in Eugene during this 
historic era. Each narrator provided an oral testimony of their experiences and interactions in 
Southern Oregon at the time, as it related to their queer identities. This archival work has 
expanded through a storytelling map project, a museum exhibit, and even some national press. 
The Outliers and Outlaws project developed a storytelling map, “Mapping Lesbian 
Eugene.” This map, created in ArcGIS, provides a visual depiction of spaces around Eugene, in 
relation to one another, that were prominent during Eugene’s era as a “lesbian mecca” in the late 
20th century. The Outliers and Outlaws project has already done work to identify significant 
spaces related to lesbian history in Eugene. This storytelling map, created in ArcGIS, visually 
shows, through blue markers, where certain influential spaces lie.  
The Museum of Natural and Cultural History (MNCH), a museum on the University of 
Oregon’s campus, hosted a year-long exhibit titled “Outliers and Outlaws - Stories from the 
Eugene Lesbian History Project.” The MNCH provides a context statement for the exhibit: 
“In the 1960s – 1990s, hundreds of young women who identified as lesbians came 
to Eugene. They founded organizations central to the city and provided leadership 
for community service agencies. They created lesbian magazines, photographs, 
34 
 
 
music, films, dance performances, theater, and art. They influenced Oregon’s 
political landscape and contributed to the larger LGBTQ movement.” (Outliers 
and Outlaws: Stories From the Eugene Lesbian History Project | MNCH Exhibits, 
n.d.). 
The Museum describes the exhibit as “a collaboration between the museum, the 
University of Oregon Libraries Special Collections, and the College of Arts and Sciences” 
(Outliers and Outlaws: Stories From the Eugene Lesbian History Project | MNCH Exhibits, 
n.d.). The physical exhibit closed on February 18, 2024, but remains available to the public 
digitally. 
 
Figure Two: Outliers and Outlaws: Stories from the Eugene Lesbian History Project. 
The photograph above is a still image of an online offering from the Museum of Natural and 
Cultural History to allow the Outliers and Outlaws museum exhibit to live on in perpetuity. The 
virtual exhibit is a 3D rendering of the physical exhibit with interactive features so viewers can 
tour the space and read the posters. 
City of Eugene Preliminary LGBTQIA+ Space Context Report 
On October 1, 2021, the City of Eugene’s Historic Review Board shared a preliminary 
historic context statement on LGBTQ+ history in Eugene. This Museum Report was written by 
35 
 
 
Christopher L. Ruiz and Heather V. Butler, representing the Museum of Natural and Cultural 
History & State Museum of Anthropology at the University of Oregon. This report, titled 
“Preliminary Historic Context Statement LGBTQIA+ History in Eugene Lane County, Oregon,” 
identified 20 spaces of historical queer significance in Eugene and the Southern Willamette 
Valley. The report determined four themes of space: Social Places and Community Formation, 
Businesses and Organizations, Architecture and the Arts, Health and Fitness. While the city 
shared this report for public comment, there has been no further work done on the matter. This 
report demonstrates the significant impact queer communities had on the current formation of 
spaces in Eugene. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
36 
 
 
Chapter Five: Eugene Queer History Walking Tour 
The Eugene Queer History Walking Tour is a place-based program that combines the 
history of queer spaces in Eugene with their current city structures. A walking tour focused on 
some of Eugene’s LGBTQ+ historic sites allow for an assessment of community member’s 
thoughts and connection to these places, paving the way for consideration of memorializing this 
history. In this chapter I explain the design, participant feedback, and assessment of enacting the 
Eugene Queer History Walking Tour (hereafter the Walking Tour). 
Program Design 
The Walking Tour was developed as an activity using two cultural programming models: 
Blandy and Congdon’s model and the Program Development Cycle. First, is an explanation of 
the development activities necessary in each stage of the Walking Tour, based on Blandy and 
Congdon’s Model (Blandy and Carpenter, 2008). 
Orientation. This project centers specific experiences of the queer community in Eugene 
Oregon during the late 21st century. The program’s materials are based on oral testimonies and 
an analysis of LGBTQ+ spaces written for the city of Eugene. The strategy utilized to interpret 
this culture was storytelling, put in historic context by visiting the sites associated with the 
stories.  
Identification of partners. The Walking Tour became a collaborative project with the 
Lane Arts Council to reach a wider audience.  
Planning. The program was developed by walking around the city and looking at possible 
sites to determine which sites were walkable and could fit within a one-hour period. 
Implementation. To reach the community, this project utilized the ArtWalk’s network and 
promotional resources.  Key participants, those involved with the Outliers and Outlaws digital 
37 
 
 
archive and associated museum exhibit, were identified based on their connection to the event’s 
content and a shared desire in memorializing this history. 
Evaluation. This program assessed the public’s response and reaction to the exhibit 
through a survey. This evaluation helped to determine whether this event should occur again, and 
the community’s thoughts regarding the significance of these sites and the possibility of 
memorializing the history.  
Next, is a detailed explanation of the tasks and steps taken at each of the program 
development stages, following the Program Development Cycle. 
Direction-setting activities. I started by determining the location of the event and 
confirmed interest from various stakeholders as partners or collaborators. I connected with Lane 
Arts Walk, a local government subsidiary that hosts special events as part of a monthly Arts 
Walk program. I met with them and determined that my activity could be held as a special event. 
I then identified project stakeholders based on people and organizations in the community that 
align with the program’s content matter.  In this stage I also identified the possible historic sites. 
I used local archives and community projects to identify sites along Lane County’s art walk. 
Particularly, I utilized the cultural mapping project created by Molly McBride for the Outliers 
and Outlaws archive titled “Mapping Lesbian Eugene,” and the Preliminary Context Report on 
LGBTQ+ Spaces written for the city of Eugene’s Historic Review Board.  
38 
 
 
 
Figure Three: “Mapping Lesbian Eugene” by Molly McBride 
Molly McBride, a graduate student at the University of Oregon, developed an ArcGIS map with 
the sites discussed throughout the Outliers and Outlaws archive. 
Developing and designing program services. I began this stage by determining a route and 
confirming the six historic sites that would be included. To do this, I walked around downtown 
Eugene, considering the locations of sites in proximity to each other to determine how many sites 
39 
 
 
felt practical to visit within an hour. I then organized the content for each site. I used archives, 
articles, and other research papers to create the script for each location.  
 
Figure Four: Eugene Queer History Walking Tour Sites Map 
This map depicts the location of the six sites on the tour, their proximity to each other, and the 
path necessary to arrive at each location. The map is imposed over the ArtWalk map so 
participants can orient their surroundings. 
Staging operations. First, I worked on outreach. I created a press release and fliers that were 
distributed through various networks with audiences interested in this kind of project.  
 
Figure Five: Event Flyer 
This figure is an example of the flyers utilized to promote the event. The flyer includes the name, 
time, date and location of the event, along with highlighting key partners. 
40 
 
 
Second, I determined what materials were needed to conduct the event and ensured 
everything was prepared for the day. I made a list and, in the weeks leading up to the event, 
confirmed I had all the necessary materials. Materials included a brochure for participants to 
follow along, a feedback form at the end, and a microphone and speaker so I could be amplified 
during the tour. To create the brochure, I followed the model of Eugene’s Historic Preservation 
department that hosts self-guided historic tours of Eugene. The Historic Preservation 
department’s website holds brochures for self-guided walking tours that allow participants to 
become personally acquainted with various sites of historical significance.  The feedback form 
was a survey to assess participant’s connection to the sites and interest in memorializing this 
history.  
41 
 
 
 
Figure Six: Feedback Form 
Following the tour, participants are asked to fill out this feedback form in order to provide 
feedback on the experience. 
Third, I finalized all the program’s content and practiced so I was ready on the day of the 
event. I finished the script and practiced walking around and conducting the tour. (See Appendix 
for the Walking Tour script). 
Post-program activities. After the event, I looked through the feedback and evaluated the 
successes and shortcomings of the event. The explanation of the participant feedback is 
discussed next, followed by the analysis of the project. 
Participant Feedback 
Participants met for the Walking Tour at Eugene’s Farmers Market Pavilion at 6:00PM 
on April 9, 2024. There were approximately 45 to 60 people in attendance. Participants of the 
42 
 
 
Walking Tour were encouraged to fill out a feedback form at the end of the program. The 
feedback form had 33 responses from walking tour participants, approximately 55 to 73% of the 
total audience. The below figures provide a visual representation of the 33 respondents’ answers 
to the two required questions. 
 
Figure Seven: Survey Responses for Feedback Form Question 1 
The pie chart depicts the percentage of respondents who answered ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to the first 
question on the feedback form. 
The first question participants were instructed to answer on the walking tour’s feedback 
form read: in your opinion, should the history presented to you this evening be memorialized in 
the city of Eugene? Of the 33 responses received on the online form, 100% of respondents said 
‘yes.’ It is critical to note that this question was only posed to program participants, all who 
voluntarily chose to attend the event. Therefore, each participant likely already placed some 
value on this history. While this is a highly selective and potentially biased group, the findings 
are still relevant. It is worthwhile to note that of the participants who chose to attend this event 
and provide feedback, every single one believed that the queer history of Eugene’s city space 
should be memorialized. 
43 
 
 
 
Figure Eight: Survey Response for Feedback Form Question 2 
This chart reflects the response from the walking tour experience regarding their feelings about the 
different sites visited. 
The second question asked on the Walking Tour’s feedback form prompted participants 
to consider how significant they found each of the sites that were visited. Participants were asked 
to rank their assessed significance of the site on a scale of one, not significant, to five, very 
significant. The survey responses for question two demonstrate that WOW Hall and the Riviera 
Room were considered the most significant in total. 45% of respondents considered the Riviera 
Room to be a four, and 39.4% noted the site as a five. WOW Hall received fours from 42%, and 
fives from 45%. Overall, the assessment of significance was positive, with no participant ranking 
any site as a one, and participants majorly ranking each site a four or five. I believe the 
overwhelmingly positive data demonstrates the community’s assessed significance in these sites 
and interest in preserving the city’s queer history.  
The third question allowed participants to share any general feedback from the event. 
Below are some of the responses, all shared anonymously:  
“‘this was so interesting and i had no clue how much history was at these sights!’, 
‘I loved being able to walk around and physically see the spaces in Eugene, I feel 
like that element really connected what I learned with the city around me. I would 
love to learn more!’, ‘i loved this event!! i learned so much about eugene and my 
own community!!’,‘This event was incredible, I learned a lot about a history that 
44 
 
 
has been largely hidden to me. I think conversations about this narrative and 
history should be shared widely and prominently’” 
These comments reflect participants who articulated the impact of the experience of 
viewing the sites and how that impacted their connection to Eugene’s queer history. The 
feedback also underscored that people who consider themselves part of the Eugene community – 
who are familiar with the city and these sights, were unfamiliar with their history. I chose these 
comments because I believe they reflect what I was hoping people would get out of this 
experience. I hope this created a greater appreciation for the cityscape and assumes the 
importance of showcasing this history and connecting people to it. 
Program Assessment 
The framework for assessing the Walking Tour follows NEA’s creative placemaking 
grant program Our Town. The webpage Exploring Our Town provides case studies of Our Town 
funded programs. I chose five of the categories used to evaluate each case study for my 
program’s assessment: local needs, vision, partnerships, anticipated impacts, and unexpected 
impacts. I assessed the project in each of these categories utilizing Our Town’s Logic Model and 
themes from the literature review.  
Local Needs 
I assessed the community needs to consider why to do this project. The history of Eugene 
is reflected in its monuments and the city’s historic walking tours. However, Eugene’s queer 
history is not recognized in any of these preservation efforts. Doan (2015) explored how 
historically the LGBTQIA+ community has not been considered in planning. Hendler and Banks 
(2011) provide examples of this discrimination: left out of urban planning policies and 
preservation efforts and suffering harassment in public spaces. The lack of recognition of 
45 
 
 
Eugene’s historically queer spaces demonstrates an impact of exclusion for the queer 
community. Identified local assets, the sources utilized in this project, demonstrate 
organizational and community efforts to broaden the Eugene community’s knowledge of queer 
sites. The Walking Tour addressed this need by allowing participants to interact with their built 
environment and consider the unrecognized historical significance of their city space. 
The implication of the program raised further needs for Eugene’s community. Eugene’s 
abundance of artistic venues and offerings indicates the city’s emphasis on investing in art and 
culture. A local need that this project demonstrated is planning to include diverse audiences that 
are not connected to queer programming. The community’s interest in the program’s content was 
demonstrated by the high event turnout. Participants came with a significant buy-in to this 
history, which elicits a different response than if participants were outside of that network. This 
program could also develop further by recognizing the accessibility needs outside of the event’s 
assumed demographic. The event particularly catered to city residents rather than rural, and those 
with the ability to participate in an hour-long walk. Post project, the further needs assessed are 
encouraging access to other marginalized groups and creating alternative methods of interaction 
for those who cannot engage in the physical aspect of the Tour would allow those not already 
connected to Eugene’s art, culture, or queer, scenes to experience this program. 
Vision 
The Walking Tour program was an educational journey intended to culturally engage the 
Eugene community and recognize queer spaces in city space. The project engaged in creative 
placemaking by incorporating an art tactic to illuminate Eugene’s lesser-known cultural heritage. 
The art tactic utilized, creative asset mapping, is defined as “the process of identifying the 
people, places, physical infrastructure, institutions, and customs that hold meaningful aesthetic, 
46 
 
 
historical, and/or economic value that make a place unique” ((National Endowment for the Arts 
et al., 2021, p. 12). Loh et al. (2022) explains that cultural engagement can occur by encouraging 
community relationships and exploring social issues. The artistic practice of creative asset 
mapping is socially engaged with the community by centering historically underrepresented 
voices and placing artistic practices into the process of urban change. This project strengthened 
the Eugene community by taking art, culture, and design strategies of creative placemaking to 
bring increased attention to local history and cultural infrastructure.  
This project also aimed to connect museums with urban spaces by demonstrating how 
city space holds culture, historic narratives, and memory. Nuccio and Ponzini (2023) explored 
how museums can be used as a framework in urban space to recognize the physical built 
environment as a cultural site. The program framed six sites as significant spaces in the built 
environment and asked participants to consider the significance of designating them as 
landmarks. This project sought to show that our city’s built environment holds meaningful 
history and stories. By assigning new meaning to, or a way of looking at, Eugene’s third spaces 
(Schorch, 2013), participants were given a new framework to look at our city space and 
recognize the cultural identity it holds. Oswin (2008) discussed how queer spaces often transcend 
the build environment as they are mainly mobile or transient. Visualizing our known city 
structures as queer sites challenges the dominant narrative of Eugene’s history. This project’s 
transgression against the typical social norms of our city space was a radical shift away from the 
dominant narrative of Eugene, allowing us to recognize these city sites as queer spaces.  
Partnership 
The Our Town fund necessitates a cross-sector partnership between a nonprofit 
organization and a local government agency, in which at least one must hold an arts, culture, or 
47 
 
 
design mission (National Endowment for the Arts et al., 2021). For this project, the Lane Arts 
council served as the local government body, an organization that highlights art in the 
community. The Walking Tour was a collaborative event with the Lane Arts Council’s First 
Friday ArtWalk. The Walking Tour was held as a special event at the ArtWalk, a monthly self-
guided event that allows participants to visit art galleries and other venues in Downtown Eugene. 
The ArtWalk collaboration was necessary to reach a wider audience and organize an event of 
this scale. However, collaborating with the Lane Arts’ ArtWalk did create a constraint regarding 
the sites visited. To collaborate with Lane Arts Council and create an accessible walk, the 
historical sites visited needed to be within an approximate distance to each other in Downtown 
Eugene. However, it should be noted that there are other significant historical sites. This 
limitation evokes critical considerations regarding the sites visited, the ones left out, and future 
steps that can be taken to consider additional sites for preservation. 
The nonprofit organization highlighted in this project was the Museum of Natural and 
Cultural History and their exhibit on the Outliers and Outlaws digital archive. The content of the 
Walk came from sources utilized by the Museum of Natural and Cultural History’s exhibit: the 
Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project, and the city of Eugene’s Preliminary Historic Context 
Statement of LGBTQ+ Spaces. I found that a community-led project was well situated to 
interface with a local governing body. Blandy and Carpenter (2008) stated, “partnerships are 
important to audience development because multiple organizations working together have the 
power to draw on more constituencies and interests” (p.75). The collaboration with the Lane Arts 
Council provided access to a greater network and resources. This project led to a strengthened 
collaboration, as Lane Arts expressed interest in maintaining the Walking Tour as a digital, self-
led offering on their website. This cross-sector collaboration demonstrated a shared interest in 
48 
 
 
recognizing Eugene’s queer history to the broader Eugene community. This allowed grassroots 
community efforts to take the lead and utilize the wider breadth of local government to center 
marginalized voices and reimagine city space. 
Anticipated Impacts 
The aim of the Walking Tour was to create social change that leads to future physical 
changes in Eugene. The desired social change was to develop stronger social cohesion. Our 
Town defines social cohesion as “increases in the shared sense of community, attraction-to-
place, patterns of regular interaction among community members, and a sense of trust and 
mutuality” (National Endowment for the Arts et al., 2021, p. 16). This shared sense of, and 
attachment to, community, is developed through activities that increase engagement and 
satisfaction with the community’s social and cultural aspects. This project successfully brought 
people together with similar interests, connecting participants with their city space and 
amplifying community identity and awareness around Eugene’s role as a meaningful historic 
‘mecca’ for queer people. The aim of this project was to set necessary ground for future physical 
change in public space infrastructure by recognizing Eugene’s historic queer significance 
through preservation efforts, such as a series of plaques or a multiple property designation. 
Memorializing Eugene’s LGBTQ+ history would build stronger community ties and a sense of 
identity, leading to stronger social cohesion. Eventually, these social and physical changes could 
cement Eugene as a tourist destination, in turn increasing visitors interested in queer landmarks, 
and leading to positive economic change. 
For future consideration of the impacts of this project, I consider Robert Bedoya’s 
placekeeping solution, his solution to his own placetaking critique. Redaelli (2019) describes 
placetaking as designing spaces for mainstream culture. Loh et al. (2022) explains that Bedoya’s 
49 
 
 
placekeeping alternative involves the integration of all the missing history and culture of a place. 
Bedoya’s critique reminds us to be aware of whose history we are telling – and the history that is 
left out. There must be an emphasis that these spaces continue to belong to many communities. 
For instance, that includes Indigenous communities – the narratives of those who came before 
the city space and its current built environment. The Walking Tour must acknowledge that 
sharing LGBTQ+ historical significance does not come at the cost of discrediting other 
narratives or becoming exclusionary of the space. Additionally, the history was skewed by those 
who remained in the city and chose to tell their stories, likely community members who had 
more positive experiences and associations. Overall, it is critical to recognize this Walking Tour 
does not represent an overarching or all-encompassing history – of these spaces or of the 
LGBTQ+ community. 
Unexpected Impacts 
An unexpected impact of the Walking Tour was the presence of the narrators who 
provided their oral testimonies in the Outliers and Outlaws archive. The presence of the 
narrator’s public memory during the Walking Tour was not expected or considered. While I 
shared the narrative I interpreted through my research, these women shaped the history by 
contributing with their first-hand experience. They had knowledge beyond the archive and 
together, with communal belonging, could interpret and reflect their memory based on the tour’s 
explanation of sites. Other tour participants expressed feeling moved by the narrator’s reaction to 
the various sites and the memories and stories it brought. Blair et al. (2021) explains that public 
memory is shaped through a process of interpretation and reflection. The presence of the 
narrators on the tour allowed for a presentation of the public memory that merged my 
50 
 
 
interpretation and reflection. This impacted the experience of seeing these historic sites in an 
unexpected, and very meaningful way. 
Another unexpected impact was the measure in which the public connected to the 
narrative over the built environment of the sites. The participant feedback demonstrated that 
WOW Hall and the Riviera Room were considered the most significant sites. Interestingly, these 
two sites are inherently different, both aesthetically and practically. WOW Hall has a plaque 
recognizing some of its history, and it is still in similar operation from the late 20th century. The 
Riviera Room, on the other hand, has nothing left to visually demonstrate its history. The 
building is now a community theater, and all tour participants saw a dark plain wall. I believe 
this suggests that the physicality of the site as it exists today is not a leading factor in 
participants’ perceived significance. Instead, it is the narrative – the sites with compelling, 
complex stories, that participants were drawn to.  It is not just the site, but a real connection to 
the site’s narrative that was deemed significant. Participants strongly connected to sites with a 
rich narrative of its history, rather than its current physical structure – this finding was 
unexpected and as to how it will determine the consideration of a plaque. This seemed to suggest 
that an effort to memorialize would require an emphasis on more than just a designation – but 
telling the story of the site. This finding led me to consider a new question; can a plaque properly 
memorialize the critical narratives and memory of Eugene’s queer cultural heritage? 
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Chapter Six: Conclusion 
Public spaces reflect history and public memory. City spaces hold stories of the history 
and culture of the people that have interacted, but only the groups with dominant power are 
highlighted or memorialized. I wanted to explore the history of one underrepresented 
community, the LGBTQ+ community, and consider how our city space impacts our connection 
to their history. I began my research by exploring what the literature had to say on creative 
placemaking, museums and urban place, and queer space. I explored how creative placemaking 
was developed, the key players and the roles they play, and how projects are assessed. Then, I 
considered ways in which museums are viewed as public space and interpretations of public 
memory, and how theories of museum impact understanding of city space. Finally, I examined 
how queer space is recognized as fluid and transgressing dominant powers of space, and the 
efforts taken to preserve queer space. I recognized a gap in the literature regarding the 
conceptualization of queer space as public space in the process of preservation. This led me to 
consider how creative placemaking might provide a tool to accurately preserving historically 
queer spaces. 
My thesis focused on the queer history of Eugene, Oregon. I developed my understanding 
of this history and its associated sites through two sources, both connected to the Museum of 
Natural and Cultural History’s Outliers and Outlaws exhibit. I designed a creative placemaking 
program using two models of cultural programming, collected participant feedback, and assessed 
the event following the criteria of NEA’s Our Town grant model. I conclude my thesis by 
sharing how my creative placemaking project influenced my understanding of preserving queer 
spaces, addressing how my research responds to the gap in the literature, and considering this 
research’s legacy and future work. 
52 
 
 
Preserving Queer Spaces: The Case of Eugene Oregon 
The Walking Tour connected participants with the remnants of Eugene’s LGBTQ+ 
history by visiting and exploring currently unrecognized historical spaces. The tour only 
addressed the place-based history of six locations, mainly due to location and time constraints. 
These sites reflected the transitory and mobile nature of queer space – the queer history that took 
place in these sites were often transgressions and only live on in memory and heritage programs. 
The participant feedback led me to confirm a demonstrated community interest in preserving 
Eugene’s queer history in place. But what could that historic preservation look like; should the 
site that was deemed the ‘most significant’ be memorialized through a plaque or other form of 
historic designation? 
Eugene’s queer history was an expansive era and cannot adequately be remembered 
through one particular “site” or singular “event.” I do believe that there is still benefit in 
administering a plaque to preserve Eugene’s LGBTQ+ history because it aids in continuity and 
helps cement the importance of this history by permanently recognizing it in space. However, a 
plaque does not adequately reflect the legacy of Eugene’s queer history. Through the Walking 
Tour, feedback demonstrated that participants connected with the narratives of the tour, beyond 
the structure in the build environment. The creative placemaking lens maintained the fluid 
conceptualization of queer space and memorialized Eugene’s queer history with a focus on 
narratives and community engagement. Therefore, a creative placemaking program is positioned 
to go beyond recognizing a structure in our built environment to connect the community with 
historical public memory and preserve Eugene’s LGBTQ+ legacy. 
53 
 
 
Memorializing Queer Space through Creative Placemaking 
Eugene, Oregon is only one example of how queer spaces are not given the same 
acknowledgement in preservation as spaces reflecting dominant power. This may be due to a 
lack of consideration in planning, gentrification, and other effects of marginalization, along with 
the transitory nature of queer space. This research aimed to find ways to cement queer spaces 
into the historical narrative of a city, through preservation efforts that recognized queer space as 
both fluid and a transgression of dominant space. In my research, I found that creative 
placemaking is an effective method of memorializing queer spaces because of its focus on local 
communities and ability to move beyond normative preservation practices in its recognition of 
queer space.  
Creative placemaking provides a framework to memorialize local history and strengthen 
the cultural heritage of a city that centers the needs of a community and strives for programming 
that develops a strong sense of communal belonging and identity. Additionally, creative 
placemaking can assess a community’s desire for preservation and allow for recognition of a less 
discussed history. To recognize significance on the local level creates a stronger possibility for 
establishing a national designation. Creative placemaking is a compelling framework that 
facilitates preservation efforts while encouraging cultural engagement and community 
connection. 
Through creative placemaking, preserving queer space (or lavender landmarking) can 
incorporate the narrative and cultural elements of a space, beyond a designation. Creative 
placemaking provides the tools to develop art and cultural practices that allow people to think 
about and use the space differently than just remembering what happened there. This cultural 
framework allows communities to appropriately acknowledge queer spaces that do not fit the 
54 
 
 
structure of dominant conceptualizations of preservation. Therefore, creative placemaking works 
to create new lavender landmarks that memorialize queer spaces as transitory. In efforts to 
memorialize LGBTQ+ history in space, creative placemaking reconstitutes understanding of 
spaces, highlights narratives missing from dominant history, and creates an awareness or 
acknowledgement of connecting the current space as a queer place. 
Further Work 
This research initiates the possibility of developing a creative placemaking model to 
memorialize marginalized, lesser-known narratives in city spaces. However, further work is 
needed to develop a framework that combines the fields of creative placemaking and historic 
preservation. This research also raised considerations about the effectiveness of preservation 
efforts in city spaces to tell the history. Looking at historic designations through a creative 
placemaking lens prompts further questions: What are the social or economic changes that a 
historic multiple property designation or plaques, can do for a local community? What could be 
gained and lost from selecting one site to recognize the occupation of queer space? How might a 
historic designation deliver a narrative history and engage the community? I think planners 
should consider this research as well as these questions when preserving queer spaces. 
 
55 
 
 
Appendix 
The Eugene Queer History Walking Tour Script 
1: Introduction (~ 3 minutes) 
Good evening, everyone! Thank you so much for joining me tonight for a walking tour of 
some of Eugene’s Queer History. My name is Shayna, I use she/they pronouns and I am a senior 
studying Planning Public Policy and Management at the University of Oregon. I want to start by 
giving a brief introduction to what we will be doing today. Eugene, Oregon is a city with a rich 
and complex history. Some of our city’s history has been documented through statues and 
plaques - stories of prominent pioneer figures passing through on the Oregon trail, to Sam and 
Mattie Reynolds, one of the first black families to reside in the city.  
One historically marginalized community, whose stories are not reflected in Eugene’s 
monuments, is the LGBTQ+ community. I will also refer to this as the queer community. As we 
talk tonight about a lesser-known history, I want to recognize the land we are on and that there 
are many other histories that are lesser known or effectively erased. I want to read a land 
acknowledgement: “Eugene is located within the traditional homelands of the Luckiamute 
(LUCKY-ah-mute) and Yamhill bands of the Kalapuya. Following the Willamette Valley Treaty 
of 1855, Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to reservations in Western Oregon. Today, 
living descendants of these people are a part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde 
Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians” (University of Oregon 
& UO Libraries Resources). 
In 2018, Professor Raiskin, a University of Oregon professor of Women’s Gender and 
Sexuality Studies and Linda Long, a Curator of Manuscripts launched an ambitious oral history 
56 
 
 
project on the lesbian history in Eugene, Oregon from the 1960s-90s. This project, known as 
Outliers and Outlaws, now includes a digital archive, a year-long museum exhibit, and even 
some national press. (The project was included in a joke from Seth Meyers on his late night talk 
show!) This archive, along with a report compiled for the city of Eugene back in 2021, depicts 
some of the spaces around Eugene that were prominent during Eugene’s era as a ‘lesbian mecca’ 
in the late 20th century. However, these spaces have not been recognized or memorialized. 
While more are now familiar with Eugene’s fascinating queer history, the stories have yet to 
permeate the cityscape. 
The lesbian migration movement to Eugene through the late 20th century had a profound 
impact on the city: from economic development to social movements. At a contentious political 
moment in our history, when amplifying significant gender and sexuality history is necessary, 
the city of Eugene has not recognized this historic era. This evening, we are going to take a walk 
around some of the ArtWalk with a new lens for the buildings. We will stop at 6 sites, and I will 
share with you some of the history that happened. We will spend a total of about 20 minutes 
walking, stop for around 5 minutes at each site for a brief explanation, and we will end up back 
here. I hope you see our cityscape in a new light, come away with some new questions, and 
consider what other stories exist in the city around us that we might not be familiar with. 
I hope you all received a brochure, this has more complete information about this tour 
and the sites we are going to see - if you have not yet I have more up here. We may have time for 
some questions along the way, and I am happy to hang around after answering any questions you 
may have. There are some experts on our tour who may have their own stories of lived 
experience at these different sites. And with that, let’s begin our tour! 
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2: Cassady’s (~2 minutes) 
Our first stop is here at the historic Eugene Hotel. From its construction in 1924 until 
1979, the Eugene Hotel hosted live music. And Cassady’s was a gay dance club located on the 
second floor of the Eugene Hotel, referred to as a popular nightlife spot. 
In the Outliers and Outlaws archive, one of the narrators Harriet Merrick talks about 
Terry Bean, a gay man who owned Cassady’s when it was later known as Cassady’s Tavern and 
located on 13th street. Terry Bean is a gay man who was part of many LGBT movements, 
including the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. 
At the time, Merrick shared that Bean was part of the campaign Right to Privacy, later 
referred to as the Right to Pride, and he would host people at his bar where they could bring their 
ballots and work on these different campaigns. Right to Pride was founded in the 80’s by Bean 
and some others. This political action committee was involved in many fundraising efforts and 
advocated for gay liberation. 
Now, Eugene Hotel has been recognized as a national landmark since 1982 *indicate to 
plaque*. The Hotel was the largest in Eugene from its construction until the 1970s. Before it 
closed in the 80’s, due to competition from the Valley River Plaza convention center, it was 
regarded as a central meeting place. Not only was it recognized as a center for business and 
social activities, but it was also the “headquarters for most of the fund-raising efforts of the local 
political groups."” (Ruiz and Butler, 2021, p. 10). Since 1983, the Eugene Hotel has operated as 
a senior citizen housing facility and the Hotel will be celebrating its 100th year anniversary next 
year. 
58 
 
 
3: Hunter Room (~1 minute) 
We will make a brief stop here, at the location of the Hunter Room, another early 
establishment for queer people in Eugene. After the Hunter Room, this same location was 
Perry’s on Pearl, which opened in 1981, and Club Arena, from around 83 to 93.  
There is less readily available information on this site, but the Lane County Music 
History Project stated that “Club Arena was known as the “Studio 54 of Eugene” in the ’80s and 
’90s and was one of the first venues in the city to cater to a LGBTIA+ clientele” (Ruiz and 
Butler, 2021).  
4: Peralandra (~2 minutes) 
Our third stop is actually at the second location of a bookstore called Peralandra, a 
bookstore that focused on the metaphysical. This store had three locations in total. The works in 
the bookstore were characterized as ‘lesbian metaphysical works,’ and included books on 
everything from medication and mystical traditions - to fiction, politics, and women’s studies.  
Catherine Harris, who became the owner of the bookstore, was also interviewed in the 
Outliers and Outlaws archive. She said at the time, the connection of feminism and spirituality 
was widely held in the community, and that allowed her bookstore to have success. Another 
narrator in the archive, Maura Scanlon, also worked at Peralandra. She discussed how she dealt 
with the crystals and the tarot cards. Harris shared that the demise of the bookstore came with the 
rise of Amazon.  
Now, a fun fact is that Peralandra sponsored one of Eugene’s lesbian softball teams! At 
the time, in Eugene a big part of the lesbian community were the sports teams formed by women. 
The Peralandra bookstore sponsored a team called the Pearl Divers. The Pearl Divers were 
known to take their softball games very seriously and were seen processing their games 
59 
 
 
afterwards through debriefings and emotional conversations - whether they won or lost a game. 
Perhaps books in this very store inspired them! 
Peralandra also was not the only feminist bookstore in Eugene. Mother Kali’s was 
another bookstore that also served as a resource for the community to exchange information - 
including people looking for housing and a space where people came to meet for advice. In fact, 
if you were to travel further down this street, all the way to Lawrence, you would arrive at the 
first location of Mother Kali’s bookstore! There were four in total. 
5: Riviera Room (~4) 
Our next stop is the Riviera Room, a spot that was commonly referred to as the Riv 
Room. “The Riviera Room (...) was an important place for socializing within the gay and lesbian 
community. The Riv Room would have women's nights which became a significant part of 
nightlife for the community” (McBride, 2021). Women would go to the Riviera Room to play 
pool, drink, and meet the other newcomers arriving in Eugene. The Riviera Room had booths, a 
big mural of the Riviera in the back, loud music, and a small dance floor. Unfortunately, these 
women’s nights were also targeted by the police. In the archive, many lesbians discussed hate 
crimes that queer people faced at the Riviera Room. 
One narrator, Lynn Piknkey explained that people would leave the bar in groups and that 
there was a book door for a reason.  Another narrator, Judy Goldstein, explained that “there 
always had to be an equal number of men and women on the dance floor at all times, in case the 
police came and did a raid. They would switch partners and appear to be het partners” (McBride, 
2021). 
A particularly distressing story comes from the narrator Susi Grimes, who described a 
hate crime she experienced at the Riviera Room. Grimes expressed there was a logging culture in 
60 
 
 
town and she experienced hostility from some of that community, from a feeling of anger 
regarding what was happening to ‘their’ town. She spoke of a man who came into the bar and 
tried to talk to her, before realizing the kind of bar he was in. He then got mad and attacked her. 
Susie’s friends ended up holding him down until the police came. She ends her story by 
explaining that when she went to talk to the district attorney, no charges were pressed. And he 
said, “you shouldn’t have been in the place. This was nothing but a bar room fight” (ARCHIVE | 
Outliers and Outlaws). 
Harriet Merrick also discussed the hostility they experienced from the police, who would 
come to the Riv Room and go to each table to check ID. She recalled that the police always had a 
hand on their holster, and that was a message of intimidation that was being transmitted. 
However, the bar was seen as a lot of fun. Merrick said for the most part, people were having a 
really good time and this was a place that they could be free to be themselves. 
6: De Frisco’s Restaurant (~3 minutes) 
As we discussed at our last location, there were many unjust incidents queer people faced 
in our city. This building, which is now the Atrium, used to be a restaurant called De Frisco’s. 
In the archive, the narrator Maura Scanlon recounts her experience at this restaurant, and 
the discrimination she faced there from the owner. Maura shared that a friend of hers went to the 
restaurant and while holding hands, the owner asked them to leave, saying “ladies, if you want to 
hold hands, this is not the place for you.” (ARCHIVE | Outliers and Outlaws). 
“In sharing her experience with other members of the lesbian community, [people rallied 
together to organize] a "zap," or [a] sit-in at the restaurant” (McBride, 2021). Maura explained 
that the sit-in involved more than just sitting in the restaurant, but actively taking part in the 
restaurant. She said the sit-in was wall- to wall. Maura saw the waitress make a phone call, 
61 
 
 
before a physical altercation occurred when the owner came up to one of the women standing by 
the door and grabbed her by the shirt, saying ‘out of my restaurant.’  
So, Maura, along with a small group of others spoke with the owner after regarding what 
type of restaurant he wanted to have. And, following this encounter, “many members of the 
lesbian community boycotted the restaurant and Maura herself didn't go back for years” 
(McBride, 2021). Now, this is not the only example of discrimination that queer people faced in 
Eugene, and not the only example of the kind of political organizing and support the community 
rallied around to support and uplift each other.  
We will discuss this a little further at our final stop. Now the final location that we will be 
visiting will take us on the same path that Maura herself went on, after experiencing 
discrimination at this restaurant. And the place where she spoke with Sally Sheklow, one of the 
women who helped rally support and organize the sit-in at De Frisco’s. Let’s head there now.  
7: WOW Hall (~3) 
WOW Hall is the only site we are visiting today that remains in similar operation to its 
state in the late 20th century. WOW Hall is a community center for the performing arts and 
continues to hold performances and community events like classes, workshops, and lectures. 
Like our first stop this evening, this site is on the National Register of Historic Places. It 
was entered in 1996. (In fact, John Hunzicker, the architect for the Eugene Hotel, also designed 
WOW Hall.) The WOW Hall was originally a fraternal hall, built in 1932 for the skilled-trades 
union Woodmen of the World, or WOW. This was a fraternity that supported timber workers and 
their families.  
The lengthy, 75-page document that details the historic significance of this building, 
details its use in the 1970s as a community space where theater and dance groups occurred. One 
62 
 
 
specific group included is the Eugene Dance Collective. One member of the outliers and outlaws 
archive, Linda Rose, discusses her involvement with this dance group - which allowed people 
with dance or no dance backgrounds who would perform for the community (Ruiz and Butler, 
2021). 
This performance venue has hosted many other events with and for members of the 
LGBTQ+ community at the time. In the 70’s, there was a women’s cabaret show called Steam 
Heat that occurred inside of WOW Hall. They included music from musicals and songs from the 
30’s and 40’s. Their show even brought some waves because they tried to host a women’s only 
show at the venue. 
There was also WYMPROV! a lesbian comedy improv group that was made up by 4 
narrators from the outliers and outlaws project, Sally Sheklow, Enid Lefton, Vicki Silvers, and 
Debbi Martin. In her interview, Enid recalls instances of performing at WOW Hall, including a 
fundraiser to fight Referendum 51. Referendum 51 called to repeal an ordinance that prohibited 
sexual orientation discrimination in the city. Unfortunately, this bill did pass- the first of many 
ballot measures to come that intended to limit gay rights in Oregon.  
In 1992, many of the same lesbians who performed at WOW were engaged in efforts to 
ensure Ballot Measure 9 did not pass. Ballot Measure 9 was an effort to legislate the suppression 
of homosexuality, by legally categorizing homosexuality with determined deviant sexual 
practices. Ballot Measure 9 did not pass, and 2 years later, “the City of Eugene passed a gay 
rights ordinance and the University of Oregon passed a non-discrimination policy” (Ruiz and 
Butler, 2021). In 2007 domestic partnerships were legislated, which allowed partners many - but 
not all - of the legal benefits of marriage. “In 2013, the State of Oregon began recognized same-
63 
 
 
sex marriages that were contracted elsewhere, and [finally,] a 2015 United States Supreme Court 
ruling made gay marriage legal in every state” (Ruiz and Butler, 2021, p. 16). 
I want to end by sharing one more story at this location, about Sally Sheklow. Sally was 
in WYMPROV, and you may recall I mentioned Sally Sheklow briefly when we stopped at De 
Frisco’s Restaurant. One of my favorite stories of Sally’s occurred here. Now Sally, along with 
her partner Enid, loved to create parodies of songs, especially musicals. One that Sally went on 
to perform was the Sound of Lesbians. I’ll spare you all from my rendition of it. But Sally used 
the known songs in the Sound of Music to develop an insightful, wonderful rendition - with a 
focus on women’s health and discovering your true identity. Now, Sally’s parody gained enough 
traction, that she received a cease and desist letter from Roger’s and Hammerstein, the creators 
of the Sound of Music. Officially a ‘banned’ show, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s attorney, 
permitted Sally to do her final performance of the Sound of Lesbians right here at WOW Hall. 
These are just some examples of the ways WOW Hall served as a creative venue for 
queer folks to perform - though, as we have discussed, not without facing hate and 
discrimination along the way. 
8: Conclusion (at WOW Hall) (~1 minute) 
As I have shared, while our tour took us to six sites tonight, a majority of these spaces 
were chosen because of their proximity to our ArtWalk. There are so many more sites - broadly 
in the city of Eugene and in Southern Oregon more generally, that hold their own histories and 
stories. I implore you all to check out an incredible project undertaken by a graduate student, 
Molly McBride, who created a digital map that shows you even more sites and other stories we 
did not discuss today. 
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I want to thank each and every one of you for taking the time this evening to participate 
in this walking tour.  My goal this evening was to introduce members of the Eugene community 
to some of our significant queer history in Eugene through a place-based approach - by actually 
visiting, and hopefully connecting, with some of the significant sites connected.  
CALL TO ACTION: To that end, please help me in my research by taking a moment 
now to scan the QR code on the back of your brochure. It will take you to a feedback form with 
two short questions and an option for additional feedback - and it is completely anonymous. I 
also have some paper copies if anyone prefers that. 
I am happy to stick around to answer any questions! I will be walking back to our initial 
meeting spot at the farmer’s market pavilion, and I implore you all to continue to explore the 
ArtsWalk this evening! Thank you again. 
 
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Bibliography 
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