The Cuff | |
 The bar's exterior in 2012 | |
  Cuff Complex Location in Washington | |
| Address | 1533 13th Avenue |
|---|---|
| Location | Seattle, Washington, United States |
| Coordinates | 47°36′54″N122°18′57″W / 47.61511°N 122.31584°W |
| Type | Gay bar, nightclub |
| Opened | 1993 |
| Website | |
| cuffcomplex | |
Cuff Complex, also known as The Cuff, [1] is a gay bar and nightclub in Seattle, Washington, in the United States.
Cuff Complex is located at 1533 13th Avenue in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. The business features four bars and a large deck. It attracts a diverse crowd, but is known for leather. [2]
The bar was established by two men who wanted a "positive social outlet for people who were into leather, Levi's and uniforms". Cuff, Ltd. was created in December 1992 and building construction began in January 1993. Randy Fields purchased Cuff in 2004. The bar celebrated its twentieth anniversary in March 2013. [3]
Cuff Complex hosts meetings and social gatherings for Northwest Bears, [4] POZ Seattle (a grassroots organization of HIV+ gay men), [5] Seattle Men in Leather, [6] the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and the Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf. [7] It also hosts an annual Sunday Pride Street Party. [8]
In 1995 and 2001, Cuff Complex received the Business of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards. [9]
In 2009, Seattle Weekly said of the bar's clientele, "Whereas gay clubs like Neighbours and R-Place have been infiltrated by heteros in recent years, the Cuff still retains a predominantly gay male crowd. Maybe it's the sex shop full of cock rings and flogs. Or the portrait of a lion having sex with a dude on the wall. Or the fact that ladies are quarantined to a single unisex bathroom. Whatever the reason, vaginas are few and far between at the Cuff." [10]
In gay culture, a bear is a larger and often hairier man who projects an image of rugged masculinity.
Leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities that involve leather garments, such as leather jackets, vests, boots, chaps, harnesses, or other items. Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures. Many participants associate leather culture with BDSM practices and its many subcultures. For some, black leather clothing is an erotic fashion that expresses heightened masculinity or the appropriation of sexual power; love of motorcycles, motorcycle clubs and independence; and/or engagement in sexual kink or leather fetishism.
Capitol Hill is a densely populated residential district in Seattle, Washington, United States. One of the city's most popular nightlife and entertainment districts, it is home to a historic gay village and vibrant counterculture community.
Folsom Street Fair (FSF) is an annual BDSM and leather subculture street fair, held in September that concludes San Francisco's "Leather Pride Week". The Folsom Street Fair, sometimes referred to simply as "Folsom", takes place on the last Sunday in September, on Folsom Street between 8th and 13th Streets, in San Francisco's South of Market district.
The Leather Archives & Museum (LA&M) is a community archives, library, and museum located in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by Chuck Renslow and Tony DeBlase in 1991, its mission is "making leather, kink, BDSM, and fetish accessible through research, preservation, education and community engagement." The LA&M is a leading conservator of queer erotic art. Its permanent collection features some of the most iconic LGBT artists of the twentieth century, including the complete works of Bill Schmeling and many of Dom Orejudos' drawings and murals.
National Leather Association International (NLA-I) is a BDSM organization, based in the United States with chapters in various cities in the United States and Canada. It was founded in 1986 as the "National Leather Association" (NLA), as a national integrated organization including gay leathermen, kinky heterosexuals and bisexuals, SM lesbians and transgender sadomasochists, and representing their interests in the face of prosecutions. Adding "International" to its name in 1991, the organization staged "Living in Leather" gatherings until 2002. After a period of decline around the turn of the millennium, NLA-I has become more active again and runs a series of awards for fiction and non-fiction writing. NLA-I’s records can be found at the Leather Archives and Museum.
Recorded history of the LGBT community in Seattle begins with the Washington Sodomy Law of 1893. In the 1920s and 1930s there were several establishments in Seattle which were open to homosexuals. The Double Header, opened in 1934, may have been the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the United States until it closed in December 2015. On 19 November 1958, an injunction instructed the city police not to question customers of gay bars unless there was a "good cause" in connection with an actual investigation. In the 1960s, Seattle came to be seen as providing an accepting environment, and an increasing number of gay and lesbians were drawn to the city. In 1967 University of Washington's Professor Nick Heer founded the Dorian Society, the first group in Seattle to support gay rights.
Throughout Dallas–Fort Worth, there is a large lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Since 2005, DFW has constituted one of the largest LGBT communities in Texas.
Three Sisters Tavern, sometimes abridged as Three Sisters and nicknamed "Six Tits", was a gay bar and strip club in Portland, Oregon, United States. The bar was founded in 1964 and began catering to Portland's gay community in 1997 following the deaths of the original owners. The business evolved into a strip club featuring an all-male revue. Also frequented by women, sometimes for bachelorette parties, Three Sisters was considered a hub of Portland's nightlife before closing in 2004.
Pony is a gay bar in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, in the U.S. state of Washington.
Seattle has a notably large LGBT community, and the city of Seattle has protected gay and lesbian workers since the passage of the Fair Employment Practice Ordinance in 1973. Seattle's LGBT culture has been celebrated at Seattle Pride which began in 1977 as Gay Pride Week. Gay cabaret traveled in a circuit including Seattle and San Francisco since the 1930s. Seattle had gay-friendly clubs and bars since the 1930s including The Casino in Underground Seattle at Pioneer Square which allowed same-sex dancing since 1930, and upstairs from it, The Double Header, in continuous operation since 1933 or 1934 until 2015, was thought to be the oldest gay bar in the United States.
The Dirty Duck building, or Dirty Duck Tavern building, was located at the intersection of Northwest Third Avenue and Glisan Street in Portland, Oregon's Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, in the United States. Originally called the Kiernan Building, the one-story structure earned its nickname from Gail's Dirty Duck Tavern, a gay bar that served as a tenant for 25 years.
Starky's Restaurant and Bar, or simply Starky's, was a gay bar and restaurant in Portland, Oregon's Kerns neighborhood, in the United States. Established in 1984, the venue became a fixture in Portland's gay community before closing in 2015. It hosted LGBT events and served as a gathering space for leather enthusiasts and the Oregon Bears, among other groups. Starky's received a generally positive reception and was most known for its Bloody Marys, brunch, and outdoor seating.
Chuck Renslow was an American businessperson, known for pioneering homoerotic male photography in the mid-20th-century US, and establishing many landmarks of late-20th-century gay male culture, especially in the Chicago area. His accomplishments included the cofounding with Tony DeBlase of the Leather Archives and Museum, the cofounding with Dom Orejudos of the Gold Coast bar, Man's Country bathhouse, and the International Mr. Leather competition, and the founding by himself alone of Chicago's August White Party, and the magazines Triumph, Rawhide, and Mars. He was the romantic partner of Dom Orejudos and later Ron Ehemann.
Seattle Eagle, or The Eagle, is a gay bar in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, in the U.S. state of Washington.
Union Seattle, or simply Union, is a gay bar and cocktail lounge in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, on Union Street between 10th and 11th Ave, in the U.S. state of Washington.
The Eagle is a name used by multiple gay bars. It is not a franchise or chain of gay bars, but rather a name adopted by bars inspired by The Eagle's Nest, a leather bar in New York City. Bars that use the name "Eagle" typically cater to a clientele of gay men in leather and other kink subcultures. As of 2017, over 30 gay bars in locations around the world operate under the name "Eagle".
Diesel is a gay bar in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington.
CC Attle's is a gay bar in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, in the U.S. state of Washington.
Purr Cocktail Lounge was a gay bar and nightclub in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington. The video bar operated on Capitol Hill from 2005 to 2017, when it relocated to Montlake. Purr hosted events and activities ranging from drag shows and karaoke to viewing parties for elections and television shows. Magazines Out and Out Traveler included the venue in their lists of the world's 200 "greatest" gay bars. Purr closed in 2018.
