Shelly’s Leg

June 18, 2024 10:51 AM

Shelly’s Leg (1973-1977) was Seattle’s first disco, an unapologetically gay establishment that welcomed revelers of every sexuality. It was named after Shelly Bauman, a Florida transplant who, in a tragic accident, lost a leg following a parade mishap in Pioneer Square. When Bauman was awarded a settlement, she provided financial support to friends who transformed an old hotel at 77 S Main Street into the disco.
posted by ShooBoo (16 comments total)

I’ve lived in Seattle for almost 30 years and have never heard about this. Fascinating!
posted by tristeza at 12:07 PM on June 18

This is a great story. Thanks!
posted by freakazoid at 12:51 PM on June 18

Yiiiiikes, that lady had....a lot going on, to say the least.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:41 PM on June 18 [2 favorites]

Hmm, I have no memory of the parade and cannon but I always regretted not visiting Shelly's Leg but now reading the timeline I would have been too young and way way too chicken to visit. So good, this post clears up a bit of random personal history.

I do recall a pleasant lunch in the Market where I had a lovely chat about wild strawberries in France, almost certainly with chef Francois Kissel.
posted by sammyo at 1:51 PM on June 18 [1 favorite]

Holy crap! What a life!
posted by pracowity at 2:43 PM on June 18 [1 favorite]

That is an absolutely fantastic venue name!
posted by freethefeet at 5:57 PM on June 18

[internal monologue] she lost a leg at a parade? how?? [reads tfa] CANNON???
posted by taquito sunrise at 7:59 PM on June 18 [1 favorite]

The Kissels held their dinner party on the top floor of a nearby parking garage nicknamed the Sinking Ship for the way the triangular structure seemed to jut out of the ground like the prow of a doomed boat

I know this place
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 8:09 PM on June 18 [2 favorites]

What a life
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 8:33 PM on June 18

[internal monologue] she lost a leg at a parade? how?? [reads tfa] CANNON???

Don't forget the flaming wheelchair tube incident.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:41 PM on June 18

Bauman was also a smoker who used oxygen.

I shuddered a little when I read this.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:48 PM on June 18 [1 favorite]

It's amazing that the viaduct was replaced with another multilane highway, just one that is at ground level. Such a wasted opportunity to remake the waterfront.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:41 PM on June 18

Being as it was the Discovery Institute's idea, it certainly was intelligently designed!
posted by stet at 5:41 PM on June 19

It's amazing that the viaduct was replaced with another multilane highway, just one that is at ground level. Such a wasted opportunity to remake the waterfront.

The viaduct was replaced with an underground toll tunnel.
posted by QuakerMel at 7:30 AM on June 20

It sure feels like a multilane highway. It's definitely prioritizing motorists, not anybody else.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:22 PM on June 20

The viaduct was replaced with an underground toll tunnel.

Kind of, there is now a tunnel that goes under the city, definitely, and it was built to connect two points of the former viaduct that were located north and south of downtown. I am speaking more specifically of the multilane highway that was built along the ground of the waterfront, and which replaces the footprint of the viaduct where it was once physically situated.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:10 PM on June 20