MILDRED’S PALACE DOCUMENTARY (WORKING TITLE)

For nearly four decades, Portland was home to a network of all-ages queer youth nightclubs that operated outside the city’s bar culture. Beginning in the late 1970s as Mildred’s Palace and continuing in different forms through 2016 (eventually closing as The Escape), these venues created rare public space for LGBTQ teenagers and young adults at a time when few such options existed.

We are currently completing a documentary that examines that history in detail. The film draws from more than sixty interviews and a substantial archive of photographs, flyers, and personal recordings. Founders Lanny Swerdlow and Bill Hicks help trace the origins of the model, while former attendees, staff, and community members reflect on how the clubs functioned, how they were regulated and debated, and what they represented to the people who passed through them.

People remember these clubs in very different ways. For some, they were formative spaces; places to see and be seen, to connect with others like themselves. For others, the memories are more complicated, reflecting the challenges and pressures of queer youth culture at the time. The film presents all of these perspectives side by side, showing the full picture of what these spaces meant and how they existed within a wider social and political context.

The timing of this project also matters. In our current political and cultural climate where queer spaces, histories, and bodies are once again being debated, restricted, or erased – preserving and contextualizing this history feels especially urgent. These clubs existed as acts of resistance, survival, and community, and telling their story now is part of ensuring that history is not flattened, distorted, or forgotten.

As post-production continues, the goal is to preserve and contextualize a chapter of Portland’s queer history that has largely existed through word of mouth. By documenting this history, we acknowledge what was built, what was risked, and what it meant to belong.

We are seeking angel investors to help bring this documentary to completion. Interested parties may contact hello@ridingsavenue.com for more information.