A couple of weeks ago, I paid a visit to my neighbor Mikael Andrews when I noticed something pretty sweet in his apartment. He had the above poster for the 1989 Mr. Prime Choice contest held at the Ripcord sitting upright on his floor waiting to be hung. The Ripcord was the old leather/Levi club in town before the Dallas Eagle. He told me during a major clean-out at Resource Center Dallas, where he works with the Community Health Program, this was among the items destined for disposal. On top of the Ripcord being a club Andrews enjoyed, he thought it signified a piece of Dallas’ LGBT history, so he asked if he could have and they said yes.
He told me he couldn’t let a piece like this just slip away. And I thought, more people have to see this. So I snapped a few pics of the poster to share. Just click on ’em to enlarge.
UPDATE: Andrews gave me a call wanting to clarify that the poster actually wasn’t going to be thrown away. As it turned out, RCD peeps wasn’t quite sure where it came from, if it had been donated or why they had it in the first place. Andrews offered to take it for safe-keeping. Andrews and RCD’s Rafael McDonnell didn’t want anyone to think that historic items were being tossed in the trash. This one in particular, though, just had a big question mark over it, but it’s now in the safe hands of Andrews.
Thanks for sharing! I wasn’t living here then…in fact, i was still in elementary school. It’s nice to see a little gay history!
Just in case they can’t find a place for it, the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago would love that for their collection. They have a large amount of memorabilia from Dallas and the metroplex that reflects our community’s colorful and extensive leather history.