The Purple Cow
Official Formation: July 4th, 1969 (accounts as early as 1965)
Owner: Gerda Luck
Type: Restaurant and bar
Address: 1515 Crestridge and B St., near the Fort Carson B Gate.
Purpose: A German restaurant and bar with a primarily straight audience. It was the site of drag shows in 1969, a time when drag was illegal in Colorado Springs.
Related People: Elvira, Don Collier
Closed: 1971
[1][2][3]
A German restaurant and bar that hosted drag shows in Colorado Springs in 1969. It is also the place that noted actress, Elvira, would first perform in drag.
History
On July 4th, 1969, Karen Muir Davis opened her restaurant, The Purple Cow, at the corner of Crestridge and B St., near the Fort Carson army base. The building used to house a restaurant and country club called The Moors, which overlooked the Stratmoor Hills golf course.
 From the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph |
 An ad for the Purple Cow that ran in July 1969 |
|---|---|
| Within a few months, by September, 1969, the bar changed hands to Gerda Luck, who transformed it into a German restaurant. |
The First Drag Shows in Colorado Springs?
In December, Ray Herst, Gazette Leisuretime Editor released the following article.
The article details the performance as unique to Colorado Springs because it was a show of "female impersonators," specifically "The Family" led by Robert Juleff, owner of the Queen Mary nightclub in Los Angeles. While four of the performers were from L.A., specifically Al Wood, Tawny Tann, the show also included two local performers - Mister Ronnie and Pattie. [4]
The Purple Cow Today
At first, I thought the building was gone because searching "1515 Crestridge" placed the address at a railroad crossing with no buildings around it.
With further research, I think it does exist and is now Deja Vu Showgirls, based on comparisons with maps from the time.
Community Stories
"Four other gay men and | put on the first public drag show in Colorado Springs at a bar called Rathskellar. Soon after that, the other drag bar in Colorado Springs was The Purple Cow, which {was Mafia-owned and} brought in a lot of the female impersonators from The Queen Mary in Los Angeles like Bobbie Scott, Tanya, and Bobbie Tremain."
One night, on my way home from Fort Carson, I stopped off at a club called The Purple Cow that I’d passed a million times. I was shocked and amazed by what I found. There, dressed in sparkling rhinestones and miles of gold lamé, were the most glamorous creatures I’d ever seen outside of the movies. And they were so... big! It took some time, but I finally realized they were men dressed in sexy women’s clothing. I’d never heard about, let alone seen, anything like it before. Of course, I became a regular, stopping in after work at the base every night to watch them impersonate stars like Diana Ross, Judy Garland, and Barbra Streisand. They didn’t actually sing, but mouthed the words to songs, just like I was so fond of doing as a youngster. I wondered, could you really make a living doing that?
Soon, I struck up a conversation with the person who seemed to be the star of the show, a very tall, thin Black man named Tawny Tann. He introduced me to the other performers, Stephan and Mr. Bobbie (who sometimes played the role of “the man,” if they happened to be lip-synching to, say, Peaches and Herb). For some reason, maybe so there would be some entertainment for the occasional straight GI who accidentally wandered in, they decided I would make a great addition to the lineup, and invited me to go-go-dance there on weekends. Mr. Bobbie rigged up a three-foot-bythree-foot cube, which was strategically placed in the middle of the room and surrounded by cocktail tables. After my gigs at Fort Carson, I finished up the night at the Purple Cow to make a few extra bucks. Not long after I started working there, Stephan went MIA one night and I was pressed into service. In a last-minute frenzy, Tawny pinned me into a glitzy gown, smeared some white lipstick on my mouth, and stuck an Afro wig on my head. Under the glow of a black light, I was transformed into Flo from the Supremes, while we lip-synched our hearts out to “Stop! In the Name of Love.” Yes, dear gay reader—I was a teenage drag queen!
Key Dates
- 1965 - Date approximate. According to her own account, Elvira starts performing at The Purple Cow at the age of 14. She stands in for a drag queen who had to call out one night, but soon becomes a regular part of the act. This precedes the official opening announcement of The Purple Cow. Working to figure out this discrepancy.
- July 4, 1969 - The Purple Cow changes hands from Karen Muir Davis to Gerda Luck, and changes from serving New Orleans Cuisine to German. Under Gerda Luck's ownership, the club begins to host some of the first drag shows in Colorado Springs.
- December 27, 1969 - "The Family," an LA-based drag troupe under the direction of Robert Juleff, is performing in Colorado Springs. I am unsure when their time at the Purple Cow started or ended. Elvira, Cassandra Peterson at the time, begins to perform alongside them.
- August 1971 - The Purple Cow changed hands to Gabe Duenas and became "The Critic's Choice." It was also called "Beefeaters II." Gabe cites issues with the venue's reputation as a "loser's place" because of its changing ownership and history as a strip club. [7]
Questions
-
- No. The Purple Cow had a Rathskellar, but the Rathskeller in question was beneath Edelweiss.
References
The Security Advertiser and the Fountain Valley News, Volume XIII, Number 4, January 23, 1970 ↩︎
According to Donaciano, drag was illegal at the time that drag shows were occurring at The Rathskellar and The Purple Cow. I need to research this more. Was that an official ↩︎
The building's address is now 2415 B St. ↩︎
Herst, Ray. “Unique Is the Word for the Type Of Entertainment At the Purple Cow.” Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph (Colorado Springs, CO), December 27, 1969. Newspaper Archive. https://access-newspaperarchive-com.ppld.idm.oclc.org/us/colorado/colorado-springs/colorado-springs-gazette/1969/12-27/page-71/. ↩︎
The Falconews - Air Force Academy, Volume 11, Number 38, July 25, 1969 ↩︎
Peterson, Cassandra. 2021. Yours Cruelly, Elvira. Hachette Book Group, Inc. ↩︎
Colorado Springs Gazette (Colorado Springs, CO). “Nite Life.” August 21, 1971. Newspaper Archive. https://access-newspaperarchive-com.ppld.idm.oclc.org/us/colorado/colorado-springs/colorado-springs-gazette/1971/08-21/page-105. ↩︎
Herst, Ray. “Over the Coffee Cup.” Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph (Colorado Springs, CO), October 4, 1969. Newspaper Archive. https://access-newspaperarchive-com.ppld.idm.oclc.org/us/colorado/colorado-springs/colorado-springs-gazette/1969/10-04/page-94/. ↩︎
This is a topic of continued research. Did the Purple Cow operate unofficially out of the Moors prior to the building officially becoming owned and named The Purple Cow? Or is it just an error in memory? There were two levels to the building. Just as the Rathskellar was the underground side of Edelweiss, was the Purple Cow the underground side of The Moors? This is all speculation that requires more study. ↩︎
Collier, Dawn. 1978. EXCLUSIVE A Dialogue with Causha FEMINISM vs. FEMALE IMPERSONATION. March 17. Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=OTF19780317-01.2.32. ↩︎
I am using the term female impersonator here as that is the language Collier and Causha use for themselves in the interview. ↩︎
Michelson, Noah. 2018. “Elvira On Her Life-Changing Night With Elvis At 17, Her Legendary Cleavage And More.” HuffPost, September 26. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/elvira-mistress-of-the-dark_n_5ba26dbbe4b0823ea19a7217. ↩︎