The Nite Beat was a hard-core diesel bar. Butches were butches, femmes were femmes, and my generation of role-light young feminists was viewed with total suspicion. Although it was on street level, you felt as though you were walking into a basement. My first time there, I met Buffy Lee John, who made little circles in the palm of my hand with her middle finger and whispered, "You've had the rest, baby, now have the best!" Buffy was a skinny little bulldyke, cigarettes rolled into the sleeve of her black muscle shirt, tattoo of the famous femme Lana on her bicep. All the butches of the generation just before mine competed for Lana, especially Buffy Lee John and Spike the Dyke. Some really good stories that I'll save for later!

Maryann G.