Tag Chez Pierre

• Kyler Chittick
• October 24, 2024
• 0 Comments
• 9 minutes Read

Sex and Sin in the City of Champions: The Story of Chez Pierre

Pierre Cochard first hired two drag queens to perform at Pegasus in 1971, which was “a straight business” located on 106 Street North of Jasper Avenue. Millie (Paul Chisholm) and Chatty Cathy (Duane Shave) performed Edmonton’s first “public drag show.”

Cochard steadfastly defended queer people, believing that Chez Pierre should be a safe space for sexual dissidents. He famously said, “Strippers are God’s children too.” Thanks to Cochard’s “unfaltering acceptance,” Chez Pierre “remains a welcoming home for Edmonton’s drag scene to this day.”

• Ron Byers
• March 27, 2023
• 0 Comments
• 9 minutes Read

Cruising at The Pig

Cruising for sex in the late 60’s and early 70’s was an experience that seems seedy and dangerous by today’s standards but at the time when there were no protected spaces for gay men to connect with each other they had to carve out their own places at local businesses that were willing to allow gay men to gather as long as some discretion was used. The Pig N Whistle Lunch Room was one of those places. Located at 10548 Jasper Avenue, it opened around 1938 and was bought by local businessman Henry Wener in 1942. During the many…