Leon's

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Leon's is Baltimore's oldest continuously operating gay bar. The bar’s current name comes from Leon Lampe, who owned the bar during the 1930s. 870 Park Avenue was never a speakeasy though Leon Lampe and his brother Sam ran several speakeasies during Prohibition. They were also into insurance fraud, racketeering, witness tampering and bootlegging. After WWII, the bar became a hangout for beatniks and artists with a mix of gay and straight patrons. Since 1957, Leon’s has operated as a gay bar.

It is rumored that in its early days as a gay bar, patrons had to say a password before they were let in the door: “Are you a friend of Dorothy?” A common identifier among gay men at that time, the phrase is a reference to Dorothy Gale of the Wizard of Oz—reportedly for Dorothy's acceptance of her friends despite their unusual identities.