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Val Eastwood

Val Eastwood (17 August 1927 – 10 December 2009) was a dancer, swimwear model[1] and author best known for operating a series of cafes through the 1950s to 1970s that became a gathering point for Melbourne's gay and lesbian community. She described herself as "outrageous", was openly lesbian, and regularly wore men's suits with lipstick in public.[2]

As a teenager, Eastwood ran her own dancing school in Ivanhoe, before working with Tivoli Theatre in the Melbourne central business district, then becoming partner in the Betty Lee Academy of dance at the age of 17.[3]

Eastwood opened her first cafe, Val's Coffee Lounge, in her mid twenties, at 123 Swanston Street in Melbourne's CBD.[4] This was a rare venue which welcomed the "camp" community, which was otherwise underground.[1] Initially a single, upstairs floor which seated 80, it expanded to cover two levels, open from morning until late at night, at a time when evening alcohol sales were forbidden.[2] The coffee lounge catered to theatre audiences, and particularly gay people. There was a weekly live music concert.[2] Over the next two decades, this was followed by Cafe 31 in St Kilda, Cafe Ad Lib in South Yarra and Val's Restaurant in Hawthorn.

In the 1960s she began writing short stories, a collection of which were published in 2009 as The Travelling Mind of Val Eastwood, by the Australian Queer Archives (previously the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives).[4][5]

In 2009, the name Val's Cafe was used for a government-funded program to support ageing LGBTI people in health and wellbeing.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b "Melbourne's Bohemian past and Richard Avedon's People | Daily Review: Film, stage and music reviews, interviews and more". dailyreview.com.au. 5 January 2015. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Melbourne, Queen City of the South - Val's Coffee Shop". Melbourne Gay & Lesbian History series. 9 December 2009. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Ballroom Personalities". The Age. No. 28, 721. Victoria, Australia. 15 May 1947. p. 7. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ a b Willett, Graham (5 January 2010). "An 'outrageous' figure of the 1950s". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  5. ^ Eastwood, Val (2009). The travelling mind of Val Eastwood: short stories by Val Eastwood. Interviewer: Ruth Ford (Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives). Parkville, Victoria (Australia): Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives. ISBN 9780646525372.
  6. ^ "Val's Cafe : Melbourne School of Population and Global Health". Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. 6 October 2016. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
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