The Bird Cage Theatre, located in Tombstone Arizona, was the wildest and wickedest bordello in America between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast. In 9 years this lusty den of iniquity never closed its doors, 24 hours a day.

The Bird Cage had 14 cage cribs lined with red velvet suspended from the ceiling above the gambling casino and dance hall. And it was in these bird cages that the ladies of the night plied their trade.

The madame, Gracie, kept a bird's eye watch over things at the Cage until 1885, when she acted against the ills of prostitution, and left to start her own house for ladies and gentleman to find respite in, without the fight-spurring and reckless nature of a bordello.

Gracie wanted to encourage community through connections, and she successfully did, as in 1889- when the Bird Cage Theatre was closed due to a string of fires and gunfights, she remained open as the first and only underground hangout in the wild west.

Gracie's Bird Cage of Portland, Oregon is a modern tribute to Gracie and the spirit that she envoked in people to feel free. It is a privately held commercial-free haven in the modern jungle of commercial real estate.

At Gracie's there's a comfortable place to do your thing, and a great atmosphere. There are a number of small press supplies including photocopiers, printers, computers and typewriters. You'll also find a space waiting for you to sit and draw while sipping from our fine selection of coffees and teas. Gracie's is also the home of Pinko's, the commie coffee copy center, and is associated with Guerrilla Cheese and the Cafetistas, 2 underground socialist food service commando units located in Portland, Oregon.

-- paraphrased from the Gracie's web site, http://gracies.org

update:
In October of 2001, Gracie's moved from the industrial central southeast of Portland to a building that was once a church, in a residential northeast neighborhood.

Brunches and other events started up again at the new location. In mid-February, ultra-conservative neighborhood busybodies made it a personal obsession to drive Gracie's from the area. They objected to noise from evening events and "scandalous" things like life drawing classes with nude models. It became obvious to the Gracie's core that the neighborhood was not a good place for them. So, at the end of March Gracie's will move again, to a location yet to be determined....

note:several noders are involved with Gracie's, or at least have participated at various times in brunches or the 48 hour movie and other projects. these include: steev, mumonkan, revphil, glowing fish, ideath, joyquality, mykle.... and probably many more i'm forgetting at the moment....