The closure of the doors on the last, but one, of the businesses in the 'Out! group' has left many who lived, fought and partied through its '70s and '80s glory days reminiscing on the central and sometimes controversial role it played in New Zealand's gay history.' Gay business stalwart Tony Katavich is winding up operations at the Westside Sauna and Out Bookshop on Anzac Avenue in downtown Auckland, two final outposts in a business empire he forged with the late Brett Sheppard, which has spanned cities and decades. Only Travel Desk remains, under independent management. Brett Sheppard Aside from being attributed with doing much to define New Zealand's gay male culture through the 1970s and '80s, Katavich and Sheppard also had a major impact on the campaign for Homosexual Law Reform. THE OUT! 'EMPIRE' Even before the 1986 success of Law Reform, which finally decriminalised same sex sexual contact between men (women had never been criminalised in this way), the group ran a succession of bars, clubs and saunas. These included Alfies nightclubs in Auckland and Wellington, the Westside sauna in Auckland, the Colombo in Christchurch and Wellington's Wakefield sauna, housed eventually in the premises now occupied by Checkmate. They also launched the Out! Bookshops and a gay-focussed erotica supply company, as well as producing the long-running Out! magazine, the final issue of which was published just last February. A gay-focussed travel agency was also part of the mix and is believed likely to remain trading under new management. The businesses tended to be known collectively as the Out! people or, in darker moments, the 'Out! Empire.' Mal Vaughan was the Assistant Manager of Alfies Wellington when it opened. He says before Alfies there was the Dorian club where you had to be a formal member and it was "all very furtive to get in" if you wanted to socialise with other gay people. "Brett and Tony brought an Alfies nightclub to Wellington even before Homosexual Law Reform and it was a breath of fresh air, a real turning point in the Wellington gay scene. It had a full alcohol licence and you could just walk in off the street and have a good time," he says. "It was our first real gay nightclub. Lots of local people worked there and it became part of our community very quickly. The Alfies people from Auckland came down and that helped forge links between the two cities' scenes. They were very good for our community, it was full on and everyone was welcome and respected." Vaughan says for years the group's sauna, The Wakefield, was the only private space in which men could safely meet other men for sex in Wellington, while Out! magazine was the only real national gay media for a long period of time. Katavich and Sheppard opened the South Island's first gay sauna, The Colombo, in Christchurch's main shopping street, in the early 1980s. They eventually sold it to a Christchurch man, Graham Wickham, who later sold it to Stuart Yeatman and his partner. They operated it separately from their cruise club for two years before closing it and combining the sauna operation into their cruise club premises, Menfriends. Yeatman says Katavich and Sheppard paved the way not only for New Zealand's gay businesses, but also for gay individuals to be able to deal with the issues of being gay in what was a non-tolerant country for a long period of time. "They gave us a sense of community," he says. "Through their saunas and nightclubs they gave us places to meet." "When I was a young guy we looked to them for direction and to speak for us. We would have been lost without their leadership. They were openly gay when it wasn't cool to be gay. They took the hits and fought the battles. I take my hat off to them. Without them New Zealand would be a worse place for gays and lesbians." Yeatman says the pair, more especially Katavich, were known to be hard businessmen. "But I never had issues in my dealings with them. They were straight-up operators and good businessmen in their heyday and I have always respected them for that." HOMOSEXUAL LAW REFORM Auckland local body politician Bruce Kilmister was one of those involved in the bitter fight to decriminalise homosexuality, which divided the nation from the mid-70s when the gay rights movement vocally emerged, through till the passage of the Homosexual Law Reform Bill in 1986. Kilmister says Katavich and Sheppard provided the first commercial activities by and for the gay male community with the Victoria Spa and Out! magazine. "They were the community hub from which most gay activism was supported and forged," Kilmister says. "Tony used his businesses to constantly challenge the authorities, particularly the Police due to raids seeking out homosexual activity in his sauna, and Customs regarding the importation of sexually explicit material." Kilmister says the Out! organisation was sometimes accused of dobbing in other unlicensed competing businesses, but it was also particularly supportive of Homosexual Law Reform. "Whilst Tony was infrequently seen, his business partner Brett Sheppard was often the public face of gay community at public meetings during the often tense and bitter fight for law reform." "Brett in particular hosted a seemingly endless succession of meetings of the members of the Auckland Task Force and spoke powerfully at public meetings. And the pair were committed supporters of previous, unsuccessful attempts to decriminalise homosexuality, he says. "I can remember getting involved with Brett and Peter Wall and John Hughes and all the others working to free gay lives," Kilmister says. "Out! magazine was always arguing hard for reform and Tony Katavich was particularly good at standing up to those MPs and other bigots who were strenuously opposed to it." And it wasn't only the use of their facilities, publication and persuasive voices, Kilmister remembers. "The pair frequently provided financial backing as well." Kilmister feels that in more recent times the Out group had probably reached its use-by date, but is adamant it must be remembered for the significant contribution it made to the lives of glbt people. He says the closure of the remaining businesses marks the end of an era. Bloomers performing, with a young Georgina Beyer at left THE BLOOMERS GIRLS Alfies nightclub in downtown Auckland was one of the centrepieces of the Katavich and Sheppard gay business empire. Nicole Duval and Georgina Beyer were for several years two of the glamorous Alfies showgirls, a troupe called Bloomers Review. Duval says she, Beyer and others were performing occasionally at Auckland's - and New Zealand's - only other gay nightclub, Staircase, when Sheppard approached them and asked them to perform at Alfies for New Years Eve. They agreed – and were still based there seven New Years later. Duval remembers that for gay people in the 1970s and 80s Alfies was "a lifeline." "It was a meeting place for everybody. In its earliest days it was fabulous, a gay-friendly fashionable place where the fashionistas, Auckland's beautiful people and all the night workers would gather," she says. "Performing there was fun and there were often people queued right down the street trying to get in." Duval says the venue became gayer and gayer, but lost some of its magic "when the clientele became younger and younger and the after school ball crowd started flocking to it." She too remembers the pair's commitment to decriminalisation. "Brett and Tony really supported the campaign for homosexual law reform, to the point that Alfies was even targeted by a bomb scare at the height of the campaign. The night the bill passed freeing gay men there was such a party at Alfies!" Duval reveals hunky nightclub patrons The performer says the two businessmen definitely made life easier for all the GLBT people who came after. She says they put in years of effort and helped force change, paving the way for the glbt people of today. But it's the memories of Alfies, located in a basement on Auckland's downtown High Street, which are strongest in Duval's recollections. "Lots of international stars would end up at Alfies. Let's face it there were few other late night places to go in those days. Tina Turner went there, David Hasselhoff and lots of others." Duval recalls that the Out group also had the Catalina gay video porn franchise and in the mid '80s brought over American porn stars to make a New Zealand adult movie. She says they used the Westside Sauna for some of it and put out the word for guys to take part. "It was amazing how many so-called straight guys put their hands up," she says. "One of the stars, Leo Ford, was booked to do several erotic shows at Alfies," laughs Duval. "Part of his act was to be naked on a table and to simulate jerking off under a thin filmy white sheet. I don't think Brett and Tony knew he would actually reach a climax and when he did the sheet got wet and you could see everything. They hit the roof because of the laws in those days and Leo got very angry with them and jumped on a flight back to the US the very next morning." Other performers have spoken of the pair's tight-fisted control of expenses and one who prefers not to be named says it was not unknown for Sheppard "to tip a bottle of poppers into the Alfies smoke machine to liven things up a bit!" Performer and now politician Georgina Beyer recalls her time working for Katavich and Sheppard from "around 1984 or '85" until 1989 as one of the Alfies girls in the Bloomers Review as "fabulous days." She says it was a well-loved, glamorous, high-profile show and the performers were an institution in the club, which was "the place to be," attracting the likes of Rachel Hunter and others of the glamour set. Beyer says it was hard slog, especially as she was picking up serious film and television work while still doing her weekend job at Alfies. "We did two nights a week, half hour shows. If you counted the socialising that had to go on each night, it was bloody hard, what a rugged life... oh! crawling out of there at five o'clock in the morning with whatever piece of beefcake might have accompanied us," she laughs. Beyer says Katavich provided the 'hard-nosed' edge of the business, while his life partner John added finesse, a contribution which was topped off by the 'brilliant, flamboyant and wonderful hospitality' of Sheppard. "They deserve great accolades for what they have done. It hasn't been, at times, without dispute and Tony particularly has had firm political views, firm thoughts about things - and expressed them through thick and through thin. And I think that's just added to the great robust debate amongst us as a community really." "They made a major contribution to our lifestyle, to our politics, to media, to business and travel - and the desensitising and inclusion of things gay male oriented," Beyer says. TIME FOR THEMSELVES Beyer says she hopes Katavich, always known as a driven workaholic, and his partner, John, can now take time out for themselves. "I'm very pleased for them all that they've come to that point in their life that they can actually spend more time on themselves than their business. They have done a huge service in many and varied ways – and controversial ways – for our community and the wider community of New Zealand." "They have left a legacy in many and varied ways," she says. "That influence is not going to evaporate." In Wellington, speaking from his S GayNZ.com Daily News staff - 2nd June 2010
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 2nd June 2010 - 12:01am