Mary's First and Last Chance explained

Mary’s First and Last Chance (– 1956) was a lesbian and gay bar located at 2278 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, California, U.S..^[1] It was once the focus of the 1950s California Supreme Court lawsuit Vallerga v. Dept. Alcoholic Bev. Control, when the bar challenged a state law for the right to serve gay patrons and won in 1959.^{[2] [3]}

The bar was opened in by Mary Azar, and her brother-in-law, Albert L. Vallerga.^[4] Mary’s First and Last Chance liquor license suspended several times and ultimately revoked in 1956 based on a discriminatory 1955 California state law, and after undercover officers posed as patrons. In December 1959, the court sided with Azar and Vallerga and reversed the revocation, and in a historic decision, the 1955 law was declared unconstitutional.

See also

• List of lesbian bars

Notes and References

1. News: Flanagan . Michael . March 15, 2015 . Once Upon a Time in Oaktown . .
2. Web site: Vallerga v. Dept. Alcoholic Bev. Control - 53 Cal. 2d 313, 347 P.2d 909, 1 Cal. Rptr. 494 - Wed, 12/23/1959 . 2023-06-21 . California Supreme Court Resources, Stanford Law School.
3. Book: Boyd, Nan Alamilla . Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 . 2003-05-23 . University of California Press . 978-0-520-20415-7 . 182–183 . en.
4. Book: Agee, Christopher Lowen . The Streets of San Francisco: Policing and the Creation of a Cosmopolitan Liberal Politics, 1950-1972 . 2014-03-31 . University of Chicago Press . 978-0-226-12231-1 . 88 . en.