Pittsburgh Queer History Project: Calendar Girls in the House of Tilden
KST Presents
Opening Reception: Friday, September 26, 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Friday, September 26, 2025 – Saturday, January 10, 2026
Gallery Hours with KST Presents Performances
Kelly Strayhorn Theater | 5941 Penn Ave.
Pay What Moves You: $0 – $20
Lucky’s House of Tilden (H.O.T.) was an after-hours queer disco in East Liberty from 1970 to 1981. H.O.T. was a key site of subcultural politics and pleasure during the neighborhood’s mid-century upheaval. Four blocks away and 50 years apart from KST, Curator Harrison Apple showcases H.O.T. and the Pittsburgh Queer History Project’s photo archive, which includes documentation of early queer, trans, and performers of color who dominated the disco era. While the physical architecture has long been demolished, Calendar Girls in the House of Tilden celebrates the celebrity at work behind the guarded door on Penn Avenue.
Calendar Girls in the House of Tilden is on view at KST’s lobby gallery. The gallery is open to the public during and one hour before every KST Presents event. Arrive early and take a look!
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Pittsburgh Queer History Project
AND DON’T MISS…
David Roussève/REALITY
Becoming Daddy AF
Friday & Saturday, September 26 – 27*
7:30pm – 9:10pm
* with post-show discussion
Kelly Strayhorn Theater | 5941 Penn Ave.
Pay What Moves You: $20 – $35
- ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Harrison Apple (they/them) is co-founder of the Pittsburgh Queer History Project with Dr. Tim Haggerty. Their artistic and scholastic research focuses regional LGBT political community in mid-century Pittsburgh. They received their PhD in Gender & Women’s Studies and Information Science from the University of Arizona. They are the Associate Director of the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry in the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University.