The Krazy Kat Club. July 15, 1921
The club’s entrance was alongside of what is today’s Green Lantern building leading out to Massachusetts Avenue, with a small sign that read “Syne of ye Krazy Kat” seen in the images here, taken on July 15, 1921, along with a warning at the top of the door that read, “All soap abandon ye who enter here.” Inside, patrons found a tree house reached by a precarious ladder, pebble floor, and al fresco dining. It was the site of frequent artist exhibitions and painting classes.
The establishment was described by the Washington Post in 1919 as “something like a Greenwich Village coffee house” that had “gaudy pictures created by futurists and impressionists.” Its name came from a popular comic strip at the time titled “Krazy Kat,” whose main character was copied for use on both the front door and on shirts worn by the waiters. The strip was the genius of artist George Herriman, who created a stir at the time because he stated that Krazy Kat was androgynous — sometimes Krazy was a male, and sometimes a female, willing to be both. The cartoon strip ran in major newspapers throughout the country, and featured two protagonists, Krazy Kat and Ignatz, a mouse.
