{"product_id":"the-pagoda-9781944981631","title":"The Pagoda","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1977, two lesbian couples living in St. Augustine, Florida, found a row of small beach houses for sale next to a house they wanted to turn into a feminist theatre. They bought the cottages, leased and later bought the theatre building, and over the next two decades expanded and developed the property as a cultural center, women's retreat center, and residential community. The Pagoda, as it came to be called, offered nude swimming in a private pool, fire circles on the beach, variety shows with bellydancing, poetry readings, comedy sketches, and regular concerts by feminist musicians in a private theatre. Pagoda women produced feminist plays about Cinderella's after-story and sketch comedy by Positively Revolting Hags. They hosted celebrations of the Goddess, Tarot readings, and psychic workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAt its height, The Pagoda was a Goddess church running a cultural center and guesthouse surrounded by twelve tiny, custom-built, knotty pine cottages and a duplex, all owned by lesbians. The cultural center and guesthouse lasted twenty-two years as an active operation run by the incorporated, tax-exempt Pagoda-temple of Love in the closing decades of the twentieth century, and another sixteen years after that shepherded by Fairy Godmothers, Inc., four women with a different vision for the space. This is the story of how all that happened.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Pagoda: A Lesbian Community by the Sea\u003c\/i\u003e, Rose Norman expertly synthesizes interviews and extensive archival research to tell the story of the women who made that community a place for lesbian culture to bloom and grow.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Sinister Wisdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/16\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781944981631\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 368\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.20h x 5.70w x 1.60d","brand":"Rose Norman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44608423854261,"sku":"9781944981631","price":16.11,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_9a24d5ff-b24d-4143-8010-077ffe2cc45a.jpg?v=1725374795","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-pagoda-9781944981631","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}