Throwback Thursday: Harry Eberlin’s Bin, Part 1

A weekly taste of Gayborhood history and herstory.

Every week William Way Executive Director Chris Bartlett and I meet for a rummage through the LGBT community center’s John J. Wilcox Jr. Archives, a veritable treasure trove of relics from gay Philadelphia’s past.

Today, we share images picked from a bin of photos donated to the archives after it was discovered in the basement of  late Philadelphia Gay News (PGN) photographer Harry Eberlin‘s longtime partner Richard DeMatt. The photos span the past few decades, and feature some local LGBT notables, like PGN publisher Mark Segal, Philly leather community matriarch Pearl, Woody’s founder and Knock owner Bill Wood, and even a baby-faced Ed Rendell. 

We weren’t able to identify everyone, so feel free to comment below or email me if you recognize anyone in the photos.



Have photos from Philly’s LGBT past you’d like to share? Submit them to Josh Middleton at jmiddleton@phillymag.com