Stockholm in the early 20th century
Around a 100 years ago there was a widespread homosexual subculture taking place in central parts of Stockholm. The city was growing rapidly and was severely overcrowded.
To stop sanitary hazards the city installed public restrooms for men around popular areas and public parks. These restrooms became a natural noticeboard for men who wanted to meet other men, at a time when sex between men was illegal and could get you sent to 2 years of prison labour.
Public urinal (1896) by J & C G Bolinders Mekaniska Verkstads ABThe Unstraight Museum
A typical model at the time for a public urinal.
They were easily accessible around town, free of charge, anonymous and open to all. For aristocrats as well as workers. So, your message was visibly to many men but kept you safe legally.
Seen pictured are the urinals in front of Grand Hotel, which at times were called the "last hope". You went there as a last try if you hadn't found anyone to spend time with by the end of the night.
Tap to explore
Meetings are planned in front of the royal theatre (seen on the previous panel on google maps), in public parks and by specific landmarks at a set time and date.
Seen pictured is a quote from the graffiti. A man wishes to meet: If interested “meet me at Molin's fountain at midday on 16th November. Only cavalry men from the royal guard need arrive.”
The aforementioned Molin's fountain situated in Kungsträdgården (the king's garden).
When needed, ways of identifying each other are described. For example, a directive to wear a flower in your buttonhole.
But as some of the most sought-after men were in the military the uniform made it easy to find them.
Military men within the cavalry and the navy were among the most popular to try to meet.
An absolute favourite, were the Life Guards on horse, apparently the high riding boots were quite eye catching.
The salary for a soldier was quite low at the time and it wasn't unusual or unknown that an easy way to get some more was to sleep with men for money when stationed in the city.
At specific places and hours of the night a man seen with a uniform on was regarded as advertising availability.
Another appreciated spot was Blanch’s Café in Kungsträdgården, were men would go and see the male waiters in their smart uniform.
The waiters were known by numbers rather than name and in the café’s private restrooms and the public one outside messages were written about and for them.
The interior for Blanch's café. They served alcohol, had musical entertainment and electrical lights.
The graffiti books
How men meet and communicated via the public urinals was not actually intended to be known by the public or the future. The graffiti messages were painted over and in the end a lot of the public restrooms were demolished or moved. But luckily some of it was documented and written down quite regularly.
The graffiti books consist of 5 books (some documents hint at the existence of 3 more books). They document the graffiti found in the public urinal surrounding central Stockholm. Both drawings and text have been copied down, with date and place. During the years 1906-1932
They are quite educational as they depict how men meet and communicated, measurements translated when needed and historical facts dispersed throughout.
Bengt Claudelin on a break in the sun at the Hallwyl House. He started working there in 1913 for the countess Wilhelmina von Hallwyl (founder of the Hallwyl museum). He catalogued the objects in the house as a preparation for the future museum and he stayed until his death 1939, a year after the museum opened.
He created the graffiti books during his free time there, going seemingly regularly to the public restrooms around the block and documenting all the new graffiti since last time. This went on for years, creating a unique document for that time period.
When Bengt Claudelin died in 1939 the graffiti books along with all his papers when to the Hallwyl museum and was sorted by the first museum director, Eva Bergman who worked with him for years.
Seen here is the decree she wrote forbidding the books to be publicly known until after the year 1999. As she described the books to be pornographic in nature.
The Unstraight Museum
Produced by: Azmara Nigusse from The network for cultural heritage and cross-disciplinary gender research (www.genusarv.se)
Sources:
"Klotterböckerna" (The Graffiti Books), book 1,
Bengt Claudelin, The Hallwyl Museum Archives
Literature:
"Toalettklotter på offentliga toaletter i Stockholm 1906–1932", Bachelor paper,
Michaela Carlberg, Stockholm University
"Sympatiens hemlighetsfulla makt - Stockholms homosexuella 1860–1960",
Göran Söderström (ed.).