While Rowland’s account is definitely queer, there’s also a reading between the lines of this mainstream newspaper that tells us queer women also went to Onyx Bar. The Minneapolis Central Library now sits where the Onyx once did. I’ve only been able to find one photo so far of it, in the background of a parade for a GOP candidate (LOL).

Bobbie Bannister was divorced and seemed to really not like the idea of having kids (honestly, same). Her “friendly” and “personal relations” with Hinman were questioned, which the prosecutor found improper. Here she says they met at the Onyx Bar.

There is a really fascinating account about 3 women caught up in a liquor selling scheme in April 1940, though. Betty Ryan who ran a “house of ill fame” (brothel probs); her right hand woman, Vera Moore Hinman; and their “boyish-appearing associate” Bobbie Bannister all testified.