Throughout the 1970s, and even into the early 1980s, The Hill was not only a place to meet potential partners but also a place to buy and sell gay sex—although, depending on the year, sex workers of all genders could be found walking up and down the sidewalk stroll. Rarely acknowledged in public-facing queer history, public sex and sex work have been an important part of queer life in Edmonton and across Canada more broadly. Before 1969, gay sex in the private sphere was still illegal, as anal intercourse (or “buggery”) laws prohibited sodomy even between consenting adults. Hotels and landlords did not have to serve or accommodate gay couples or people looking to hook up. Gay youths were regularly thrown out of their homes and disowned. As a result, gay street culture served as a vital site of kinship and conviviality. Public spaces such as washrooms, parks, and back alleys provided some degree of anonymity for those still in the closet or who were scared of entering gay clubs or bars and were often the only sexual options in cities or towns with no such spaces. Sex in public is also a common sexual fetish among gay and straight men, as the thrill of anonymous encounters and the possibility of being caught builds sexual tension. Patrick Califia states, “while public sex is a mainstay for men who want sex with other men in rural or small-town [milieus], it is also a permanent fixture in many liberal areas, simply because it can be efficient, fun, and at least a little risky.”

MacDonald Drive had all the right attributes that made it perfect for cruising. All of the buildings that lined the scenic street were closed at night; there were only buildings on one side of the street, which meant far less chance to be surprised by someone appearing for nefarious or violent purposes. In 1971, MacDonald Drive became a one-way street, which meant the car cruising traffic only moved in one direction with cars often circling repeatedly. With this change, sex workers and cruisers had to worry less about who was approaching behind them and customers looking for sex became more obvious. As the queer historian Valerie J. Korinek observes, Edmonton’s cruising spots were similar, spatially and geographically, to those in Saskatoon and Winnipeg. Thus, men who were “accustomed to cruising practices in their home communities could readily locate them in Edmonton.”

In the 1970s, the reputation of The Hill grew. It became not only a place for cruising and selling sex but also a gathering place after the only gay bar in town—Club 70—closed for the night. Club revelers would often head to The Hill and, even if cruising for sex wasn’t the main objective, the socializing that occurred into the wee hours of the night was remarkable. On a weekend night, you could sometimes see several groups hanging out in different spots, socializing as the traffic circled past. Sometimes cars would stop just to visit and smoke and gossip with the groups milling about on the sidewalk. It would not be uncommon to occasionally witness a drag queen or two strolling down the strip post-club performance, audaciously strutting their stuff. There was safety in numbers. It is no surprise that the closest apartment buildings—such as The Arlington, The Palisades, the towers on 104 Street, and the Avord Arms located just a few blocks north—were filled with renters from the gay and lesbian community. The entire area took on a very queer flavour as downtown relaxed into its 1970s persona. The list of drag queens that lived in this section of the downtown core was impressive, and even Millie, the first Empress of Edmonton, lived with a gaggle of queens in a large rented house at the bottom of Bellamy Hill.

The late 1970s and early 1980s were undoubtedly the heydays of The Hill. By 1978, Edmonton had three gay bars and an emerging number of gay organizations. This was also the year the infamous Pisces Health Spa opened, adding another all-night option for socializing, sex, and community-building. In 1980, the Dapple Grey Café opened on 102 Street right at the spot where MacDonald Drive ended, adding a new all-night gay restaurant to the party and creating a bright moment on a dark stroll for those who were less inclined to cruise or needed a safe place to escape to if things got scary. Eventually, higher visibility meant there were moments of increasing violence and danger. In 1980, posters went up on lampposts lining the area warning gay men to “stay away from The Hill,” as reports of anti-gay violence started to rise. The Edmonton Journal reported how roving gangs armed with knives and baseball bats were patrolling The Hill, and at least one gay male hustler had been beaten and castrated. Pat Fortier, the president of Boots ‘N Saddle club, stated, “I personally saw six men beat up one guy [on] April 24. He looked like a piece of hamburger when they were finished.” More infamously, reports came of gays fighting back and chasing the homophobes away. Fighting back would become an emergent theme throughout the 1980s and 1990s as the LGBTQ2 community fought not only for safety, but also for visibility and human rights.

The cruising action on The Hill morphed and shifted over the years. City construction changed the area and police “cleanups” routinely pushed cruising to different fugitive spaces across the city. For a while, The Hill would be nearly empty as the cruising action moved a block or two west, having taken root in the alleys between 102 and 104 Street, and in the nearby dark parkades. Sometimes, cruising was centred around Veterans Park, a small pocket park located just across from the Edmonton Journal office building. In the late 1980s, 104 Street was where the girls worked, and The Hill was where the boys worked with cruising also occurring in all the alleyways in between. The downtown streets were always alive with action if one only knew where to look.

In 1986, the community learned that a staff member at Flashback had been murdered by a trick he met at the bar. The next night, one of the drag queens, Lori St. John (John DeCarlo) was on his way to work at Cheddars restaurant, which was located in the same place where the Dapple Grey Café had closed. Cruising past The Hill on his daily route to work, John spotted the murderer whom he had seen leaving Flashback a couple of nights earlier. The killer was posing as a hustler on The Hill. Bravely, John pretended to be interested in a “date” and talked the man into joining him at Cheddars. Once the man was seated, John excused himself and used the restaurant’s phone to call the police. A few months later, the murderer was tried and found guilty. That summer at the annual Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose’s Coronation Ball, John was honoured with a special citation for his heroic bravery in helping to keep the community safe.

In the 1990s, downtown street cruising began to wane, although there could still be the occasional hustler found on The Hill. However, all was not lost, as the right bathrooms and bathhouses could still be found, along with the allure and legend of Victoria Park. Eventually, dating phone lines (literally called the “Cruise Line”) and the growth of websites like Gay.com, and apps such as Grindr, transformed cruising. Today, The Hill is a quiet picturesque street dotted with historic information signs, which tell some but not all of Edmonton’s local history. However, the view is still spectacular.