Pamela
Location: White Horse Bar (6551 Telegraph Ave, Oakland)
“Raging feminist, lesbian, activist. Love exploring the world, love plants, love people, happy to be here.”
Pamela Spevack moved to the Bay Area from New Jersey in 1967. Her family story sparked a lifelong commitment to activism, which took root in Oakland through her work with NOW and the Green Party. An athlete who manages asthma, Pamela shares vivid stories of finding community through volleyball, at the White Horse, and even while working door-to-door for Fuller Brush alongside her years of organizing and activism.
Read the story
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Hello, everybody, my name is Pamela Spevack. I grew up in New Jersey and I'm out here in California since 1967. Raging feminist, lesbian, activist. Just love the world, love plants, love people. Happy to be here. When I was born – I was there – and it was in 1940, September 19th to be correct. Oh, fairly quiet but I was outgoing in a different way. I was physical when I could be. I had asthma since childhood. So bronchitis, pneumonia, all that kind of respiratory stuff. I missed a lot of school. I almost got held back in second grade. When I was out in the street playing with the boys, I was probably 7ish. Standing on the sidewalk, actually. I don't know why we're doing that, but we were probably making up sides to play. And in comes my neighbor's child, woman, who is in the wax. Strolling up the street and one boy turns to us and says, 'Oh, she likes other women.' And of course, the light went on in my head because I had had, you know, likes of women before that. I went, 'Oh, it's real.' Other people are like that. Which was good for me. I saw many people suffer, not knowing for years. I hid it. Yes, it's not easy in a town of 40,000 people. Everybody in that neighborhood knew everybody else and I'd seen a couple of times in high school how they treated one woman who definitely was gay. It was a negative.
I had been called a tomboy a lot because I liked sports a lot. And it was one thing I could do easily. I was an athlete, basically. That was partly what I was known for. I was down at the tennis courts and some guy handed me a used tennis racket. That's when I started. I must have been about 13 or 14. And it was too big for me, so I got a lot of blisters, I got all over my hands from playing hardball. So sometimes I was lucky and they'd ask me to fill in, in a doubles team. You know, that's the only time I really got to play any of the other people. There weren't any people giving lessons to me for free, so I had to catch it up on my own. There was a backboard and believe me, 90, 95 degrees was really something out there. But we played. There was no teams then. Title IX had not passed yet. I once in a while snuck in a few looks at my brother's coaching there, but it was too hard to stay and watch for a long time. So I played when I can get somebody to play. I went to one year of college, came back home, so I was living with my parents and I was 21 I think. I was invited to play on a tennis match. And the woman who's playing on the other side. So we finished, I said, for some reason I said, 'Well, you want to go for a beer?' She said 'Yeah!' And as I was there, she invited me to play volleyball on the volleyball team. And that was the opening because one of the women on the team, another one, and I took to each other. And volleyball was really fun. We went once or twice into New York City to practice. And that was probably the only coaching, the first coaching I ever had in a sport.
Then I met one woman who was coming out to school at UC Berkeley and we took a liking to each other. And so I came out with her, 1967. We went back and went to College of Alameda first. And that was great. Oh, when I was in junior college, they did have a women's team, but it wasn't sanctioned per say. We didn't get any uniforms like the men. And so this one woman who was in charge of it at the first part, she said, 'Oh, the men say they'll lend you their jackets.' And she was like, she got something done. And I was not very good, I said, 'Well, I ain't going to wear anybody dirty, ugly, smelly, didn't fit me, hand-me over jacket just temporarily.' And she was offended, of course. And I thought, oh, well should have handled that better.
I got it in a car accident three months after I got here with my roommate, lover, sweetheart, lesbian partner. All those things. And I was going to go to the team the next day. And of course, I had a huge headache. I got a big bump on my head. I was out of commission for quite a while and not able to go and never did go back. That's how that's changed radically.
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Started working as a Fuller Brush Lady. That's what we call us anyhow, 'lady.' I'm not a lady, by the way. That's my philosophy. Fuller Brush started out as a brush company in Connecticut. They used boar hair for their hair brushes because there was a block on the country that usually supplied them, which just China. So China would send bristles to the UK and we got it from the UK. I trained people, I became a manager. I became the first woman manager in California for Fuller Brush. And I learned a lot because they teach you how to sell. They had a nice little program. Oh darling, I looked good. You've got to sell yourself, after all, you know? Well, you would give out a little gift each time we talked to, usually the housewife is the one we saw most. 'Hi. Which gift would you like?' That would be our opening. And then you'd go into, well our special of the month is. Is there something that you think you might like to know about? Oh, here's our special. You try to get that item into their hands for them to read it. And then you just give them a quote. I had my own territory to give out, and I had between 5 and 15 people at a time. We had from sort of very modest area all the way up to the hills. So I got to know the territory pretty good. I enjoyed being outside too. With my asthma, it makes me able to regulate myself better, which is what I really needed.
So one day I was out there. So I'm going down a few more doors, then I hear the screaming, ‘What's going on?’ So I walk a little closer. There are these guys in white coats, have a woman in their hand and she's screaming. I yelled something I can't remember what. ‘Oh, no, we're fine’ and they look like they were medical people. I did not ask, question it anymore, but I did take the license plate down. Turns out that was Patty Hearst being abducted. I had no idea till I got back later and heard the news that night. It's how things touch your life like different things. So after she got abducted and that whole group around her, there was a woman, a lesbian woman, and they were down – and this is a little rough on the detail – they were down, they got down in L.A. for some reason, and then the police were surrounding them. And I think that one woman got killed. But her lover up here was in a women's circle with my ex-girlfriend. You put these dots together, you do have to laugh.
I was a member of NOW early in the East Bay. It's good if you find a partner who already started it. So somewhere I met her, I think at the White Horse bar. We hooked up and soon thereafter, ‘oh, come on to the meeting.’ And I was game for almost anything. I wanted to experience things. She was a little older than I, outgoing and was a fervent feminist. We had meetings. We had discussions: how do we call ourselves and what do we expect? And then we went through the basic – a lot of basic stuff. Good role models, well-read women, teachers, etcetera. And we went up to Sacramento. I was doing some lobbying for ‘em. And there's another little story. We had about 200, 300 women in one room and somebody comes out and says, ‘Oh, we have a senator from California would like to talk to you.’ Fine. This guy comes out. And he was probably in his 60s already. And he looks around like this, ‘Oh, you beautiful women,’ raises his hands up and gives them this glowing smile. And this one woman goes, ‘Boo.’ Everyone goes ‘boo,’ ‘boo,’ ‘boo.’ Before that we all booed him out. He left. He didn’t know what hit him. No idea. That's a great memory. We didn't get into the lesbian issue. It was like, you know, unspoken, wait, your turn kind of thing like they did with black women. Course I wasn't happy about it. There was a lesbian group in the East Bay – had a Greek name to it, I can't recall right now – and that was maybe once a month. And that was the most organized unless you went into the White Horse. I came home one day it was really 90 something degrees hot. I said, ‘Huh, I think I'll get a beer.’ And I never would go for a beer after work, this was unusual. And who's there but another woman that I knew. We ended up talking and said, ‘Hey, if we two can do it, more of us can. Get the word out.’ And we spread the word out and everybody would come on Tuesday evenings, and it was great for a number of years. That’s just the way it happened, happenstance. Before it was a gay bar, they had Chinese food in one of the rooms. And then they redid it and it was a dance floor in there. And then they had pretty decent food, too. It was a nice place to hang out. Of course, there's the pool table. If you wanted to stay on the table, you had to get good. I was above average, above average.
I have been with the Green Party currently on their county council since 1995. Something about that time. So that's the input of people who feel likewise along my lines. And they're always welcoming LGBT people, it's part of their platform. And you don’t see that anywhere else. I felt they're very democratic for everybody. More about love than war. But every year we put out a voter guide. We do a lot of work. It's like a little newspaper and it gives you a slate, and gives you why. And I hope more people will listen to that. Being educated and not listening only to TV news because there is a big difference. I do listen to KPFA radio an awful lot. And that's 94.1 on your dial. Please put that in.
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Being in Oakland and being able to be out in nature a lot has been a big plus for me and my health as well. I love the trees, the birds. Arrowhead Marsh, which is the San Leandro Bay part of Oakland, which is lovely near the airport. Lots of trails off of Skyline. There's the one where they have the outside theater, that area off Joaquin Miller Road, that's a lovely area. You can go and get a real view if you walk to the end. Not very far, fairly easy walk. You can't miss, they're all good.
I don't mind being elderly, I think it's how people view me that usually is a little bit off putting maybe. They don't know what to think or why bother, all that stuff. I've been hearing elderly more and more. And so I'm trying to incorporate it into my mind as a good thing. I've learned to be more introspective in certain areas, not to rush through life and just to think more about it. I think when I was in sales, I learned to kind of read people pretty well. But at the same time, I think I avoided it somewhat too. It's hard to have your internal, look at yourself.
When I was coloring my hair a little bit more than I did today, I get all kinds of people talking to me. It's just amazing. And they look at you and come by fast and ‘Oh, I like your hair.’ They go off. Most of them did it that way. One woman walked up to me like she was envious. I said, ‘Well, you could do it.’ And you could see it on her face, she's not ready. I've managed to get enough attention. Purple or lavender and green. And they both have meaning for me. Green Party, greenish eyes and that goes well. And the purple is lavender, is lesbian. And I think it's good for me, that's a good color scheme. Magic marker with chiseled chip. I'm having trouble finding the right one with the dark green that I like. I wrote them, but they haven't given me any answers. I haven't tried all the other brands, but that's the one that was the best first.
I think it would behoove me to say that I wish I knew more about healthcare early on. I had a partner with a brain tumor and I stayed with her during that time. That was hard. I wish I knew more, I wish they would have a class at that time. And it was a difficult period because at first we thought she had - she had syphilid first and that masked what was really behind the other part. And she was trying all kinds of things, going pretty radical, weird. She got even arrested one time for behavior. It was her brain pushing her in different directions. So life throws you a bump and you go through it.
I have hopes. I've been a fairly positive person. I don’t see there’s any way not to be or I’d rather not be here. So I try to choose that as best I can. Just try and be open. That's what I would say. Keep yourself open. I've seen people use the word hate more than I have in a long time. I have a difficult time hearing people say I hate this or I hate that. Hopefully we’ll learn from what's happening in the world. I just hope that the world hasn't used the nukes. And more people should be aware that they can help out the climate, all need to be part of that. But hopefully we'll live through it okay. I'm glad I'm not younger, I'm older. I won't have to be here for over another 10 years, I think. And that will be it. But I'd like to know where I'm going, it's a little hard. I just go with it because I have no choice.