April 17, 2025
The CCCA Museum is excited to announce that our new exhibit will open in April and will be tied to the theme of the 2025 Experience, featuring the Jazz Age! Our exhibit will tell the story of the Krazy Kat Klub, a speakeasy located in a back alleyway near Thomas Circle, less than a mile from the White House. The Krazy Kat opened shortly after prohibition was enacted, and closed in 1926.
When we think of speakeasies today, we imagine establishments such as The Cotton Club in New York or scenes from Robert Redford’s portrayal of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. We think of high-society members of aristocracy, dressed to the nines enjoying martinis and old fashioneds in swanky, beautifully decorated clubs. The Krazy Kat, located at #3 Green Court, was in many ways quite the opposite of what we envision when we think of the conventional prohibition-era speakeasy.
By design, the Kat catered to a very diverse and wide ranging clientele. While powerful Washington DC insiders including several US Congressmen would come to enjoy illicit beverages and raucous live jazz performances, so too would many of Washington DC’s artists, writers, bohemians, and of course, flappers.
The club’s interior nightclub space occupied the second floor of an old livestock stable, accessed through the back alley entrance by walking through a dimly lit hallway and climbing a narrow winding staircase. Much of the lighting inside the club was by candle light. In addition to this space, the club also featured an outdoor courtyard surrounded by buildings and complete with its own rustic treehouse for guests to enjoy.
The club was owned by Cleon “Throck” Throckmorton. In addition to his six years as a DC area underground speakeasy proprietor, Throckmorton received an engineering degree from George Washington University and was a gifted artist and renowned theatrical set designer who designed sets for over 600 theatre productions during the 1920s and 30s. In 1922 he married one of the Kat’s regular patrons, 19 year old Katherine Marie “Kat” Mullin. Kat was a model and sketch artist who also performed as a singer and ukulele player with the DC based Crandall Saturday Nighters in the 1920s. She was also widely regarded as an expert in saber fencing and was known for giving public exhibitions of her fencing abilities. Cleon and Kathrine would divorce in 1926 after Throckmorton became involved with screen actress Juliet Brenon who later became Cleon’s second wife until his death in 1965. Throckmorton would be posthumously inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2002.
In the six years the Krazy Kat operated, it was raided by police numerous times and was well known for featuring many prominent jazz artists who would come to perform. The club closed in early 1926 after Cleon and Katherine relocated to Greenwich Village in New York City. Not long after the move, the couple would part ways.
Our exhibit re-imagines the back alley entrance to the Krazy Kat, complete with examples of the types of cars the young and affluent would have driven through the streets of Washington DC in the roaring twenties. Featured cars on display will include a Pierce Arrow Model 80, a Cole V8 Sport Coupe, and a Roamer Speedster. While you’re there, be sure and check out the neighbors on the other side of the alley… The exhibit will be open through November, but we hope you will mark your calendars and come enjoy the exhibit as a part of the 2025 Experience May 30th – June 1st as we celebrate the Jazz Age!
