Sep 07, 2007  | COMMENTS     

Local club owner Christian “Chris” Jansen III, died Aug. 31 of congestive heart failure, according to his friend Cliff Witt. He was 61.

Jansen was born in Roanoke Va., in 1946. After attending school there, he joined the U.S. Air Force and was stationed as chief steward of Air Force One under the administration of President Lyndon Johnson. Jansen moved to Washington in 1969, where he met Allen Carroll. The two dated until 1987 but remained friends until Jansen’s death. The pair also opened a series of successful gay bars in D.C.

They opened lesbian bar Phase 1 in 1971, which still operates in its Northeast location. They also opened the Other Side in 1974, which became Zeigfields-Secrets in 1981. The bar, which closed in April 2006 to make way for the new baseball stadium, was best known for its drag shows and for showcasing famed local drag queen Ella Fitzgerald.

“Nothing bothered him, he was very carefree,” says Carl Rizzi, president of D.C. drag group the Washington Academy. He recalls Jansen’s penchant for going to another local gay bar in his sailor’s uniform. “He was very friendly, he loved to talk to everybody.”

Jansen is survived by his partner, Steve Dellerba; sister Vicky Amos; niece Kristina Largen; great nieces and nephew Hannah and Ryan Largen; and friends Allen Carroll and George Newsome.