Back in the 1950s and ’60s, an upstate New York resort served as an underground safe haven for trans women, gender nonconformists and crossdressers.
Located in the Catskills, Casa Susanna was one of two resorts run by Susanna Valenti and her wife Marie Tornell that allowed people to safely explore their gender identity and expression without fear of being arrested or institutionalized.
Casa Susanna offered a safe place to play with gender and document that expression through photographs, all while being in physical community with others. Several members published photos along with fiction, style tips and autobiographical works in the underground magazine Transvestia. During Halloween weekend in 1962, Tranvestia’s Virginia Prince formed a national sorority of crossdressers at the resort.
In 2004, hundreds of photos from Casa Susanna were rediscovered at a flea market in New York City and published in a book in 2005. A decade later, creative projects inspired by Casa Susanna helped to reignite a long-dormant chapter of queer and trans archival history.
The story and legacy of Casa Susanna was explored in a PBS documentary in 2023, and a large selection of photos are on display in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through January 2026. While Casa Susanna doesn’t exist as it once did—its legacy lives on through archives, exhibitions and from those who experienced it and are still here today.
Why you can trust Xtra
