She began her career in San Francisco, California, singing torch songs at the lesbian bar Mona's (where she performed up to the mid 1940s) and the Chi-Chi Club.
[1][2] During World War II, she drove a taxi to support herself and sang as a headliner at Mona's at night.
She turned Club Laurel into a popular upscale gay night spot catering to the film community and ran it for 14 years.
She placed a photograph of herself in the front window of Club Laurel captioned "Miss Beverly Shaw, Sir!
[3] Shaw was a finalist on the radio show Major Bowes Amateur Hour.