THE 10 BEST San Francis Gay Clubs & Bars (Updated 2023)

Contents:

• THE BT GAY BARS SAN FRANCIS
• TOP GAY CLUBS & BARS MISSN DISTRICT (SAN FRANCIS)GAY CLUBS & BARS MISSN DISTRICT
• GAY BARS MISSN SAN FRANCIS
• SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS
• THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI
• THE BEST MUNICH GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS MUNICH
• THE 10 BEST SAN FRANCIS GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS SAN FRANCIS
• HOW GAY BARS HAVE BEEN A BUILDG BLOCK OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNY
• GAY MONTEREY TRAVEL GUI

THE BT GAY BARS SAN FRANCIS

But that tty-soundg nickname— was the first gay bar San Francis to have plate-glass wdows that let passersby see who’s si, and the patrons skew silver—is one the regulars willgly share.

) Whether ’s Cole Porter standards, a jazz night, or a te sg-along, this curtaed, Art De-accented bar is where tried-and-te Friends of Dorothy n be spac have been vanishg for a long time, but few subspeci are rarer than the neighborhood gay bar. A gay sports bar was practilly a ntradictn terms when Hi Tops opened the Castro nearly a ago, but no one should doubt the near-universal appeal of rn dogs and a pork-chop-on-a-stick. Sectn at a mic ftival, and a queer-iendly ambiance all nspire to make this Missn spot among the most hospable bars the Street has all but been annexed to the Mara, but once upon a time, there was a htler-filled gayborhood lled Polk Gulch—of which the Cch is the sole survivor.

TOP GAY CLUBS & BARS MISSN DISTRICT (SAN FRANCIS)GAY CLUBS & BARS MISSN DISTRICT

A rpeted dive narrow enough that you n touch the bar wh one hand and the oppose wall wh the other, ’s home to the Hot Boxxx Girls, a troupe of olr drag performers who, as well as the Tubteak Connectn, DJ B Statn John’s re-created dis and SF’s longt-nng gay party. There’s a shirtls, mtached blond on roller skat ont of a 1965 red Plymouth Barracuda; the posn of the Giant Dipper roller aster and street signage the background tablish the photo was taken the vicy of the Apartment, a women’s gay bar that opened Missn Beach 1974.

A third snapshot: a ftive lp of Halloween-stumed nttants—a drag versn of Tippi Hedren (a stuffed crow entangled her stylish platum updo), a garish clown, and a butch female wboy—all vyg for priz award long ago an unintified San Diego gay bar.

GAY BARS MISSN SAN FRANCIS

From 2017 to mid-2018, I sorted through a multu of photographs, gay perdils, and ephemera the procs of producg San Diego’s Gay Bar History, a documentary that was ially broadst June 2018 on KPBS, San Diego’s public televisn statn, and had s premiere at FilmOut 2018, San Diego’s LGBTQ Film Ftival. San Diego’s LGBTQ history, viewed through the lens of s postwar gay bars and nightclubs (and through the voic of wns who lived through this history) many ways parallels the velopment of the morn LGBTQ muny other large ci throughout North Ameri, and giv the documentary, while regnal s foc, a wir relevance.

A ma this of the documentary poss that gay bars have been a foundatnal part of the LGBTQ experience, not only as safe plac for socializg and formg terpersonal relatnships, but also as cultural stutns that have played important rol the formatn of muny over generatns.

SAN DIEGO’S GAY BAR HISTORY: REFLECTNS ON COMMUNY HISTORY AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROCS

From the opprsive secrecy of the postwar era to Stonewall; the birth of the morn gay rights movement through the eewheelg 1970s; and om the horrific AIDS crisis the 1980s, which cimated an entire generatn, gay bars have been more than jt social drkg spots.

San Diego, already a major ary port cy even before the war, beme a new home for thoands of gay men and women who were then able to disver others of their own kd. The olst ntuoly operatg gay bar San Diego, the Brass Rail, first opened 1934 as a bar and rtrant si the Orphm Theater on the rner of 6th Avenue and B Street. Durg the 1940s and ‘50s, the clientele at several downtown bars, cludg the Brass Rail, transned the evengs om a straight crowd to a gay one.

I chose this lotn as a backdrop bee the bar self acts as a metaphoric character San Diego’s gay bar history, havg served as both a bean and a safe harbor for several generatns of LGBTQ muny members. However, no trac rema of the majory of historic downtown gay bars om lotns that were molished and rebuilt durg revelopment projects of the 1960s and beyond.

THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI

Although the downtown bars provid a modicum of refuge for gays the 1940s and ‘50s, they were still risky plac to ngregate, pecially for ary personnel, who uld be dishonorably discharged jt by beg seen wh them.

THE BEST MUNICH GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS MUNICH

In those days, women had to be pecially discreet, bee if they were publicly exposed as gay and were mothers, was almost assured child welfare thori would take their children away, as homosexuals were emed morally unf to be parents.

THE 10 BEST SAN FRANCIS GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS SAN FRANCIS

Even after 1974, when homosexualy was no longer listed as a mental disorr by the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, some lbians Los Angel still lost ctody of their children on those grounds. I was able to obta 8mm footage om the GLBT Historil Society of San Francis of events filmed there durg the late 1960s si an unintified gay bar. The Stonewall Inn uprisg and the rts that began June 28, 1969 New York’s Greenwich Village beme a watershed moment for the muny natnwi, signifyg s refal to be treated as send-class cizens and s termatn to fight back agast btaly and homophobic opprsn.

Wh this empowered outlook, the 1970s wnsed a burgeong of celebratory gay bar culture, and San Diego saw the appearance of dance clubs such as the Ball Exprs, the Barbary Coast, the Lombard, Diablo’s, and the Wt Coast Productn Company. Th the bars beme cleargho where people uld engage and build muny before there was an tablished gay center or systems of support servic The Imperial Court system beme a key aspect of bar culture.

By the mid-1970s, nearly 30 gay bars were spread across San Diego La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Missn Beach, North and South Park, Hillcrt, Downtown, and some extendg eastward to La Ma.

HOW GAY BARS HAVE BEEN A BUILDG BLOCK OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNY

Wh over sixty hours of footage to ed, we attempted to strike a balance between velopg each segment as fully as possible and reprentg the variety of the gay bars of this high-water mark perd.

Due to the climate of fear and stigma agast those wh HIV/AIDS, gay bars and their patrons experienced creased homophobic harassment by cy and state thori. Clearly, gay bars have held different meangs to people that me of age wh each major epoch, and their lsened importance to young people may be a ntributg factor fluencg the long-term viabily of gay bars.

Debat ntue on the prumed reasons why recent tim more gay bars have been closg or transformg to mixed venu (terg to both straight and gay patrons). But as the project neared pletn, my perspective turned to qutns regardg the future of San Diego gay bars, pecially sce younger people are ls reliant on them as spac for socializg and formg muny.

GAY MONTEREY TRAVEL GUI

Twenty-two sponsorg gay bars are displayed on the banner behd Al Bt, San Diego’s first openly gay ndidate for elected office, who ran for Cy Council 1979. When we strengthen those social bonds, we keep alive the llective memory that origated gay bars and nightspots, the first public plac that fostered the velopment of our muny’s many histori. She had many gay and lbian neighbors, iends who equently gathered for parti where they dreamed of one day havg a lol gay bar to ll their some ial rearch and talkg to var club owners, Male cid to take the plunge and she opened a gay bar, Stage Door, 1982.

When the bar fally reopened Sprg 2022, an entire borough’s worth of gays celebrated by floodg the new back pat all summer and Gger’s has been crowd wh queers ever sce. It began s life as a beer-and-we offshoot of the Metropolan Health Club, a gym that opened 1983 to serve the gay ctomers who’d been bullied out of other lol clubs at the height of AIDS hysteria. While you won’t fd any Pri flags at Farraguts, you will undoubtedly hear Cele Dn and Melissa Etheri blarg om the bar’s dty, old jebox and, hontly, isn’t that jt as gay?

CourtyDallas: Round-Up SaloonEqual parts wboy boots and dis ball, Round Up Saloon opened 42 years ago Dallas as a gay untry wtern dance hall. Live out your Brokeback Mounta fantasi at this verno club, where wboy stum are not nsired drag, and le dancg is not an explic exprsn of homophobia.