Monday Castro gay bars San Francis dance clubs Castro District happy hour gay bar

Contents:

• TOP 5 GAY CLUBS & BARS THE CASTRO (SAN FRANCIS)GAY CLUBS & BARS THE CASTRO
• SF GAY HISTORY
• BEFORE THE CASTRO, POLK GULCH WAS SAN FRANCIS'S GAYBORHOOD
• SAN FRANCIS'S TECH BROS TOLD: QU CHANGG THE GAYBORHOOD
• THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW
• MOSW GAY MAP
• MOSW GAY BARS

TOP 5 GAY CLUBS & BARS THE CASTRO (SAN FRANCIS)GAY CLUBS & BARS THE CASTRO

6 plac sorted by traveler favorWhat travelers are saygAn historic venue, the first gay bar SF that had wdows so folks uld look om the street.

The bt gay nightclub the stro.

The Café has been a staple the LGBTQIA+ Castro muny for almost 30 years, and we are thrilled for our patrons to experience our state-of-the-art gay bar & nightclub. We all know the Castro District has some of the bt gay bars the world, but if you look hard enough, you n spot some pretty amazg on sprkled throughout the rt of San Francis as well. So, strap on those assls chaps or tighty whi — and hop on the rabow tra for a tour of the 10 bt gay bars outsi of the Castro District.

SF GAY HISTORY

This SOMA bar is a fn between a gay bar and a rock show venue.

Voted the Bt Gay Bar 2012 by the SF Bay Guardian, Tck is clearly a San Francis favore. Aunt Charlie’s is a ftive gay bar the Tenrlo full of happy drag queens. It was like steppg to the 1970s — middle-aged gay men everywhere, neon lightg, and a glor jebox.

Over yonr betiful Bernal Heights, you’ll fd Stray Bar, the gayt sports bar outsi of the Castro. Welg crowd, whether you're gay or straight. As early as the Barbary Coast days, the cy has also been known to be famoly gay.

BEFORE THE CASTRO, POLK GULCH WAS SAN FRANCIS'S GAYBORHOOD

Operated by Harvey Milk om 1972 to 1978, the store beme the center of the neighborhood's growg gay muny. Nurse and early AIDS activist Bobbi Campbell ed the ont wdow of this pharmacy to post a flyer 1981 warng the muny of "Gay Cancer”—bee neher the lol nor natnal ernment would sound the alarm—showg photos of lns ed by Kaposi sara (the rare ncer was found to be a rult of HIV's toll on the immune system).

This famo bar was a regular for gay men of lor who didn't feel wele at other predomately whe clubs. The baret ran for a om 1988 to 1998 as a platform for ic voic, drag shows, and activist baret the gay muny. The bar was a favore of Harvey Milk, who praised as “a place where the gay muny uld meet and feel safe and secure.

Rough, sual, and sparsely rated, the first gay bar the Castro opened pre-Stonewall way back 1963. Over the next few s, approximately 30 more gay bars and shops opened around the Mule.

SAN FRANCIS'S TECH BROS TOLD: QU CHANGG THE GAYBORHOOD

Milk was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office, and fought tirelsly for the rights of mori San Francis and beyond.

This powerful memorial honors the thoands of persecuted homosexuals Nazi Germany durg the Holot.

It was the first gay bar the neighborhood to allow same-sex dancg—at least up until the police noticed they didn’t have the required dance perm. Matlovich, a Vietnam veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, challenged the ban on gays the ary when he me out on the ver of the 1975 TIME Magaze unr the headle “I am a homosexual”. G., the Dghters of Bilis and the Mattache Society) were jt begng, homosexualy was still registered as a pathology by the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn.

THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW

San Francis’s Castro District is currently home to 20 gay bars – more or ls, pendg how you fe the parameters of the Castro, or even how you fe “bar, ” much ls “gay bar.

But at the peak of the Castro’s glory gay days, there were even more.

Here are ten lotns the Castro (om Castro Street down Market to Church Street) that ed to be gay bars but aren’t even bars any longer.

MOSW GAY MAP

The spot briefly beme a gay bar lled Cy Dump 1973 before aga beg the Midnight Sun om 1974 to 1981.

In 1981, the same year that MTV premiered, they took over an old plumbg warehoe around the rner at 4067 18th Street, where beme the cy’s (and perhaps the natn’s) first gay vio bar.

In 1971, a street-level bar at 482 Castro beme Toad Hall, a bar for gay hippi that played mic wh refully prepared mixed tap at a time when most bars still ed jebox.

MOSW GAY BARS

The owners origally wanted to ll the Iron Nun, but the landlord, though willg to rent to gays, was a vout Catholic who didn’t want a blasphemo name.

In the 1950s, a straight bar at 469 Castro Street — Club Unique — proudly lled self “the gayt spot town! ” Years later, fally did bee a gay bar when beme the aptly-named Nothg Special 1972. That changed to the Special 1985, and then the ary-themed gay bar Headquarters 1991.

In the mid-1990s, a bar on the rner of Sanchez and 16th named Dicks – a straight bar, believe or not – went gay and changed their name to the Jackhammer.

Some might argue shouldn’t be clud as a gay “bar” sce they didn’t serve alhol, but most guibooks then and now listed as such. When the Shed moved to 3520 16th Street, the lotn served as the “No on 6” mpaign headquarters to fight the Brigg’s Iniative that would have mandated firg gay teachers.

It’s been a rtrant for s, but om 1972 to 1977, 2223 Market Street was a gay piano bar lled the Purple Pickle. It then beme the Balny om 1977 to 1983, a rtrant that quickly beme a gay leather bar, and then the Amy om 1983 to 1988, a safe-sex men’s sex club.

Stt’s P, named after the owner, a lbian named Stty, was another improbable lotn for a gay bar the basement of a Victorian buildg. Stty eventually sold to a gay man who shortened the name to Stt’s. 2100 Market Street has always been a rtrant, but two of s rnatns also clud small gay bars.