From the Castro District to famo bars om history, San Francis is full of gay bars, clubs and mojre.
Contents:
- 5 HISTORIC SAN FRANCIS GAY BARS WE WISH STILL EXISTED
- THE BT GAY BARS SAN FRANCIS
- BEHOLD: A MAP OF SAN FRANCIS'S LOST GAY BARS
5 HISTORIC SAN FRANCIS GAY BARS WE WISH STILL EXISTED
The bars helped shape and harn San Francis's gay inty. * historic gay bars san francisco *
(Above: A scene om The Tool Box picted a Life magaze story lled "Homosexualy Ameri. ")We don't give gay bars the rpect they serve.
After several proment bars San Francis started shutterg -- victims of Manhunt and Grdr and time -- I started mappg a cy's worth of shuttered gay bars.
Cheers, Dash (1908), 547 Pacific:San Francis may have had gay bars before the The Dash, but none were as notor. Focch's (1936), 506 Broadway:The drag show at Focch's was more of a tourist draw than an hont-to-goodns gay club, but helped brg gay culture -- and drag culture -- to the mastream spotlight.
THE BT GAY BARS SAN FRANCIS
As you refully pick your venue for this year's Pri celebratns, a mute to remember some foundatnal SF gay bars. * historic gay bars san francisco *
)The Black Cat (1951), 710 Montgomery:"There's nothg wrong wh beg gay -- the crime is gettg ught! I951, after two years of police harassment, owner Sol Stouman took the police to the California Supreme Court, and argued that a bar uld not be shut down jt bee gay men ngregated there. He prevailed, providg stenance to the growg homophile Handle Bar (1960), California and Hy:Until 1960, most gay bars were expected to pay brib to police officers for 'protectn' om raids.
But 1960, the "gay-ola" sndal exposg such brib beme a media sensatn, and began a discsn about the rights of gays to equal protectns unr the Q (1962), Polk St. :In rponse to police harassment, San Francis bar owners formed the Tavern Guild -- the first gay bs associatn the Uned Stat -- at the Suzy-Q bar on Polk Street.
Members set up a phone-tree to warn each other of impendg raids, set up relief funds and raised money for homophile groups like the Dghters of Bilis, the Mattache Society and the Not?
BEHOLD: A MAP OF SAN FRANCIS'S LOST GAY BARS
* historic gay bars san francisco *
:In 1964, Life magaze featured a special report lled "Homosexualy Ameri. One of the first mastream discsns of S&M, the article tablished San Francis the mds of middle Ameri (and lns of gay men) as a place of sexual diversy and tolerance.