Gay san fran
San Francisco is packed with homo goodness
San Francisco. SF or SFO. Never San Fran and definitely not Frisco. The gayest urban area in America, as if you weren’t aware. What you may not understand is the secret of San Francisco: Everyone is a little gay. Everyone. Most of the urban area have gotten over the fact that some girls like girls and some boys like boys, sometimes two or three at a time. It’s the live-and-let-live temperament that makes the city so attractive. “Whatever man, it’s cool” should be the municipality motto.
You might be struck by the small size of the city. In its seven miles by seven miles, San Francisco’s residents have etched out more than 100 neighborhoods. While the Castro remains home for the homos, this one neighborhood should not define your encounter. The whole city is lousy with men, women, and everything in between. Let your gaydar or dykedar adjust to the surroundings and follow the beeps and clicks coming from your loins.
It’s a very walkable and bikeable city. Without the machine, you’ll find unique brief shops and restaurants and enjoy some obscenely evident people-watching. Great food comes with all different price tags, but to discover it, you’ll have to avoid th
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Historical Essay
by Chris Carlsson, 1995
Castro Highway Fair, 1978
Castro Street Scene 1970s
Photos: Crawford Barton, Gay and Woman loving woman Historical Society of Northern California
| Many across the United States consider San Francisco to be a “Gay Mecca” due to its large gay community located primarily in the Castro District as well as the city’s relatively liberal attitude towards sex. Until the 1960’s, though, the Castro was largely a ivory working class Irish neighborhood recognizable as “Eureka Valley.” A change came during World War II, when many soldiers came to San Francisco and formed same-sex attracted relationships. These soldiers then stayed in the city after organism discharged for homosexuality. In the 1950s, Beat Culture erupted in San Francisco and notoriously rebelled against middle class values, thus aligning itself with homosexuality and helped bring gay culture to mainstream attention. In the mid to late 1950s, groups such as the Daughters of Bilitis and the Mattachine Society were born, as well as the Tavern Guild, which was the first openly gay business association. By 1969, there were 50 gay organizations in San Francisco, and by 1973 there were 800. Unfortunately, Vibrant and eclectic, the Castro/Upper Market neighborhood is an internationally known symbol of gay freedom, a top tourist destination full of modern shops and trendy entertainment spots, and a thriving residential area that thousands of San Franciscans call home. Its streets are filled with lovingly restored Victorian homes, rainbow self-acceptance flags, shops offering one-of-a-kind merchandise, heritage streetcars, lively bars and restaurants, and numerous gay-borhood landmarks including Harvey Milk Plaza, the Castro Theatre, Pink Triangle Park and Memorial, and the huge SF Lesbian Same-sex attracted Bisexual Transgender Society Center. The Castro District, better known as The Castro, is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, which is also known as Eureka Valley. San Francisco’s queer village is most concentrated in the business district that is located on Castro Street from Market Street to 19th Street. It extends down Market Street toward Church and on both sides of the Castro neighborhood from Church Street to Eureka Street. Although the greater male lover community was, and is, concentrated in the Castro many gay people exist in the surrounding residential areas bordered by the |