Castro Street Fare

This weekend features the annual Castro Street Fair, celebrating San Francisco’s most famous gay neighborhood. I’ll be there, working on a project for my film class (more details on that coming up in December, when I finish the film).

The month ends with Halloween in the Castro, a real San Francisco treat. When I first moved here, I took a class at the Gay and Lesbian Historical Society, taught by noted historian Dr. Susan Stryker, on SF’s queer history. I learned that the Twin Peaks bar (pictured here), which graces the entrance to the Castro district was one of the first gay bars in the country — if not the first — to have giant floor-to-ceiling transparent windows; it opened in the 1960s. The significance is that the patrons were out and proud, sending a clear message of resistance to the bashers and vice squad of the day.

The Historical Society has been getting some publicity lately for its newest class: a walking tour of the gay sex establishments from the 1970s in the South of Market (SoMa) district. The tours have been booked so far, but, believe me, I’m on the waiting list. I will keep you posted, of course…

This entry was posted on Friday, September 30th, 2005 at 9:09 pm and is filed under Community Organizations, LGBT, Sexuality Education, Uncategorized . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.